Down House (The Home of Charles Darwin)
View of house
In August I went to another English Heritage property this time it was Down House, it was about 2 hrs away from my flat
Down House (The Home of Charles Darwin)
Over a month ago we went to Down House the home of Charles Darwin the naturalist. He lived in the house from 1842 till his death in 1882
The house is quite interesting inside, the first floor is an exhibition of Darwin's work and life. This includes Darwin's time on THE BEAGLE and his work. also on this floor is some works of art and the family nursery which has the family tree and views to the garden
The downstairs of the house an audio tour takes you round each room explaining them in quite a lot of detail. I'm not keen on audio tours as I like to read the information not hear it, as you take time going through each menu for the items, reading them is a lot easier and less fussy to get tangled up!
The only annoying thing about the house was, I was not allowed to take photo's inside, so this does not help to explain the house to you guys!
The only place we where allowed to take pictures was the gardens, there is only one garden which is where the greenhouse is that holds orchids and insectivorous plants.
There is also a long vegetable/flower garden which is divided up by box hedging (which is suffering from Box caterpillars)
There is also the Sandwalk which is a short path through the woods which backs on to the field where some universities do experiments with plants and is a mild flower meadow. We also saw Deer here to
The main garden is divided up to grass lawn with a few plants at the side in a formal setting with purple colours and a sundial. There are a few trees on the left-hand side, including a Mulberry tree, and at the end a field of fungi which is not open to walk through.
We took a picnic this time as we were going out to a Beefeater for dinner. There were a lot of suitable picnic tables in the orchard.
I found the experience of coming to Down house a little bit disappointing even though I enjoyed myself, I thought that there was more to explore it terms of the garden even though we got a tour which was very good, but that was probably the way the Darwins' liked it so the experiments could happen, if you expect large formal garden you will disappoint.
As normal I had a look in the gift shop, my dad bought me these
Postcards - £0.60 each, Postcard - £0.15
Fridge Magnet - £3.75 each
Guide Book - £4.50
For more information about events and opening times is on their website
What places did you visit are you going to visit this year?
All admission prices and opening times are available on the English Heritage Website, App or on social media
*My parents are English Heritage members, so they paid for my admission *
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