"Growing up in a biosphere..."

There is a land of Eden, and it exists in southern England.

Cornwall, to be exact. A man (who may now be my hero) converted an abandoned china clay quarry into a dazzling biome display, and I was lucky enough to visit over the weekend.

For a Canadian, the countryside in the UK is quite an amazing place. There is no real "wild" land as I know it; much of the land is intensively farmed and managed. Every square inch of land has been claimed by someone for something. Stone walls, grown over and winding through the hills, divide the land as they have for centuries. Roads cut their way through this, though in a very narrow, winding, hapazardous fashion. It's a little like an obstacle course combined with Russian roulette, driving on English B roads. Everywhere you look, history pokes its way through the brambles.

Anyway, back to the biomes. Even the parking lots were fun--each was named for a different fruit. We limed it up and headed down the windy path for the entrance. One delicious coffee later, we were roaming free, down the zig zag path toward the biomes.

But wait! A fork in the road! In one direction, an eco-walk with all kinds of really cool plants. In the other, a giant zip line across the quarry. Hmm, dilemma. Plants, or zippy zip fun? Brian was all for the zip line, so that's what we did. It was a much faster way to the bottom, I must admit. It was also the longest zip line I've ever seen.

The zip line deposited us in front of the rainforest biome. Inside, it was divided into the various types of rainforest-South American, African, Asian, etc. Brian was very patient with me, as I had to examine practically every plant. I was in botany heaven. The humidity wreaked havoc with my arthritis, but I hardly noticed until we were back out in the mezzanine eating pasties for lunch.

The mediterranian biome wasn't nearly as humid, with many more familiar plants. I punctuated every third sentence with, "man, I wish I worked here!" until I'm sure Brian was sick of it. He good naturedly kept at it though, and with ice cream in hand, we started wandering through the outdoor gardens.

What did we find? A maze! Okay, it was designed for little kids, but it was really cool! There were little forts, giant sandboxes, tunnels of varying sizes...I was in heaven. I found a little hut, staked my claim, and ate my ice cream there.

There were too many things to mention here. I highly recommend that you go there, and to Cornwall, if you come to this island. If you live on it, you have no excuse. www.edenproject.org. Go.

Saturday we visited a ruined castle and walked from our campsite to a small but beautiful beach. We enjoyed a cider at the beachside pub before making our way through the fields back to the tent for supper. A chicken (we were camped at a farm) tried to join us several times for the meal, which ended in hilarity as Brian carried it across the field.

Sunday was spent wandering through the Cornish countryside, seeking ruins and henges. We found both, and managed not to get lost. I also managed to keep my feet free of sheep dung.

The last stop of the day was at Stonehenge, which was a pleasant surprise and a let down all at once. A surprise, because it hasn't been over-touristicized American style, and a let down because it's crowded and surrounded by highways. It was still awe inspiring and beautiful, though.

For this week, I'm back in London. Come next Tuesday, I'm headed back to the Maritimes to spend some time with my family, and then on to Ontario for more visiting. Stay tuned...