Courtesy of yearly visits to a supplier based in London plus friends with a gorgeous flat on the Thames I have been in London at lest once a year for the past decade. Ian can attest to it as we tend to have a few pints in the process.

Apart from the bar visits, the walks along the Thames and the German school in Greenwich we normally try to include an excursion, if possible WHS related. But after a few years we had tackled all WHS of the extended London Hotspot plus most of the surrounding tentative sites. Eventually all that was left was Darwin's Landscape Laboratory in Downe. So on a Sunday in summer, we drove by car to Downe to see what the tentative site was about.

Quite frankly, the site was underwhelming. This is a typical, not even especially beautiful English manor of the period. The gardens show very little actual gardening and are not impressive.

The on site museum tries to tell the story of Charles Darwin's life, his family and his research. I tend not to enjoy these too much. But I learned two things of note in the process:

• In the 19th century people like Charles Darwin were quite well off, being able to afford a leisurely lifestyle without working.
• Publish or perish was not a concept in 19th century academia as Darwin sat on his results for more than a decade.

OUV

The key problem with the site is that the connection with Darwin's work is primarily via the location: This is where Darwin slept, ate and sat in his study. The critical parts of his research, meanwhile, were conducted elsewhere. So, in the end this site is more about the intangible idea of evolution than a tangible part of Darwin's research. Consequentially, this does not belong on the list.

Getting There

We drove by car. On our way back my friends left me off at Camden from where I went directly to Gatwick Airport for my flight back home.