His childhood didn't forecast what he would become. He wasn't an eager student, but he was interested in nature. When he was a young man, his father sent him off to study medicine in Edinburgh. He left after two years, later to graduate from Christ's College, Cambridge.

But in his early 20s, Darwin undertook an extraordinary adventure, five years on the HMS Beagle as a naturalist, sailing around South America. In the Galapagos, he notably saw dissimilarities between tortoises and finches on different Islands. An official there mentioned that he could tell which island a tortoise was from by the shape of its shell. This planted the seed of ideas -- adaptation, evolution.

On the long voyage, Darwin sent home specimens of fossils, birds and plants, along with letters of his observations. He arrived back in London already known to scientists. He'd found his niche.

A few years later he married his cousin, Emma. They shared a grandfather, Josiah Wedgwood, the famous potter. Their family ties were such that they were comfortably well off. They soon sought a quiet place in the country to raise their children where Darwin could carry on his work. That place was Down House, where today visitors are welcome.

The comfortable, spacious family home in Kent is only a few miles yet a world away from busy London. As well as a home base for Darwin, a devoted family man and father of 10, this was where he worked, experimented, observed and wrote.

 He had a most disciplined life of work, once observing that "A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life."

Today, upstairs in Down House, Darwin's small cabin aboard the Beagle is represented, complete with a hammock, his scientific instruments and a holographic actor who narrates the story.

His study contains many pieces of original furniture, such as his Pembroke work table. Also on display are some of the barnacles he studied for eight years. A well-worn horsehair armchair has castors so Darwin could easily move it about.

It wasn't fancy, but worked for him as a place for his experiments, to compose his works, to write to other scientists. There he read his notebooks from the voyage and ordered his thoughts on the transmutation of the species.

Three times a day he strolled on the Sandwalk, shaded by trees on one side, quite a way from the house. A granddaughter called it his "thinking path," a place of exercise and reflection. Not far away are the greenhouses where he grew orchids to explore the link to insect pollinators. Besides "Origin," he wrote on many other books on botanical subjects.

Darwin worked constantly, but one daughter said a proof of how good a playfellow he was was that his son Leonard, when he was about 4, tried to bribe his father -- offering sixpence -- to come and play during working hours.

The one social engagement of the day, if there were guests, was luncheon at 1 p.m., served by two liveried servants and using the Wedgwood china. The dining room has three tall windows facing the garden and also contains family portraits.

 In the evenings, in the blue drawing room, Darwin would relax on the chaise longue as Emma played the piano, once placing a pot of earthworms on it to test their hearing. The couple read, and there were nightly games of backgammon. On the walls are their 1840 portraits, Darwin, 31, and Emma, a very young-looking 32. She bore their last child at 48.

For Darwin and his long-time butler, Parslow, there were occasional trips to the billiard room for a game. He did not take his staff for granted, and a wing added later included a suite of rooms for them.

"It seemed so selfish to make the house so luxurious for ourselves and not comfortable for our servants," was his comment.

Darwin was chronically ill most of his adult life. One theory is he had a form of Chagas' disease, acquired in South America, resulting in digestive disorders. Stress was also possible, considering his controversial writings, as was a desire to avoid social distractions. In his autobiography he writes of his condition with regret.

However, he was always at ease with his wife and children. Daughter Henrietta recalled, "We were always free to go where we would. He cared for all our pursuits and interests and lived our lives with us in a way that very few fathers do."

Whether spending time with family, writing in his study or checking on his orchids, he always seemed totally focused.

"My life goes on like clockwork," he once said, "and I am fixed on the spot where I shall end it."

That spot was Down House. He died April 19, 1882, at age 74, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. He would like to have known that in April 2010 Professors Peter and Rosemary Grant received the Kyoto Prize for their 37 years of visiting the Galapagos Islands on field research trips, demonstrating the rapid evolution of Darwin's finches in response to environmental change.

Charles Darwin's home, Down House, in Kent, England, is now open to visitors. Photos courtesy of English Heritage.

IF YOU GO

For further information, visit www.english-heritage.org.uk, go to Days Out, then Properties. Type "Down House" into the search box for information about hours of operation and how to get there from London.    

Closer to home: An excellent traveling Darwin exhibition will be in Calgary, Canada, Telus World of Science, Oct. 9, 2010, to Jan. 2, 2011; Atlanta, Ga., Fernbank Natural History Museum, Sept. 23, 2011, to Jan. 1, 2012; San Antonio, Texas, Witte Museum, Feb. 18 to July 29, 2012.

Janet Sutter is a freelance travel writer based in San Diego. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.