Caitlin Guest, winner of the Divine Chocolate Poetry Competition read her poem at Eden
Paul and Kojo in the biomes at the Eden ProjectPhotos accredited to the Eden Project
Another early start, another hearty fry-up (with extra mushrooms and bacon) and we were back on the train, headed to St Austell in Cornwall. We were greeted at the station by the multi-coloured Monroe Shephard from the Eden Project. He took us to meet the St Austell Fairtrade steering committee and local council members before leading us around a number of shops taking part in St Austell’s ‘Fairtrade trail’. Kojo and Paul were delighted to see shops stocking the Divine Easter Eggs and one bookseller kindly gave Paul a bible.
After lunch we were taken to the steamy wonderland of Eden Project’s tropical Biome. Kojo and Paul were astonished to be introduced to Hetty – Eden’s very own cocoa farmer! – before being introduced to Eden’s very own cocoa trees! The winner of the Divine Poetry competition (12-16years age group), Caitlin Guest, had made a special trip to Eden to meet the farmers. We were privileged enough to hear a live reading of her winning poem ‘Not Just Cocoa’.
School groups were treated to first hand stories of cocoa farming in Ghana and Paul gave a live demonstration of splitting open a cocoa pod with a machete! Visitors were given the rare opportunity to sample the fruity pulp of the cocoa seed in the Biome and the chance to sample delicious Divine Chocolate up in Eden’s shop. Having seen the biome Kojo said “I can’t believe that all the plants we were telling you about are here. We’ll have to watch out ... soon Eden will be growing cocoa for the UK’s chocolate!”.
After lunch we were taken to the steamy wonderland of Eden Project’s tropical Biome. Kojo and Paul were astonished to be introduced to Hetty – Eden’s very own cocoa farmer! – before being introduced to Eden’s very own cocoa trees! The winner of the Divine Poetry competition (12-16years age group), Caitlin Guest, had made a special trip to Eden to meet the farmers. We were privileged enough to hear a live reading of her winning poem ‘Not Just Cocoa’.
School groups were treated to first hand stories of cocoa farming in Ghana and Paul gave a live demonstration of splitting open a cocoa pod with a machete! Visitors were given the rare opportunity to sample the fruity pulp of the cocoa seed in the Biome and the chance to sample delicious Divine Chocolate up in Eden’s shop. Having seen the biome Kojo said “I can’t believe that all the plants we were telling you about are here. We’ll have to watch out ... soon Eden will be growing cocoa for the UK’s chocolate!”.
