Eden's Great Day Out programme

The Great Day Out programme reaches out to those people whom we most want to visit, but who are least likely to come. By offering groups a facilitated, tailor-made experience, we help these visitors build confidence and take positive steps forward. Our aims are to:

• Positively engage people who wouldn’t normally visit Eden
• Offer informal education
• Build confidence and increase motivation
• Support people to find direction, leading to volunteering, training or employment

What happens on a Great Day Out?

We design each bespoke visit to include a variety of elements:

• An Eden Journey: a personalised tour through the site, which encourages groups to share ideas and life stories, and to learn more about each other, our interpendence and the world around us.
• A peek behind the scenes: an opportunity to meet the people who work at Eden and understand how they got there and what makes them tick.
• A hands-on activity: These include things like arts, craft and photography, storytelling, gardening, cooking, skating, den building, guided journeys, workshops on climate change, fair trade, recycling, compost making, container gardening, confidence building, role models, team building, events and exhibitions.
• Follow-up work: We work with our partners back in the community to create lasting impacts. For example, we have supported garden projects, hosted exhibitions and run therapeutic storytelling workshops in hostels.

What are the benefits of a Great Day Out?

So far, we have run nearly 200 Great Days Out, involving over 1,900 people from more than 50 partner agencies. We love running Great Day Out because we often see participants taking their first step towards getting their life back on track. The programme also challenges society's perceptions about socially excluded people.

What participants tell us:

• 95% enjoyed the day and thought it was great or good
• 92% wanted further involvement with Great Day Out
• 43% wanted to learn more
• 80% intend to take positive action
• 16% wanted to volunteer at Eden
• 61% said their perception had changed positively
• 93% felt positive, inspired, normal, or that they had learned something

What partners tell us:

• 95% felt it was a positive experience for them and their groups
• 97% noticed positive changes in their clients' behaviour, mood and attitude
• 79% said they would change the way they work as a result of the programme

Who is it for?

Great Day Out can benefit socially excluded groups such as:

• homeless people
• offenders
• excluded young people
• young carers
• young people in or about to leave care
• people with learning disabilities
• people with physical disabilities
• people with mental health issues
• people with substance abuse problems
• refugees and asylum seekers
• women in refuges
• the unemployed

How to arrange a group visit

If you work with a group who would benefit from a Great Day Out and would like to find out more about the programme please contact us on 01726 818827, or email greatdayout@edenproject.com. You can also fill in our booking form if you're ready to book a Great Day Out.

How much it costs

Great Day Out is a subsidised programme and we are continually applying for funding to make it as accessible as possible. For this reason prices may vary.

Typically, though, it costs £200 per visit for a group of up to 20 people. This would include entry to Eden and the planning and facilitation of activities during the day, but it does not include food and refreshments (£10 per person) or ice skating during the winter months (£5 per person).