Fodor's Expert Review Bleak House
Broadstairs
Historic Home
Editor's Note: This location is reported to be under new ownership and therefore this review may contain inaccuracies.
The cliff overlooking Viking Bay is dominated by this stern structure. One of Dickens's homes, it was here that he wrote David Copperfield and drafted the novel Bleak House. A devastating fire tore through the house in 2006, but it's had an extensive restoration. You can see the house by guided tour, which includes Dickens's original study. The cellars contain a small but interesting museum devoted to the shadowy history of smuggling on the south coast during the 18th and 19th centuries.
