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Rochester, Chatham and the surrounding Strood countryside are where Charles Dickens spent many happy years. both as a child and later in life when he returned to live in the area.

The Charles Dickens Centre can be found in Eastgate House, a delightful Elizabethan house which is of great architectural and historic significance in itself. Towards the end of the 18th century, the house became a boarding school for young ladies and remained so until well into the 19th century. Dickens new the school and portrayed it in Pickwick Papers as Westgate House.

Standing in the gardens of Eastgate House is the Swiss Chalet from Gads Hill Place, Dickens' last home. Dickens used the chalet as a summer house and study and was writing the final chapters of The Mystery of Edwin Drood in the upstairs room just before his death on 9th June 1870.

Ordnance Terrace is a charming row of Georgian houses. As a boy Charles Dickens lived at No. 2 (now No. 11) from 1817 to 1821.

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