We've just got back from a winter break in Cornwall as we could not be bothered with the hassle of searching for bargain flights to somewhere more exotic and what impressed us as much as the rugged coastline, quaint villages - and pasty shops on every corner - was a trip to the Eden Project.

The 'biomes' - the enormous hot-houses which look like alien space centres and transport you to the Med, California, South Africa, tropical rainforests and the Amazonian jungle - were amazing - but wear layers as it gets pretty steamy - and remember a cloth to wipe your camera lens!

From this week (and I am really sorry I was there before the "big freeze" had been completed) there will also be the chance to try out your Torvill & Dean skills on an enormous ice rink - open-air except for a canopy.

St. Ives' bay at night looked just as pretty as anything in Greece, and offered loads of interesting places to eat. Maybe it's a degree or two chillier, but it made me think how we jet-set off all over the world these days, when perhaps we should give our own very beautiful and varied 'back yard' more of a chance sometimes.

Updated: 09:09 Monday, October 24, 2005