Christmas in the town where Charles Dickens fell in love with the most wonderful time of the year!

At Christmas 1817, a young couple who’d earlier that year moved into a modern home in Chatham, brought their eldest two children to Rochester to experience a real Georgian Christmas for the first time. They marvelled at the shop windows and especially the glittering silver and glass decoration in the cathedral. It made a huge impression on their five year old son, Charles.

Twenty-six years later, after raising his own children to enjoy the festive Yuletide, Charles Dickens – under pressure from his publishers – pulled out all the stops and, in just six weeks, wrote the book that re-invented the blueprint for Christmas ... for ever!

The links between Charles Dickens and Christmas are all around you in Rochester – some, hidden in plain sight!

Come and join local professional guide Shane Waterman, as he takes you on a journey around the places and locations around the centre of Rochester which link the town with Dickens and Christmas – including a few surprises along the way!

Shane will be portraying a character very close to his heart – the announcement of the birth of his maternal Grandfather in October 1860 in a Gravesend newspaper, delivered to Gads Hill Place, gave Dickens the name of one of the key characters in his biggest selling novel.

Get yourself in the ‘Christmas mood’ with a journey into the how the Christmas we know today was sparked by a little boys’ visit one day over 200 years ago....