Weekend Dose of Culture

So this weekend I would take a trip back in to the past to the world of famous novelist Charles Dickens and his home on 48 Doughty Street.

Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Holborn and Bloomsbury you could quite easily miss this gem of a museum. Home to the Dickens family in the late 1830's you can explore the life of one our most beloved writers and social reformers. From his glamorous dining room where he hosted his contemporaries to the desk in his study where he wrote some of his greatest novels each room weaves a tale of Victorian life.


I've long been a fan of Charles Dickens, so much so that he featured in my dissertation and I class Great Expectations as one of my favourite novels, and its a museum I've long wished to visit. It's not the largest museum I've visited, but it's like an Aladdin's cave packed with facts, quotes and trinkets that will leave any Dickensian fan giddy with excitement.

I'm certainly eager to return for one of their literary evening performances. Who wouldn't want to hear a reading of a classic Dickens tale by a roaring fire.


Five Things I Learnt:

1. In the Victorian period it was not uncommon to have a hedgehog living in the kitchen. Their purpose? To eat all the insects of course 

2. This wasn't Charles Dickens only London home, but its the only one you can visit  

3. He may only have lived there for only two years, but he wasted no time. He completed The Pickwick Papers and wrote in its entirety Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby

4. Most of his characters were inspired by real life experiences. Little Nell in the Old Curiosity Shop was based on his sister in law and his tales of characters living in Marshalsea Prison were based on his own experience of his father being imprisoned in a debtors prison

5. Dickens was a great orator. People would often come over for dinner and expect a theatrical reading
 
The Charles Dickens Museum

Extras: For a small museum it's packed with lots of events that take place all year round. At the moment you can go behind the scenes of BBC drama series Dickensian - the dresses on display are beautiful and I want to wear them all.

Cost:£9

Opening Dates: All year round expect for public holidays
Website: http://dickensmuseum.com