Dickens House Museum

Dickens House Museum

Last weekend Kjell Steinar and I went to the British Museum, so this Saturday we thought we’d try out a different museum. We ended up at the Dickens House Museum, which is the town house where the famous British author Charles Dickens lived.

I personally love Charles Dickens and his books, so when I found out there was a Dickens museum here in London it instantly came on my what-to-do-in-London list. And I was very pleasantly surprised over how good this museum was.

The china monkey

Honestly I did not have any expectations on how this museum was, but when we arrived there we found out that it was actually very interesting and quite popular. It was a lot of people there, coming and going, both adults and children. And it was so easy to find. We took the tube, the Piccadilly Line, to Russell Square. From there they had signs leading us to the Dickens Museum. It is open everyday from 10-17, but you actually have to pay here; it was £6 for adults, £3 for children, £15 for families and £4.50 for students. So we were lucky that we brought our student IDs. When you are inside you can wander around the house as much as you want. It was four floors, including the basement. It was furnished like it was when Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine used to live there, and as you walk from room to room you could see some of his written works and notes on them. One funny little story we saw was that Dickens liked to have some “desk furniture”, and displayed in the museum was his favourite mascot, a china monkey. Seeing this made everything seem so real, as is the point.

His fireplace

It was in this house that Dickens wrote some of his most popular novels; The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist. As Dickens was very fond of acting, there are rooms here dedicated to Oliver Twist and how it got from page to stage. Kjell Steinar and I were walking around just the two of us, but there was also a guide for those who wanted one. And in the basement they showed a film about the life of Charles Dickens. I found that film very interesting, and by watching it I learned quite a lot about this great Victorian novelist and how his life was.

If you have been to London a few times and have seen all the great tourist attractions and are looking for something else, or you are a big Dickens and literature fan, then I would very much recommend this museum. And after you have spent some time here, you can go back to the tube station and right across it you will find many different restaurants and stores that are very popular here in London, but without the crowd that you’ll see on Oxford Street.

Kjell Steinar studying his work

Portrait of his wife Catherine

The Drawing Room

A cabinet with some of his work

Dickens study

Dickens desk where he did his public reading

Kjell Steinar watching the film

Library

A lovely garden in the back

All of the pictures are my own.