Place | Extract |
| Boulogne-sur-Mer | The family stayed at l'hôtel des Bains in Boulogne, n°69 rue de l'écu (now rue Victor Hugo), before leaving for Genoa in Italy the following day... |
| Boulogne-sur-Mer | Beaucourt-Mutuel’s house and of the beauty of the property... |
| Broadstairs | Dickens entertained extensively at Broadstairs and was often inviting his friends to stay... |
| Broadstairs | Mr and Mrs Dickens entertained a great deal in Broadstairs... |
| Broadstairs | However, he often mentioned in his letters a certain Ballard, whom he found difficult to bear... |
| Broadstairs | Dickens was obviously enjoying the summer in Broadstairs when he wrote this letter entreating his friend Mark Lemon and his wife to come visit the family in Broadstairs... |
| Broadstairs | He was also well acquainted with some of its outlandish characters and frequently described and sometimes satirised them in his letters... |
| Broadstairs | This letter depicts a town that is a far cry from the sunny seaside place that Dickens describes in other letters... |
| Broadstairs | However he is left with the only other alternative, which was to use the roads – a far less comfortable and easy way of travelling... |
| Broadstairs | The weather being stormy Dickens ‘has no other choice but to return by land’ and seems to regret not being able to make use of the steam-boats... |
| Broadstairs | One of the reasons why Dickens prized Broadstairs so much was that it had an aura of tranquillity around it that allowed him to recuperate from his busy career and write in peace and quiet... |
| Broadstairs | By the time this letter was written (1843) Dickens knew Broadstairs well and had come to establish certain routines there as this letter delightfully depicts in which Dickens christens himself Boz, his early pseudonym... |
| Broadstairs | In this letter to his friend Macready, Dickens ‘solemnly declares’ his affection for Broadstairs and proclaims it to be ‘the finest feature in all creation’... |
| Broadstairs | By 1849, when this letter was written, Dickens was well acquainted with Broadstairs and with its unpredictable weather... |
| Broadstairs | Dickens gives a delightful portrayal of Broadstairs in this letter to his friend Miss Allan... |
| Broadstairs | Although the fictitious donkey-chaser, Miss Betsey Trotwood, lived in Dover, her real-life equivalent, Miss Pearson Strong, lived in Broadstairs along Victoria Parade... |
| Broadstairs | The following letter, addressed to Miss Marguerite Powers, is distinct from his other pieces about Broadstairs in that it presents the town as an unattractive stormy place, full of ill children and boring speakers... |
| Broadstairs | The situation must indeed have been unbearable as it nearly drove Dickens from the town he cherished so much as he mentions in this letter to John Forster... |
| Broadstairs | The wit and dynamism of the Paper are proof of the health benefits Dickens reaped from Broadstairs... |
| Chalk | He continued writing on his honeymoon; Catherine realised early on in their marriage that her husband’s work would always come first... |
| Chatham | 2 [now no... |
| Chatham | It was as a writer at the height of his powers, however, that Dickens summoned up the cacophonous activity of Chatham Dockyard working at full stretch in another article he wrote for ‘All The Year Round... |
| Chatham | Together with most of the rest of the local population he must have turned out to watch the military reviews, mock battles and practice manoeuvres which frequently animated the area with noise, colour and movement... |
| Cliffe-at-Hoo | It is to the damp mound of the Cliffe Battery, all that remained of a Tudor fortification on the river bank, that Pip makes his tremulous way to carry provisions and a file to the fugitive Magwitch... |
| Cobham | Cobham Hall and Park Dickens had known this location since his childhood, when as young boy he had accompanied his father on walks from their Chatham home, over Rochester bridge and through Cobham Woods... |
| Cobham | Although externally changed since Dickens’s day when he was a frequent patron, it retains a rustic atmosphere enhanced by the extensive collection of Dickensian memorabilia... |
| Condette |
The inscription on Beaucourt-Mutuel’s tombstone in Condette bears witness to Dicken’s affection for his landlord :
«The landlord
of whom
Charles Dickens
wrote
I never did see such
a gentle kind heart... |
| Cooling | What is certain is how evocatively Dickens summons up the unique atmosphere of that desolate marshland area... |
| Faversham | The unnamed narrator finds himself in a situation still familiar today: obliged to stay in Faversham because there is no train to London... |
| Gadshill | ’ He was joking, too, when he assured his daughter Katey, in June 1870, that the newly added conservatory was ‘POSITIVELY the last improvement’, but this turned out sadly to be the case... |
| Gadshill | 2... |
| Gravesend | Peggotty’s Great Yarmouth home in ‘David Copperfield’ (1849-50)... |
| Herne Bay | uk/database/en/author/Jerrold%20Douglas%20William">Douglas Jerrold; they acted together and had similar views of society... |
| Margate | Consequently, the town is not described in great detail in any of his writings... |
| Margate | literatureandplace... |
| Pegwell Bay | They make a day’s excursion with some acquaintances to Pegwell Bay, where after an eventful journey by recalcitrant donkeys, their nerves are soothed by a pleasant lunch at the Pegwell Bay hotel... |
| Ramsgate | Accommodation seems to have been a problem for Dickens at the time when he wrote this letter to John Forster in September 1839... |
| Ramsgate | org... |
| Ramsgate | Dickens knew Ramsgate but was not as fond of it as he was of Broadstairs... |
| Ramsgate | Bathing was one of Dickens pastimes when he was in Kent... |
| Rochester | In many cases they are presented exactly how a child might remember them, in a series of impressions, as in this appraisal of Rochester castle and cathedral by Mr... |
| Sheerness | literatureandplace... |
| Strood | Dickens not only knew the Medway towns well enough to describe their individual characteristics, he was also able to capture the impression they would collectively make on the visitor such as Mr... |
