Centres of Inspiration

All Britain’s best eco-visitor centres have never appeared together in one guide, with a little help Greenfutures magazine make that a thing of the past.

By Liam Bailey

In association with Friends Provident and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Greenfutures, a bi-monthly environmental news magazine have put together a 32 page full colour A5 booklet.  Locating the top 20 environmental and sustainability visitor centres on the map, free to download, Centres of Inspiration contains all information necessary to visit each of the centres, including up to date information about facilities, opening times, admission prices and how to visit on foot, by bike or using public transport.  The layout of the guide is excellent, having a central section containing all the general information about each centre, with all the visitor information in a separate section down the right hand side.
    
Greenfuture’s Hannah Bullock, editor of the guide said.  “We wanted to show that there’s a real wealth of centres right here on our doorstep in the UK.  Some are off the beaten track, hidden away in forests or on cycle trails, so you can make it a real day out.  The buildings are really innovative as well, using clever technology to make their own energy.  Anyone who’s at all curious about anything ‘green’ will come away inspired.”  Additional aims of the guide were to introduce more of the business sector to these excellent sustainable projects, i.e. environmentally friendly buildings that generate their own power and can be hired for events. As well as on the net copies of the guide are available free of charge at all visitor centres featured and elected tourist information centres across Britain.  In my opinion, and I’m sure all those of you who choose to obtain a copy of the guide will agree, Greenfutures magazine and their associates have succeeded in all their aims. 
   
The guide features twenty eco-visitor centres all excellent in their own different ways, three that I thought were particularly outstanding for one reason or another were:  The Horniman Museum and Gardens, London, outstanding because it is an amazingly informative museum, and has spectacular gardens definitely worthy of an entry fee, but entry is free.  The current museum opened in 1901 and along with the surrounding land dedicated by Frederick Horniman, as a gift to the people of London, forever for their recreation, instruction and enjoyment.  The original collection contained cultural artefacts, musical instruments, and natural history specimens.  Over the last century, the museum has added to the collection significantly, with original artefacts and specimens now making up only ten percent of the collection, for details of how to visit refer to the Centres of Inspiration guide.
    
Secondly the London Wetland Centre, outstanding because it is over 40 hectares of created atmospheric wetland, right in the heart of a capital city.  London Wetland Centre is also outstanding because of the amount of rare species regularly spotted there.  In 2002 it was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), because it was providing a suitable habitat for Gadwall and Shoveler Duck in nationally important numbers. The Centres of Inspiration guide contains full visitor details for this attraction.
   
Last but by no means least the The Eden Project, Cornwall, which I have covered in-depth see Ref 2: Eden Project Info.  After researching all the centres featured, the Eden Project became my favourite, because of the projects mission, and in my opinion it’s high likelihood of success. I’m sure you’ll agree when you’ve read the information, the Eden Project is doing something small but very special to help the world.
 
So, for all you eco-warriors out there, or just the growing number of people who are finally realising that we have to start treating our world with respect, this is the guide for you.  When you’ve read it I’m sure we’ll all agree that Greenfutures and their associates have succeeded in all their aims, with the bonus of creating increased publicity for these ecologically informative centres, which will in turn, up visitor numbers and therefore numbers of people knowledgeable in helping keep our planet healthy.  For the full list of the centres featured in the Centres of Inspiration guide see Ref 1: Centres Featured, I’m sure there’s a place for everyone. Check out this wonderful guide, find your place, and help your planet.

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Ref 1: Centres Featured

• The Eden Project, Cornwall.
• CCANW Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, Devon.
• Genesis Centre, Somerset.
• The Living Rainforest, Berkshire.
• BedZED Exhibition Centre, Surrey.
• The Horniman Museum and Gardens, London.
• London Wetland Centre.
• Ecotech Centre, Norfolk.
• Brocks Hill Country Park and Visitor Centre, Leicester.
• The Ecohouse, Leicester.
•  Attenborough Nature Centre, Nottingham.
• National Wildflower Centre, Merseyside.
• Solaris Centre, Blackpool.
• Meanwood Valley Urban Farm, Leeds.
• Nature’s World, Middlesborough.
•  English Nature, Nationwide.
• Our Dynamic Earth , Edinburgh.
• Craigencalt Ecology Centre, Fife.
• National Botanic Garden of Wales , Carmarthenshire.
• Centre for Alternative Technology, Powys.
• The Organic Centre , County Leitrim.
• Ecos Millenium Environmental Centre, Ballymena.

Ref 2: Eden Project Info.

Owned by registered charity the Eden Trust, the Eden project was set up to mark the year 2000, as one of the landmark Millennium projects in the UK and structured as an educational charitable trust.  The Eden Project’s mission: “to promote the understanding and responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people and resources leading to a sustainable future for all.”  The trust intends to make Eden a completely sustainable project, to act as a guideline for everyone.  They intend to do this by explaining how man constantly changing the world affects plants and the rest of the natural world, exploring the best way to compensate for these changes, and therefore reaching an understanding of what sustainability could mean.  Then, by running the project on these principles, when Eden has proved the project’s complete sustainability, these principles could and should become guidelines for a greener world.  As for every centre featured, full details necessary to visit the Eden project from anywhere in the UK can be found in the Centres of Inspiration guide.  You will also find out that the Eden project has something we can all be very proud of, “the worlds largest jungle in captivity” in the form of it’s huge biome’s, providing a suitable habitat for tropical specimens and plants, these bubble wrap domes maintain the necessary temperature of 35 degrees centigrade.