Woolsthorpe Manor is the Lincolnshire farmhouse where Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day 1642, and where the plague sent him back from Cambridge in 1665 for the 18 months of discovery known as his Year of Wonders. In the 17th-century house you can stand in the room where he split sunlight with a prism and look out on the Flower of Kent apple tree that inspired his thinking on gravity, still growing in the orchard. The hands-on Science Centre lets visitors try his experiments, and the village church where he was baptised (not National Trust) is a short walk away. Newton's Barn coffee shop and a second-hand bookshop complete the site; dogs are allowed on leads in the courtyard only. Reviewers praise the knowledgeable guides and say children linger longest in the Science Centre; the house itself is compact, with steps, narrow doorways and small rooms. One tip from visitors: ask for a timed entry to the manor house when you arrive.
