Book your Vacation to Kent
Book your break to Kent
Celebrate Dickens 2012 in Kent
In 2012, Kent celebrates the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Throughout the year, there are many Dickens 2012 activities and events to commemorate the 200th anniversary of one of Britain's best loved authors.
Dickens has a real connection with Kent and visitors can come and explore Restoration House (the inspiration for Miss Haversham's home), The Historic Dockyard (where Oliver Twist and the BBC adaptation of Little Dorrit were filmed), Gad's Hill (Dickens' country home), Dickens World (a fun, interactive attraction for all the family) and much more!
Kent has also been the setting for two BBC adaptations of Dickens' greatest novels. 'Great Expectations', staring Gillian Anderson as Miss Haversham and Ray Winstone as Magwitch, featured St Thomas A Becket Church on the Romney Marsh for the iconic opening of the programme, where Pip visits the graves of his parents and meets Magwitch for the first time. Dickens' unfinished novel 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' was first broadcast in January, and the BBC has attempted to finish a novel that's outcome has remained a mystery ever since Dickens' untimely death in 1870.
To discover more about Dickens 2012 and the author's connections with Kent, browse the pages below.
Dickens App
A new smartphone app on Charles Dickens' connections to Kent was launched this April (2012). This free app for iPhone and Android smartphones allows you to discover places to visit, historical facts, trails and walks as well as a fun quiz to test your Dickens knowledge. You will be surprised at just how many places in Kent and the South East have a Dickens story to tell.
