Day Two: Exploring Eden and Weathering the Heat

On day two we decided to take on the Eden Project not something we would normally choose to do with our girls but the weather was sunny and it had the added bonus of being a 10-minute drive from the camp. This soon proved to be the wrong decision, although the weather was beautiful we had to park quite a distance from the Eden Project entrance, there is accessible parking closer to the entrance but it’s still a 5 minute walk and a park and ride service if you park in the top car park, it’s still a 5 minute walk from the bus stop to the entrance. Our youngest gets tired very quickly but we tackled it saying it’s all down hill on the way there and we were able to get to the park and ride back to our car meaning not so much of an uphill struggle for her ( and my back! ). The proccess to get through the entrance was quick and simple as we had pre booked our tickets and as you exit the entrance building we were greeted with the site of the famous large Biome Domes of the Eden Project this was something the girls enjoyed seeing. Our first stop was the Natures Place Playground, you have to pre book to go into the playground so we didn’t mind doing this as we thought it would be limited numbers allowed in during the time slots. This didnt seem to be the case, it was very busy which meant it was very loud for our youngest who struggles with noise (ear defenders to the rescue!) and there was also limited seating in the top area. Despite this there is a great rock quarry exploration area for the younger children and a large tree slide for the older children, which she did enjoy but only got to do once (the other two managed a couple more turns on this), we ventured futher down into the playground area where we found a water run controlled by the guests that followed the land down towards a building called  The Core. The water run was a saving grace as our twins both love water we it helped them to regulate after the chaos of the play area. As it had already hit 12:30 we stopped for lunch, making sure we packed our children’s go to foods they refulled and were all eager to move on to the downstairs area. We found the invisible worlds exhibit which is a faboulous porcelin sculpture that reprisents oxygen it stood roughly 20 feet tall and was filled with vortex cannons blowing vapour rings out of them, we could have stayed here all day as the girls, especially our youngest, enjoyed the cannons and the rings they blew.

Onwards to the Biomes, it had become rather hot at this point and although our girls with ASD aren’t usually to bothered by the heat it had started getting to them both, this didn’t help as we headed into the rainforest Biome, something I thought they would enjoy with plenty of colourful exotic plants – both girls would normally stop to look/stroke and smell the plants they both just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. We made our way through the paths as they zig zagged upwards throughout the dome reaching a cool room which was a saving grace as we all releshed in reffilling our water bottles before we went on to explore as our edlest was very excited to see more. When we reached the top our youngest daughter suddenly became excited as we reached a rope bridge that swayed as you crossed and then took in the mist and cool breeze of the waterfall, however with the heat inside the biome reaching 34℃ we decided it was to much and headed to the exit, after a stop for a quick drink and sensory snack, we went onto the next dome, as we entered the mediterranian Biome we noticed it was a lot cooler and dryer although the temperature was still in the mid 20℃ range. As we wandered round our girls were most impressed by the striking Greek statues that were on display these were Tim Shaw’s sculptures depicting the myth of Dionysus, Greek god of wine and merriment, and his followers, the Maenads, who dance and writhe through the grapevines. As the day went on and the heat got worse, we found the ice cream shop, with a small, queit play area nearby. As much as the girls enjoyed their ice creams I think the wasps that we ended up surrounded by enjoyed them more. Overall I don’t think the Eden Project is one we will do again, If you enjoy Horticulter and the journey it takes then I would definitely add it to your list even if only to visit once, the breathtaking view and the engineering genius behind the domes make it worthwhile in my eyes.

Night Two: Bubbles and Barbecue

This night was a bit easier, arriving back at the campsite we decided to have a BBQ and play some of the outside game and of course out the bubble wands, one of our youngest’s favourite things to do, after having a tiring day she decided it was off to bed a bit earlier than he evening before. A tiring day led to an earlier bedtime, a well-deserved rest for the next day’s adventures