It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) together with the neighbouring High Elms Country Park.

[1] Located close to Charles Darwin's home, Down House, it was one of his favourite places and helped to inspire his work.

[4] It has a good diversity of chalk grassland species, including toothwort, adder's tongue and false oxlip.

[2] It is one of the few sites in the area to have remained almost unaltered since Darwin's day, due to the efforts of local naturalists.

Darwin's observations of orchids and their insect pollinators at Orchis Bank provided the evidence for his important book, Fertilisation of Orchids, published in 1862, and experts agree that it inspired his famous conclusion to On the Origin of Species: According to his son, Francis: Darwin's daughter, Henrietta Lichfield, wrote: 'Darwin's Landscape Laboratory', which included Down House and its gardens and Downe Bank, was the British Government's 2009 nomination for a World Heritage Site, but the application was unsuccessful.