The Eden Project – making a connection

The Eden Project is a major tourist attraction and learning environment. Three quarters of its visitors are on holiday travelling to Cornwall from beyond the South West region. The informal learning experiences fashioned for them are intended to offer pleasure, meaning and ecological significance. It strives to reach people by connecting and resonating with their everyday lives in a range of complementary and experimental ways. It is an exercise in edutainment. This paper examines the intentions, perceptions and expectations of the education and design team at Eden whose work since 2000 has informed the physical, cultural and 'educational' context of the visitors' 'learning experience'. It is based on an analysis of semi-structured interviews with key members of Eden, on site observation of visitor behaviour and review of secondary material from the broad field of cultural, education and museum studies.