After having left Amanda's house (and stroking the yowling caseopeah goodbye..)we went straight to Down House (where Darwin lived). Ok, so the weather was slightly dull and grey but we still had a good time. The house was CROWDED and slightly claustrophobic. As usual, you had the idiot who coudln't read the signs like "please do not touch any objects", "no photos" etc ... and the screaming kids. However, once we got out into the garden it was a lot nicer (although cold and wet!). Chesca and I walked around and took pics of the huge drops of water hanging off the leaaves in the flower beds. Then, we went to the greenhouse which was painted a lovely bright blue. Among the orchids and sundew plants was a sac filled with spider eggs. Tiny spiders were crawling out of the cracks in the wood and it was the type of thing that made you shudder. However, it did make a really good picture so I spent about 1/2 an hour getting shots of them climbing up the thin silk threads to the plants.
