Project background
The idea for the Eden Project, ‘the living theatre of people and plants’, was born at the restored Victorian ‘Heligan Gardens’ in Cornwall. Heligan’s project founder, Tim Smit, noticed that visitors were fascinated by the detail of how plants are used to produce food and also by the ‘stories’ related to individual plants - where they came from and how they are used in their indigenous countries.

This interest sparked his ambition to grow a wider range of plants which would tell these ‘stories’. At first it was a small greenhouse at Heligan but then a unique opportunity arose; the British government launched the Millennium Fund.

The fund called for ideas for projects that would enhance our cultural lives. Tim Smit gathered together a team of advisers and experts who could actually develop the idea and build the vision.