When the sun goes down, avenues of festive lights illuminate the trees and pathways, and pulsating colours emanate from the two Biomes. It’s the perfect antidote to garishly decorated shopping malls, and tacky coca-cola style TV ad campaigns, and shows that there can be a classier side to Yuletide if we are prepared to make the effort.

This year there is even more reason to make the trip down. After receiving a call from a friend who worked for Rolls Royce, Chief Executive Tim Smit was persuaded to hotfoot it over to SOAS (School Of Oriental and African Studies) in London, to see a photographic exhibition by the Barefoot College of Tilonia. So impressed was he by what he saw, that he invited Barefoot College founder Bunker Roy to help set up a winter long celebration at the Eden Project, showcasing the amazing sights and sounds of Rajasthan. These include the photographic exhibition curated by Varda Polak Sahm, and featuring remarkable shots taken on simple cameras chronicling the Barefoot College’s activities since it was founded in the small village of Tilonia, 500 miles South-West of New Delhi, in 1971.

The Barefoot College “is the only College in India built by the poor for the poor, and for the last 34 years, managed and controlled and owned by the poor,” states Roy. It attempts to follow the teachings and lifestyle of Mahatma Gandhi who famously remarked: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight and then you win.” Roy points out that it’s one of the few colleges where degrees, diplomas, or doctorates could be a disqualification, because the “worth of a person is judged by his or her honesty, integrity, compassion, practical skills, creativity, and their ability to work with people without discrimination.”

Opening the celebrations on Saturday 10th December was Indian High Commissioner Mr Kamalesh Sharma, who gave a fine, and satisfyingly to-the-point speech about the efforts of Bunker Roy and Tim Smit, and of the close ties between England and India. Showing remarkable humility and honesty for a politician, he stated that the world is at a crossroads, and faces a calamitous future unless we stop trying to destroy the environment, and each other. HRH Prince Charles is a long-time supporter of the Barefoot College, and the Eden Project, and sent a note of support read out by Smit, in his typically unpretentious and enthusiastic manner.

Also making the trip over to the UK was a superb troupe of Rajasthani musicians, puppeteers, and street players, who faced a welcoming, if not freezing cold introduction to the Eden spectacle.

The only negative aspect was the distinct lack of interest from the national press whose Londoncentric sensibilities were once again made painfully clear. One can’t help speculating that had the Eden Project been built in the Home Counties, it would be receiving far greater coverage amongst the national dailies. Luckily, it continues to thrive, and remains one of the finest and most daringly audacious attractions in the United Kingdom, if not the world.

The main photographic exhibition is held in Eden’s new £15 million education centre The Core, and its main restaurant Morocco Red. The Core is an extraordinary architectural achievement, with its remarkable timber beamed roof based on Fibonacci spirals - a pattern found in many natural forms including the seeds of a sunflower head.