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Down House The Home of Charles Darwin Please email us at [email protected].
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Charles Darwin's Home

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Back to School! 🍎✏️Did you know that in September 1818, a 9 year old Charles Darwin started his first term at Shrewsbury...
03/09/2026

Back to School! 🍎✏️

Did you know that in September 1818, a 9 year old Charles Darwin started his first term at Shrewsbury School?

If your kids are dreading going back to school this week, just tell them they are in famous company!

Darwin really didn't enjoy school and went on to describe Shrewsbury as "simply a blank" for his mind, preferring to sneak off and study insects and chemistry instead. Even though traditional schooling wasn't necessarily a natural fir for him, his curiosity outside of the classroom changed our understanding of science and the natural world forever.

Here's to a brand new school year, encouraging curious minds and supporting different learning styles inside and outside of the classroom! 📚

02/09/2026

Today we went on one of our bumblebee conservation walks 🐝

This is where our volunteers identify and note down the types of bees in our garden... we even accidentally caught a wasp!

This is part of a wider partnership with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust , where valuable work goes into learning how to better protect our bees! 💛🍯

On this day, 24th August in 1831, John Stevens Henslow wrote a very important letter to Charles Darwin, inviting him to ...
24/08/2026

On this day, 24th August in 1831, John Stevens Henslow wrote a very important letter to Charles Darwin, inviting him to board the HMS Beagle. ✉️

Henslow was Darwin's mentor and former Cambridge professor. In the handwritten letter he wrote:

"My dear Darwin...

I have been asked by Peacock who will read & forward this to you from London to recommend him a naturalist as companion to Capt Fitzroy employed by Government to survey the S. extremity of America— I have stated that I consider you to be the best qualified person I know of who is likely to undertake such a situation...

The Voyage is to last 2 yrs. & if you take plenty of Books with you, any thing you please may be done— You will have ample opportunities at command...

Don’t put on any modest doubts or fears about your disqualifications for I assure you I think you are the very man they are in search of.

J. S. Henslow"

23/08/2026

Darwin once spent decades examining the finest details of nature right here at Down House and we just got to experience a piece of that ourselves! 🌿

A weekend was well spent under the lens by many a guest at our Microscopy Weekend here at Down House! 🔬
A huge thank you to the brilliant members of the Quekett Microscopical Club and our dedicated English Heritage volunteers for sharing their knowledge, passion, and incredible setups. Discovering details you can’t see with the naked eye! 👁

Do keep an eye out for any future events here at Charles Darwin's House!

Something for the kids!! 🧫🔬Here at Down House, our Microscopy Weekend is just as much for the little scientists as it is...
22/08/2026

Something for the kids!! 🧫🔬

Here at Down House, our Microscopy Weekend is just as much for the little scientists as it is for the big ones!

Along with a large array of microscopes to scope through, from antique ones similar to the very ones Darwin used, to modern day technology too, the kids can also enjoy some arts and crafts making and designing your own cells! 🦠

Our Microscopy Weekend is off to a great start! 🔬Today at Down House we explored hands on demonstrations and interactive...
22/08/2026

Our Microscopy Weekend is off to a great start! 🔬

Today at Down House we explored hands on demonstrations and interactive stations looking through the lenses of both antique and modern microscopes, discovering hidden details up close of the natural world and beyond.

Tomorrow we get to do it all over again!

Come and experience science and the natural world just as Darwin did through the microscopic lense 🔬🦠

Find out more and how to book tickets in the comment below 🎟

Happy National Non-Profit Day! ❤️Today is all about celebrating and recognizing charities such as English Heritage, whos...
17/08/2026

Happy National Non-Profit Day! ❤️

Today is all about celebrating and recognizing charities such as English Heritage, whose dedication keeps history alive for generations to come.

As an independent charity, English Heritage relies on your visits, memberships and donations to help preserve over 400 historic sites, including here at Down House. 🏰

Thankyou to all our supporters, volunteers and visitors, your support helps keep history alive!

A big thank you from all the staff and volunteers at Down House to everyone who has donated their books! 📚Our second-han...
09/08/2026

A big thank you from all the staff and volunteers at Down House to everyone who has donated their books! 📚

Our second-hand bookshop is looking wonderfully stocked, and that’s all thanks to your generous donations ❤️

Looking for your next great read? 📖Whether purchasing a book in our gift shop such as Darwin's "On the Origin of Species...
09/08/2026

Looking for your next great read? 📖

Whether purchasing a book in our gift shop such as Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" or finding a book from our second hand book shop, Down House is the perfect place to celebrate National Book Lovers Day today! 📚

We've even updated our price list in our second hand book shop with easy accessible pricing dots!

Come and have a look for yourself and find your next read...

We’re following in Charles Darwin’s footsteps at Down House with new technology to help us monitor pollinator population...
07/08/2026

We’re following in Charles Darwin’s footsteps at Down House with new technology to help us monitor pollinator populations.

The Sensibee unit is an autonomous system that records, identifies and analyses pollinator activity all year round. By tracking the insects that visit the gardens, it gives us valuable information about the wildlife at this site. Down House has a long history of pollinator research. Darwin, with the help of his children, observed about the flight paths of bumblebees in the gardens as part of his scientific studies between 1854 and 1861. 🐝

Today, the Sensibee unit sits alongside recreations of some of Darwin’s other experiments, including the W**d Garden and the Experimental Beds. This modern monitoring program continues Down House’s contribution to the study of biodiversity, and will support wider research to show the value of historic gardens and landscapes for wildlife. 🌼

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Luxted Road, Downe
Orpington
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