After five years of preparation, Cornwall's Eden Project celebrated its long-awaited launch at the weekend by opening its doors to the world's biggest greenhouse to an excited public. The £86m project, which houses 250,000 plants under the roofs of its eight connecting biomes, was much anticipated with queues forming as early as 4am. Only three hours after opening, the attraction was full up. Visitors, however, were not turned away but asked to return later in the day, resulting in 7,000 visitors on its first official day. The annual visitor target is 750,000, but with 500,000 in the last 12 months just to see the building process in the giant St Austell quarry, project founder Tim Smit is encouraged that Eden can be a successful millennium project. However, the launch was toned down following concerns and protests from local farmers who sought to delay the opening due to the current foot and mouth crisis affecting the country. Some 30 local farmers protested outside the project, but organisers decided to go ahead with the launch following advice from the agricultural ministry.