Downe House

Museum in
Downe House image
Address
Luxted Road, Downe, Kent , BR6 7JT
Telephone
0370 333 1181
Category
Museums
Nearest Station
Chelsfield
3.19 miles

Down House is not just a building with some interesting period features, this was once the home of Charles Darwin. In fact, this is where he wrote his ground-breaking book ‘On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection’. The room where he compiled his theories, complete with his writing desk and armchair, remain largely the same. Around the home you’ll also see a grand piano, original furniture, manuscripts, artefacts he collected on his travels, correspondence between Darwin and his family and friends, and a copy of Das Kapital inscribed to him by Karl Marx.

The garden has also been carefully preserved and is of equal importance to the house as this is where he developed many of his landmark ideas on the reproduction of plants. You can pick up multimedia, hand-held guides narrated by one Sir David Attenborough as you tour the house, and should you get peckish there’s a café located in the Darwin family’s old kitchen.

Downe House Picture Gallery

Downe House Picture

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