Dickens’ House at Gads Hill in Rochester is now a preparatory school, and has been for a number of years. On one Sunday each month it’s open to the public and local volunteers act as guides. You get to see his study, his sitting room, drawing room, billiard room, kitchens and gardens and are regaled with anecdotes about the famous owner. Upstairs there are classrooms, so upstairs is not part of the itinerary.

Dickens built a large conservatory that long after his death, got demolished. In the 1990’s the school decided to rebuild the conservatory and offer it as a dining experience for seasonal and special occasions. In the first year that they offered a Christmas Meal I booked places for myself and my wife Nora and for my business partner Andy and his wife.

There had been delays to the building of the conservatory and so we were asked to take our meal at the dining table in Dickens’ sitting room. We were the only guests and we sat in comfy chairs in front of Dickens’ fireplace with a roaring fire drinking suitable alcoholic drinks while waiting to be served.

After the meal we had access to the house and kitchens. From the hallway I climbed the curving staircase and as there were only classrooms on the first floor no lights were on. All the better! I stood in the darkness looking down to the hallway and the entrance to Dickens’ study hoping for an apparition below or for some spectral being to pass me on its’ way down.

The house, front and back, still looks much as it did when Dickens lived there. You enter the house through the same porch that Dickens was photographed in. A wide, but quiet road runs directly past the house. A gravelled drive leads in from this road and then curves to lead you back out. The quiet road was a main road in Dickens’ time, noisy and dusty, with a stream of horses and carts and pedestrians night and day. Dickens owned land on the other side of the road and because the road was so busy he built an underpass to reach a Chalet studio where he would work quietly away from the house. That Swiss Chalet is now located in the Dickens centre in Rochester town.

Dickens’ back garden is still the same as it was in a photograph of him sitting reading to his daughters. There is a private car park to the house sited just below the back garden. From here you can get a clear view of the rear of the house, the steps into the house, and the lawn adjacent to the house. If you stand and stare all that will be missing from the scene is Dickens casually sitting the wrong way round on a chair, his arms resting on the back and his daughters listening to him read. I let my imagination supply that missing detail!

Here’s where you can find a video of Gads Hill as it is now and an update on Gads Hill becoming a visitor centre in 2012

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7594964.stm

You will find a clear picture of Gads Hill on this page

http://members.tripod.com/~warlight/DICKENS.html