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rooms are furnished with Regency objects and of course also reminders of Charles
Dickens himself. The Dickens family lived in that place till the end 1812, the
financial problems of the father, John Dickens, pressed them to move to a cheaper
lodging. As the crow flies it is a short walk from the old Waterfront were many
buildings, docks and ships, for example The Victoria, the largest ship of the line ever
built in England, remind you of the times that John Dickens worked here for the Pay
Office of the Navy. The modern entry is situated in the basement where the kitchen
and scullery was. The parlour and dinner room are on the ground floor, two
bedrooms upstairs and the attic was for the maids. The house is in the beginning of
the seventies of last century beautiful refurbished. Actually you have the impression
that the Dickens family can return every moment and feel at home. It is difficult to
understand with our standards of sanitation that in those times there were living two
parents, two small children: Fanny Charles and two maids without any sanitation
other than the pump in the street.
In the basement, former kitchen the original cupboard is still surviving, it is part of
the wall and connected to the neighbour house. A lot of keepsakes that Georgina
Hogarth inherited from Charles Dickens are on display. The books and other
memorabilia are in the Portsmouth Central Library Dickens Collection.
The old seaffont of Portsmouth breathe a very fine atmosphere and the Whitebait
with Scrumpy Jack Cider is delicious. In short a good place for the bicentennial
birthday conference in 2012! For more information about the bicentenary:
www. Dickens2012.org
And, remember in 2012 the Annual Conference of the Dickens Fellowship will be
hold in Portsmouth! The ambiance is terrific and a astonishing lot to see!
Salisbury Bath
Salisbury is the city of Martin Chuzzlewit and you are able to recognize the
buildings Mr.Pecksniff liked to copy.. And, for sure, Salisbury has a beautiful
cathedral. From Salisbury to Bath is just a short drive. And Bath is in some ways
still Pickwickian. The Pump Room above the remains of the Roman Baths is
impressive, the high tea more then excellent, the museum beneath the Pumproom
wich shows the original Roman foundation is a masterpiece of interwoven old and
new architecture. Mr.Pecksniff had nothing to do with that construction!
Bath has a very beautiful end 18th century architecture and if you walk on The
Royal Crescent it is quite simple to imagine Mr. Pickwick taking his hat for Mrs.
Jane Austen.
Broadstairs
Charles Dickens loved this English Watering Place. The first time he went there was
for a summer resort holiday in 1837. He loved it, the atmosphere and taking a sea
bath as he was used to taking cold baths.
The house were he, his family and his friends took lodgings, has a long history as an
important Dickens remembrance place. The house he took lodgings in 1837 has long
been gone but in 1839 he came back and that place is not only immortalized in
David Copperfield but it is the actual museum. If you have a look from the window
in the room upstairs you see the same scenery as Charles Dickens saw when he was
