St Austell; Saturday, 23 September, 2006

The weather forecast for the previous week had been predicting gloom and doom for the whole South West portion of England. Thankfully, the weather forecast was as accurate as usual and I left the hotel into bright sunshine.

I walked the short distance (I think the hotels estimation of 1 mile from the station was a little out) back up to the station and caught the bus out to Mevagissey and onto the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

The gardens were laid out during the 18th and 19th century, but fell into disuse and disrepair during the 20th century. They were finally restored in the 1990's by the same people who went on to found the Eden project. The gardens, designed like a jungle, cling to the side of a steep hill that leads down to a small valley at the base of the gardens. At the flatter top of the site more formal gardens have been laid out. After spending more than two hours wandering around the gardens I wandered back to the bus stop and caught the bus back to St Austell and managed to make the five-minute connection with the bus out to the Eden project.

The china-clay industry has left some massive scars on the Cornish countryside, with the large pits where they mined the most obvious example. It was into one of these that the idea of the Eden project was born. The base of the pit has been cleaned, two massive Biomes (like greenhouses, but made out of a plastic that allows UV light through rather than glass) have been built. Up the sides of the pit are the outside Biome, examples of flora that grow in the warm climes of Cornwall. The two biomes are split into the slightly uncomfortable Humid Tropic biome with its cocoa, banana and pineapple plants, amongst others, and the more climatically comfortable Warm Temperate biome that houses plant species from Mediterranean and temperate climes.

The whole area is very impressive, especially as everything was new less than seven years ago (about the only Millennium project that opened on time, within budget, and is popular!). You can still see where some plants are still developing, and the odd space which has yet to be cultivated, but it also makes it the kind of place that you want to go back to in a few years time to see how it has matured.

After spending nearly three hours in a China-Clay pit, I caught the bus back into St Austell and caught the train out to Redruth. The plan was to pick up the bus at Redruth out to Lizard point (the most Southerly point on mainland UK, not to be confused with Lands End, the slightly more famous most South-Westerly point on mainland UK). Unfortunately, thanks to a small gaggle of already drunk Cornish teen girls blocking the footbridge briefly, I missed the bus and with it any chance of making the trip. The next bus, and hour later would have got me to the Lizard and back, but only after the Sun had set, and by the time I would have got back to Redruth I would have missed the last train back to St Austell. Instead, I had a short wander around Redruth, decided it was a bit of dump and walked back to the station to wait the 35 minutes for the next train.

I arrived back in St Austell and wandered through the town. At a little after seven on a Saturday evening the place was deserted. Totally and utterly deserted. There wasn't even a drunk lying on a bench. I don't know where the population of St Austell go on a Saturday, but it's obviously not the town centre.

I arrived back in St Austell and wandered through the town. At a little after seven on a Saturday evening the place was deserted. Totally and utterly deserted. There wasn't even a drunk lying on a bench. I don't know where the population of St Austell go on a Saturday, but it's obviously not the town centre.