Trip to Eden project

Longleat was not even on our itinerary but we ended up spending an entire day at the Safari, zoo and park. Oh! Are you asking me why I am saying this to you? Fair enough; let me rewind a little bit. After wrestling a lot with the idea of visiting Scotland during the late May bank holiday I managed to convince the better half to visit the Eden Project in South Wales. It had long been on my wish list but we had never managed to visit the place in spite of visiting Wales a number of times. Thus spawned the travel plan for 3 nights and 3 days. For a change, the idea was not to visit a single farm or zoo this time as they have always been included in our travel plans to keep the little man happy. But, it was not to be as you shall see.

We began our 600 mile round trip road journey on a Friday evening to avoid tiring the little one with 5 hours of journey. On second thoughts, was it to avoid him getting tired or avoid him tiring us out with his constant whining? Anyway, the break journey worked wonders as he fell asleep by the time we reached out accommodation for the night and thankfully continued to sleep peacefully in spite of the commotion of getting him into his bed!

Day 1……

Day 1 began warm and bright and we prepared ourselves for a long drive with a hearty breakfast. Little man was more than happy to butter his toast with shed loads of it which gave us enough time to discuss the plan for the day. We intended to visit a castle on the Cornish coast and then hit the coastline.Oh lord! It was a big shock when we checked the website for last minute details. The castle was closed until late summer for renovation work. There were a number of leaflets of nearby attractions at the hotel reception. What pops out? Longleat Safari park. Again, although this was on my list of zoos to visit, I really had no intention of visiting a zoo on this trip. What can you say? Animals were meant to be!

To the utmost delight of our little man we headed out to Longleat Safari Park which boasts itself to be the UK's number 1 (https://www.longleat.co.uk/). Although it was only 60 miles as per the Sat Nav, the heavy traffic meant we took two hours to reach. As we drove into the Safari everything changed and we did not look back. There was an excellent collection of active animals basking in the sun. It is always a pleasure to watch bongos, wildebeests, rhinos alongside ostriches, zebras, giraffes, lions and tigers roaming freely. Longleat house and the enormous park gives you ample opportunity to stretch your legs after a long drive through the safari. Little man had the time of his life when he was able to touch and carry a 27 year old python and a spider as big as a tarantula. After a rather long trek around the park we were ready to call it a day and headed to St.Austell which was about a further 3 hour drive.

As we reached South Wales it was very poetic and we were welcomed by a thin and cool veil of rain. As always the rolling lush green Welsh valleys embraces you and makes you forget everything else. With the accelerator on cruise control it is very easy to forget that you are driving the car for hundreds of miles.

The accommodation for the night was a cosy loft converted B&B with skylights in the roof. It welcomed us, weary travellers into a pristine environment with soft pillows and butterfly motif splattered duvet covers. After a quick bite at a nearby Bangladeshi/Indian hotel, it was lights off for us.

Day 2….

This is what I was here for - The Eden Project (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8unx8-pZxg). It is my little man’s dream to see lions in Africa, Amur tigers in Russia and Jaguars in the rain forests of South America. I don’t know if I will ever be taking him to these places. However, I knew I could show him a slice of the rainforest at the Eden project. Eden project has simulated two different biomes viz., the Rainforest and the Mediterranean Forest. It is truly magical and a miracle to enter the Rainforest dome. The weather outside was cool, nippy and wet. But, as soon as we entered the rainforest, we were sweating through our skins. We laughed at ourselves as we carried heavy coats and umbrellas which were definitely not required here. It was only after exiting the biome did we realise that that there were coat hanging alcoves available to shed our heavy gear before entering the biome. Anyway, we were spellbound by the different types of plants and trees many of which we were seeing for the first time. Little man was super excited to see the multi coloured flowers and ginormous leaves as he rushed from one plant to another. I was relieved when I saw the excitement in his eyes. He even managed to brave the queue and climb to the top of the biome on a swinging staircase. The view from above it truly epic. One has to be ready to handle the heat. It is no exaggeration when I say that your acne can rear up due to the heat!!!

The experience in the Mediterranean biome is very similar minus the sweltering heat. Back came on the jackets and a sense of relief, away from the heat. Once again we were struck by the number of unique plants ranging from South Africa to Australia that we had never heard or seen before. As we were in the Mediterranean biome, we decided to have a hearty Italian lunch with olives and vegetarian antipasti with tasty pizzas. Little man was so ravenous that he finished his Margherita without a peep.

Once again, we endured a two hour journey to reach the coastal village of Combe Martin where we had booked our accommodation for the night. But the day was not to end this soon. A 5 minute walk from our B&B took us to the picturesque coastline of Combe Martin. As it was still low tide we were able to walk along the coastline for quite a distance. It was covered with fresh rock pools and barnacles and the weather was very conducive for a relaxing walk. With a small clamber upon rocks we were able to explore caves that could not have been reached during high tide. After a long day of walking and driving, this is what the doctor ordered!

Day 3….

Once again with a belly full of breakfast we stared at a return journey of more than 5 hours. The return journey is always harder than the onward journey as you just have thoughts of returning to work/school and back to the usual grind. To retain our sanity we decided to take a break at the halfway mark which was ‘Surprise, surprise’ - an animal farm in the Cotswolds. Again, we had a very hyped up little man in the car when we realised that we were going to meet animals again. Little did we know that we would end up in the middle of a shopping mall with a play area called an Animal Farm!!! Doh Sat Navs and wrong post codes!!! With frayed nerves and a bit of nagging we managed to finally find the right location which was 11 miles away. But, all woes were forgotten when we were surrounded by rare breeds of cows, sheep and goats and newly born piglets. The highland cows were the cherries on the cake. It was a good place to end the trip and back we drove home. There goes another trip into my journey annals, one that gets enriched every time we travel.

Oh, there goes little man to the garden to water the plants. Mission accomplished!!!