Charles Dickens most impressionable childhood days were spent in Medway.  The historic city of Rochester inspired the author so much that he featured it in his work more than any city, other than London. 

Many of the historic buildings found in the High Street carry plaques giving details of how Dickens incorporated the site into his novels and some of these buildings are now used as local businesses and heritage attractions.

Restoration House, a fine Elizabethan red-brick mansion featured in this novel as the home of Estella and Miss Havisham. It is so named because King Charles II stayed there in 1660 on his way to reclaim England's throne, an event known as the Restoration.  

The house and gardens has been sympathetically restored to its original splendour and during the summer months, opens its doors to the public.

Located in the heart of Rochester's High Street, is the Six Poor Travellers House. This Tudor charity house was founded in 1563 by local MP Richard Watts to provide free lodgings for poor travellers and continued to do so right up to the Second World War.  The house and charity are immortalised in Dickens' Christmas short story entitled The Seven Poor Travellers.

Within a short walking distance is Eastgate House, a grade one listed building of exceptional interest.  Built in the late 1590s by Sir Peter Buck, Clerk of the Cheque at Chatham Dockyard, it is an excellent example of an Elizabethan town house and features in Dickens’ novel, Pickwick Papers. 

Today the house is used for art and local exhibitions, and open to visitors on Heritage Open Days and during the summer and Christmas Dickens Festivals. In the grounds of Eastgate stands the Swiss Chalet.  The chalet was once used by the author as a study when he lived at Gad's Hill Place, near Rochester. 

Not far from Rochester is Temple Manor.  This 13th-century house of the Knights Templar was originally used to provide lodgings and fresh horses for members of this order on their way to and from the Crusades.