Dickens had been taking his family for a summer holiday to Broadstairs, on the east coast of Kent, every year since 1837 apart from 1844 and 1846. Originally a small fishing village, Broadstairs was made fashionable by the Duchess of Kent, who 'visited it every summer for years, coming in with the strawberries and going out with the blackberries' (The Illustrated Times, 29 August 1857, p. 154). When she tired of it, The Illustrated Times added, 'Mr Dickens took it up and fondled it for a time'.
Read more...
