Last week, I visited Western England, mostly hiking and ahem, eating, in a quixotic effort to both get away from the computer and to trim down the winter fat my bathroom scale tells me has been on the increase.

The height of the tour, and reason for this blog entry, was my visit to The Eden Project, which looks like this:

Besides being a massive indoor garden, the project is interesting because it took something that no longer had any value (a eco-disaster-zone, namely a used-up clay mine) and found a way to turn it into something of great value.

Here is what the same spot looked like when the Eden Project took it over:

A spirit of trust and openness pervades the place. For instance, as you approach the gate, there is a simple sign indicating "go here if you need to buy a ticket, or else go this way if you don't" and then... nobody checks to make sure you really do have the right ticket.

The same spirit carries through to the cafeteria, where I found this sign:

next to this cornucopia of deserts:

Like BookMooch, the Eden Project is trusting people to do the right thing, which is the kind of place most people want to live in. And ... it's a massive success, with over a million people visiting each year.

It's almost 5 hours' drive from London, but really worth it!

On a slightly different-but-similar topic, I spent a day mushroom foraging with author and River Cottage celebrity John Wright:

Mushroom foraging is another one of those activities taking something that has no commercial value and turning it into something great (when you have the right knowledge and skill to know which mushrooms you can eat). Unfortunately, while I was very good at finding hidden mushrooms, I appear to also be very good at finding the inedible species. Ah well.

John Wright occasionally runs these foragings for the Summer Lodge in Dorset, where I stayed two nights so I could go on the forage.

Now I just need to find a local mushroom expert in California (Marin County) to check all my gatherings and make sure I don't poison myself!

-john

On my list of places to visit now!!

peace

the Bookmooch Wiki entry on journalling:
The_BookMooch_Journal_Project

and The_BookMooch_Journal_Project site page about how journalling works:
http://bookmoochjournals.com/about/

and BookMooch Journals forum:
BookMooch Journals

if they would wish to join in this aspect of Bookmooch.

Members should look at the bio of The Bookmooch Journal Library (charity) id: bmjl, and add themselves as a friend of the charity if they wish to participate. On this page one can identify the local shelf of the library and find out something about journalling.

We hope all our journallers will be willing to consider sending journals where ever they are requested, to keep them circulating.

I am sure there are journals where your travels would be appropriate matters to add as a permanent record of your thoughts and travels John, - this blog would be perfect in 1,000 places to see before you die for instance!
Gill

dreamingtikay
;~})