London Walk With Dickens Self Guided Tour

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1

  You will stand in the street where Dickens lived for many years, and Dickens will talk to you about his experience of living in this house, where he wrote his first iconic novels. You can glimpse him writing, and find out about what this home meant to him, as he recalls some of the incidents of his past. You can visit the museum inside the house if you want, but the admission price is not part of the self-guided tour.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 2
  Lincoln's Inn Fields

  You will immersed in the surroundings of the park which is Lincoln's Inn Fields, listening to the voice of Dickens as he tells you about why this place was important to him and inspired many of the works involving legal characters. You can hear him read an extract of Bleak House, with images from the first published book.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 3

  Here you can stop and breathe in the atmosphere of the hallows cobbles where the legal characters of Dickens' novels spent their time. Dickens will recall how he worked here and gathered critical information which he later used in his works.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket not included
• 4
  Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

  You can go into the pub and explore the nooks and crannies of this place where Dickens spent many an afternoon, drinking with colleagues and collecting characters. You will find the place he sat, along with evidence of other famous people who frequented this establishment. Upstairs are many pictures of Dickens and his works. You will hear Dickens talk to you about his experiences in this place, and be able to see some visualizations of him, and old London. You can stop here for refreshment, which is not included in the tour. Entrance to the Inn is free and accessible to the ground floor. Access to upper floors is not accessible to people in a wheelchair or with mobility issues.

  20 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 5
  Old Bailey

  When you walk on this street Dickens will help you understand the experiences of poor prisoners, who came to this place and how they informed his work. He will lead you through the footsteps of the poor and needy, who might have been tried at the Old Bailey, or held at the Newgate Prison which used to be opposite. The Old Bailey is still there, but the gruesome Newgate Prison has long gone. If you go into The Viaduct Tavern, which now stands on the Prison site, and order something from the bar (cost of food and drink is not included in the tour), the owner might show you the cellars which reveal the old prison cells, immersing you in the experiences of poor prisoners of Dickens' time. Entrance to the pub is free and accessible, but the visits to the prison cells in the cellar are not accessible, and only available at the pub owners discretion.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket not included
• 6
  St. Paul's Cathedral

  Here you will experience the same magnificent building which Dickens referenced many times in his works. You will hear him tell you why this was such an important place for him. If you wish to go inside to worship, you can do so without paying. You will be able to sit and wonder at the magnificence and serenity, just as Dickens will have done. If you wish to have a guided tour of the inside of the Cathedral, you will need to pay the guide price to the Cathedral.

  20 minutes • Admission ticket not included
• 7

  You can cross the Thames at any point, but using the Millennium Bridge will allow you to access the voice of Dickens talking about what the Thames meant to him, and how he used it in his novels. You can stand on the bridge, and look up and down stream to see London, and imagine Dickens taking it all in, working it into his stories. You can even see a visualization of Dickens himself crossing London Bridge.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 8

  You can go inside this pub, which was built in Shakepeare's time, take some refreshments, and imagine literary giants from the past enjoying the same atmosphere. Or wander through the alleyways of Borough market, to touch the past when it was a vibrant, messy hub of London life. You will be able to hear Dickens explain why this part of London was where he often walked in disguise to gather inspiration. You can see a visualization of Borough Market as it used to be.

  20 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 9
  George

  You can stand in the footsteps of Dickens, who frequented this inn, gathering inspiration from the travellers who came and went. You can hear from Sam Weller, one of his creations, in this place.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 10
  Marshalsea Prison South Wall

  You will be able to see the wall of the Prison which appears in Dickens' work and hear him explain the significance - this is where his father was incarcerated with the rest of the family. You can see a visualisation of Dickens as a child, visiting his father.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket included

Additional info

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
• All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible

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