Kent

Mehreen Baig explores the gorgeous Kent countryside as she walks in the footsteps of the county’s most famous son, Charles Dickens. Starting her journey in the Kent marshes, the setting for the opening scenes of Great Expectations, she visits the local pub where the author drank, the parish church where he worshipped and the home he died in, Gad’s Hill House. She then ventures into Rochester, visiting several sites that inspired characters and scenes in his novels, the summer house where he used to work and the spot in the cathedral where he wanted to be buried, only for his dying wish to be overturned by Queen Victoria.

Along the way, Mehreen learns about the man and his beliefs, and finds out how the Kent landscape and the childhood experiences he had there would go on to influence not just his writing but his entire outlook on morality, ethics and social justice.