Charles Dickens Museum

Charles Dickens Museum Review

This is one of the few London houses Charles Dickens (1812-70) inhabited that is still standing—and is the place where the master wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby and finished Pickwick Papers. The house looks exactly as it would have in Dickens's day, complete with first editions, letters, and a tall clerk's desk (where the master wrote standing up, often while chatting with visiting friends and relatives). Down in the basement is a replica of the Dingley Dell kitchen from Pickwick Papers. A program of changing special exhibitions gives insight into the Dickens family and the author's works, with sessions where, for instance, you can try your own hand with a quill pen. Visitors have reported a "presence" upstairs in the Mary Hogarth bedroom, where Dickens's sister-in-law died—see for yourself! Christmas is a memorable time to visit, as the rooms are decorated in traditional style: better than any televised costume drama, this is the real thing (tickets must be pre-booked for December 24-26). Extensively redeveloped as part of the author's bicentenary, the museum also houses a shop and café.