Charles Dickens Museum London

9.50 GBP

4.3

Rating

4.3/5

Flyctory.com Pros

Beautiful collection of Dickens items
Original house with a good view on life in London in the 19th century

You might find this statement multiple times within my December 2020 postings – but A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is simply my favorite Christmas story. Thus, I felt I should definitely share my thoughts about visiting the Charles Dickens Museum in the heart of London during this very special festive season with you. Here is my museum review.

Charles Dickens Museum – Location & Admission

The museum is located in 48 Doughty Street in a quite central location in Holborn. The next Underground Station are Russell Square and Chancery Lane. The Postal Museum is nearby. The front of the building was under reconstruction during our visit – but that did not limit the museum visit itself at all.

Adult admission is 9.50 GBP. During normal times, the museum is open dailly, 10:00 to 17:00 hrs.

Charles Dickens Museum – The Visit

In fact, you do not only visit Charles Dickens original home at 48 Doughty Street, but also the house next door, 49 Doughty Street, where solicitor Henry Pickards was living. The museum also covers that house. This allows that – apart from the basement, where you use the same staircase, to have a full round trip through the museum.

You enter the museum through Pickards’ house, but then directly head into Dickens’ premises. The ground floor features the entrance hall, the very interesting dining room and the so-called Morning Room, which was majorly used for family things and to welcome visitors.

From there you head on to the basement, which features the kitchen, the washhouse and the wine cellar. The exhibition of the museum in here is illustrating Dickens’ life in London, but more than that feels like a general museum about life during that era.

After the basement, you head two floors up. The two rooms on that floor are the Drawing Room and Dickens’ Study. In further parts of the visit (on upper floors), you also visit the dressing room, the Nursery and Servants’ room as well a the bedrooms. The visit is very impressive and the items presented are really rich.

On the other hand, the museum features special exhibition rooms, expeciall in the former Pickard’s House. There is are lot of interesting pieces of literature, not only Dickens’ ones. However, the highlight of that part of the visit definitely was one of the copies of the first edition of A Christmas Carol to me. You also learn about literature distriubution in Dickens’ times.

Charles Dickens Museum – Services

There is a small museum shop close to the entrance and a cafe with access to the garden. The staff in the museum was very helpful and attentive.

Charles Dickens Museum – My View

The Charles Dickens Museum may not be on the top list of your places to visit – but you should definitely consider it – not only during Christmas times. The place is run with a lot of love and you get a lot of background information about Dickens and his life as well as the lifestyle in London during the 19th century. To me, it was one of nicest small museum visits I did in the city. Well done!