12/05/07: Down House

Today, my blindfolded dart-throwing-on-a-map (or in reality, my ‘where can I go with my free-entry pass?’) decided to take me to Down House. This was the place where Charles Darwin spent most of his life and where he wrote the Origin of Species. It was a fairly uneventful sort of day. Just went out on the public transport nice and early. Walked around his gardens. It was especially good for me because I had arrived a little earlier than most and so got to walk around his gardens on my own. It’s so amazing how something that simple could put one’s mind at ease. He had a special path put in the backyard where he’d take his daily constitution. It’s nothing particularly special, and yet, it somehow was. Special enough for it to merit being proposed as a world heritage site though. Anyway. No pictures allowed inside, but it was basically a nice family home, not extravagant, but it has been maintained by the English Heritage society as it was based on photographs and stuff taken by Darwin’s son. He had a big family, and the artifacts in the house, the letters written by him, the newspapers and stuff shows him off to be a family man firstly, a good and loving husband, a decent and upstanding citizen, and a scientist and philosopher. Took some photos of the outside. All in all, one can walk away feeling much inspired by this great man. And I did.