The museum celebrates Dickens connection with Broadstairs and has a collection of letters written by Charles Dickens to friends about Broadstairs during his long association with the town (1837-1851).

Explore this atmospheric house which inspired Charles Dickens to create David Copperfield’s Betsey Trotwood.

Charles Dickens’ son Charlie recalls in a letter how his father would regularly have tea with the owner Mary Pearson Strong in the parlour and how Mary and her reaction to donkeys walking along the cliff top in front of her home was the inspiration for the character Betsey Trotwood and the donkey incident. The parlour is as described by Dickens and illustrated by Phiz in David Copperfield; the cupboard in the corner may be recognised as the ‘press’ from which Miss Betsey produced the concoctions she gave to young David Copperfield when he arrived on her doorstep.

Alongside Dickens’ letters are further personal items, early editions of his novels, a fine collection of prints by his principal illustrators including ‘Phiz’, and displays of Victorian clothes and objects.