On the way back from my trip to Kent last October I met up with friends at Down House, the home of Charles Darwin from 1842 until his death in 1882.
The experience was not as enjoyable as the other places I had been visiting and at first I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the problem was. But then it dawned on me, English Heritage do those audio tour guides rather than having real people in the rooms to talk too. The audio guides are very informative but you can get a bit of information overload. Worst of all it means there are groups of zombie-like people all standing staring at the same thing for several minutes, it rather detracts from the experience.
You can probably tell from the photos that the sky was rather overcast although the rain did hold back until after we had finished our visit.
Cherie, is there any stately home you haven’t visited?
There are quite a few I haven’t visited, I need to plot my way around the country. Maybe I should find one over by you and take you on the grand tour of the estate?
I kno wat yu mean abowt the zombies!
This looks like a nice house though!
I think you would enjoy it, there are lots of places for a Bear to explore.
In the gardens I tracked down a fig tree and also one of those bee hives that are glass sided so you can watch the bees
Another house I’ve heard about but not visited – so thanks to you, for the chance to see something of it. Lovely pix, despite the weather. Oh, and I do so agree about the audio commentaries: far better to do a bit of research first, then explore at will & at your own pace.
I love using the guidebooks to go round and letting the room guides tell me of the most interesting features. It is a much better experience all round
“Down” House aptly named then?
I suppose you could say there were several types of Down
What an unusual-looking house. The zombies do look strange though I agree.
It does look really strange, it was added to over the years hence the fragmented look.