PICTURE four senior citizens riding a bicycle for eight - one of only two in the world.

This was the exciting finale to our visit to the Earth Centre at Conisbrough, near Doncaster.

We expected our visit to be interesting but were completely unprepared for the inspiring and exciting buildings and gardens, spread over 400 acres of what was Conisbrough Colliery.

There's something to appeal to all ages, from a really unusual and exciting playground - beautiful forest gardens, examples of solar power everywhere - to the Planet Earth Experience,a kaleidoscope of colour, images and sounds.

In the loo there is even a notice thanking you for contributions which are whisked away using only one litre of water, to the Earth Centre vacuum (negative pressure) sewerage system, which purifies the waste on site as it were. What a saving in water if this method were universal.

The staff and guides are all so helpful and enthusiastic, which made our visit even more pleasant, and as we left, one of the guides told us his fleece jacket was made from 20 recycled plastic bottles. Now there's food for thought.

Jean and Arthur Glover,

Bishopthorpe Road,

South Bank, York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.