HERE'S a hot tip, visit the Eden Project in Cornwall on a scorching day because most people head for the Doctor Who-style Biomes on wet days, reasoning that it's an attraction with instant shelter.

Be patient, the long and winding road from the busy A30, which links to northern routes, does eventually lead to the well-signposted £86m Gardens of Eden, at the bottom of a disused clay quarry.

And be prepared for your jaw to hit the floor at the first sight of the massive honeycomb of hexagonal-windowed domes nestling in the pit below. It's hardly surprising the scaffold required to build the domes, all 230 miles of it, made The Guinness Book of Records as a world record.

Arriving with a wheelchair user - my older son Luke - meant we parked in the same zone as daytripper coaches, which is a lot closer than the car-owning majority are allowed to encroach.

As predicted, we sailed past a sign saying "You are 20 minutes wait from the entrance" and raced through the visitor centre perched above the project.

Cleverly, the approach is festooned with Chinese-style flags which plume impressively in the breeze straight from the nearby English Channel. It really does feel you're part of the Boxer hoardes storming down the sides of the Great Wall of China in the epic movie 55 Days In Peking. Only we're armed with cameras and a packed lunch.

The temptation is to brush aside the carefully planted exterior, which is going to look pretty impressive in years to come, and giant bee sculptures to reach the "theatre of plants and people".

Even on a quietish Tuesday morning, the impact inside is more people than plants, plus the soft hiss of plant sprayers. Saving our planet is the new religion and in this cathedral of environmental care the audience moves in over-awed near-silence from greenery to recreated scenery. The path to the top of the reproduced waterfall is beyond our Dr Livingstone-style expedition (there's steps) but we press on bravely past a warning to Turn Left Now if you can't take half-an-hour's heat in the 30 degree Humid Tropics Biome. Who would seriously give up the chance to see attempts to grow the plants which bring us cola, chewing gum, rubber, chocolate, rice, coffee, pineapple, sugar, bananas and bamboo? Some efforts are in their infancy, like the recent headlines made about introducing frogs and lizards. But the cameras click and the odd head is ducked beneath the water vapour-making sprayheads as the midday sun beats down on insiders in search of the rainforest effect.

Water bottles are being drained long before we hit the Warm Temperate Biome - here it's only hot enough to reproduce The Mediterranean Basin, South Africa and California - and marvel at the newly-planted citrus groves and grape vines.

There's still an area the size of 30 football pitches to explore and the project, which has attracted one million visitors since it opened last year, puts on circus shows and fashion parades as its intrepid explorers head for the caf, restaurants and ice cream stall (a small tub will set you back £1.30).

The fact you've just viewed some of the 135,000 wonders of the plant world does pale a little when you're seeking shelter for an impromptu picnic - restaurant prices are always rough on families of four or five.

Otherwise, this is the attraction dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World which really does grow on you.

FACTFILE

Directions: The Eden Project is just off the A391 and A390 between St Austell and St Blazey. The nearest train station is St Austell. Buses run daily from St Austell and Newquay. For details call Truronian on (01872) 273453

Opening hours: Eden is open every day except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 10am-6pm (car parks open 9:30am, last visit 5pm). There's late opening during the school summer holidays until 8pm on Wednesdays and Fridays

Cost: £9.50 per adult, £4 for 15 and under (under-fives are free), £7.50 for senior citizens and £5 for students or a family ticket (two plus three) for £22. A small guidebook costs £3.50.

For more details contact Eden Project, Bodelva, St Austell, Cornwall, PL24 2SG. Tel (01726) 811911 or use the project's website: www.edenproject.com