An Eyeful of Sweets

The London Eye landscape transforms into an Enchanted Easter Garden

London, February 2009

Easter is just around the corner and between 3 – 19 April the capital’s most iconic landmark, the London Eye, is celebrating by bringing an Enchanted Easter Garden to life. This will be no ordinary garden of course; its plants and flowers will be laden with delicious sweets and chocolates, with rhymes and riddles that lead you along a mini treat trail through the garden.

Step into a world where London was once made completely from chocolate, sweets and scrumptious treats. The roads were paved with liquorice, the Thames flowed pure milk chocolate and Buckingham Palace was made of bricks of golden butterscotch. Now though, the Enchanted Easter Garden, surrounding the London Eye, is the only bit of the city left.

Each year in the Enchanted Easter Garden the city’s Chief Sweetie Grower, Jemima Jellybean carefully grows a wonderful crop of sweets, with enough to keep all of London content. Once all the sweets and chocolates are ready they are packed into the largest cantilevered sweetie dispenser ever invented – the London Eye - and distributed across the capital.

This year, however, Jemima Jellybean is struggling to come up with some exciting sweetie concoctions and is appealing to Londoners to help her to think up some new recipes. Over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend (9 – 13 April), Jemima Jellybean will be down at the Enchanted Easter Garden to meet budding sweetie makers and take their flavouring and design suggestions. For some inspiration, visitors can even take a special themed Easter Delight Flight and discover the secret sweet history of London’s famous landmarks, while tasting some of the delicious sweets and chocolates for themselves along the way!

The Easter excitement doesn’t need to end there though. The London Eye is encouraging visitors to recreate the magic of London in its former sweetie splendour by building models of London landmarks out of sweets. Entrants can then submit a photograph of their model on the London Eye website for the chance to win a Merlin Entertainment Family Annual Pass which will entitle the lucky winner and family free entry for a year to Merlin’s top attractions such as Thorpe Park, London Dungeon, the London Aquarium and Madame Tussauds .

So, be sure to bring the whole family down to discover all the treats the Enchanted Easter Garden has to offer including an onsite competition, colourful characters and, of course, candies galore.