Happy 200th birthday, Charles Dickens!

Follow in his footsteps on a home exchange in England

Today marks an important international literary celebration: Charles' Dickens 200th birthday. As well as being a prolific author, Charles Dickens was a social commentator whose observations on the vast divide between the rich and the poor are unfortunately still relevant in the 21st century. A well known quote from David Copperfield is as apt today as it was in 1849:

'Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.'

I can't help but think that, had he been alive today, Charles Dickens would be campaigning to alleviate poverty and would support ideas for living within one's means - he might even be house swapping to save money (and approving the reasonable cost of joining Home Base Holidays!)

There may seem a rather tenuous connection between Dickens and home exchange but, as Home Base Holidays is based in London, we find many home exchange members from overseas in particular are keen to trace family roots and visit places of historical and literary interest while on home swaps in the UK.

Dickens was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire and spent much of his life in various homes in London and Kent until his death in 1870 at Gads Hill Place in Higham, Kent. To find homes for exchange in these areas, do searches choosing England and counties (one at a time) of Hampshire, London and Kent.

See Dickens 2012 for information on events around the world this year and, if you are in London, do visit The Charles Dickens Museum. Based in 48 Doughty Street, it is the author’s only surviving London house and gives a fascinating insight into his life and work.