American in London: Birthplace of Programming

The main entrance to Lady Ada Lovelace's Mansion

The blurred corner of nostalgia and déjà vu is the feeling I often find in European villages. Especially on that first time in town, you can almost see a veiled mist of success as you walk each cobbled street of days gone by.

Today I visited the house where computer programming began. Lady Ada Lovelace. Such a beautiful name and such a beautiful contribution to what has now shifted the very civilization within which we live.

172 years ago, Lady Ada was a genius mathematician who happened to know a gentleman named Charles Babbage. Charles created an 'analytical engine', which was basically the first computer. Lady Ada was able to write and process an algorithm through that machine, making her the first computer programmer. One of the programming languages created 135 years after her algorithm was named Ada in her honour.

There is a striking and memorable set of earth tones as you walk the halls of the mansion. Rich browns, reds tans and blacks light the stone based hallways. There's a stunning little chapel within the mansion that truly reminded me of the Vatican. The house is now used as a conference and training centre, often hosting weddings.

It's about a 20 minute walk from the train station. The walk takes you through the quaint town of Horsley. Apparently Horsley has the highest number of houses sold over £1 million in the past year. As my friend and I walked the narrow streets and walkways, he was actually struck by the side mirror of a passing car! Shockingly, he was perfectly fine and barely even felt it. Unbelievable.

We were much more careful on our walk back, walking single file. It was harder to continue our conversation that way, but we made it happen. Overall, if you have an interest in computer programming, I would see if its possible to visit Lady Ada's mansion, I think it puts things into perspective. Once you're in town, it's half a day well spent.