A Dickens Christmas--The Dickens House Museum

Hours: Monday - Friday, 9:45 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

SPECIAL CHRISTMAS HOURS
For Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day (the day after Christmas)--10:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Admission is charged.

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day are wonderful times for literary tourists to visit the Dickens House Museum . A tour of the museum will be a memorable event on any occasion; however, a tour on any one of these three days is surely to make a special memory.

The museum is decorated for the holidays in much the same way Dickens might have decorated there in 1837. Fresh holly, ivy, and Chinese lanterns brighten the rooms, and the scent of hot mincemeat pies follows literary tourists throughout the house.

Visitors during these three days receive a souvenir guidebook, free gift, and a glass of Dickens' favorite holiday cheer, Smoking Bishop punch.

If you can't zip over to London this year, put on a little Christmas music, pour yourself a glass of eggnog and settle back for a virtual tour of the museum.

The Dickens House

This three-story home with attic and basement provides literary tourists with an excellent example of Victorian lifestyle. While in the basement, you can call on your imagination to envision the daily activities that centered around the wine cellar, still (distilling) room, and kitchen. On each floor thereafter, you will be going back in time to anticipate the daily routine of Dickens and his family.

Of course, no tour to this historic home will be complete without a visit to the garden and museum shop.

The museum maintains a large library and an extensive collection of photographs that are available for research upon prior arrangement.

Charles Dickens and his family lived in this house for only a brief time during the late 1830s. However, while living here, Dickens wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby and completed The Pickwick Papers.

After the birth of his third child in October 1839, Dickens moved his family to 1 Devonshire Terrace, Regents Park. This home is no longer standing.

This house passed through several hands and in 1923 was in threat of destruction. The Dickens Fellowship rescued the home and opened it as Dickens House Museum in 1925. Today, the house is the worldwide headquarters of the Dickens Fellowship.

For Further Reading

The Dickens Christmas Page is a must see. Do you know what disease Tiny Tim had? Do you know how to make Smoking Bishop punch or Plum Pudding? You will discover this and a great deal more at this excellent site.

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