1880s sketch of the Darwins' garden at the Mount, Shrewsbury. Courtesy the Leach family, via BBC
Rising early each morning, the young Charles Darwin and his brother Erasmus were led by their father Robert on a walk of silent contemplation around the grounds of their home in Shropshire.
The daily ritual lasted about half an hour and was designed to encourage the boys to reflect upon what they hoped to achieve with their day and how they would set about it.
The Thinking Path made such a great impression on the future author of On the Origin of Species that Darwin created his own Sandwalk route when he set up home in Kent with his wife Emma…
Read more in the BBC News article or find out about Darwin’s home, Down House.
It obviously left a great impression on me when I went there too – as I made this film of it:
http://youtu.be/o_EOFcDmsDs
A rather creepy, trippy affair in retrospect.
Posted by annafaherty | February 19, 2012, 00:16