Charles Dickens spent two summers in Bonchurch in the 1840s, and the village worked its way into his writing in ways that are not always obvious from the novels alone. This 2.5-hour literary walking tour on 15 May follows the lanes and paths that Dickens walked, connecting the real Bonchurch locations to the fictional settings in David Copperfield and Great Expectations, with Miss Havisham and Steerforth appearing at specific corners in the route.
The guide knows Dickens's letters from Bonchurch as well as the published novels, so the walk draws on primary sources rather than just the guidebook version of the connection. The village itself is unchanged enough to make the correspondence feel immediate: the overhanging trees, the narrow paths down to the old pond, the churchyard where Dickens walked in the evenings. Bonchurch was where he felt most settled during his island residencies, and the walk explains why.
Paid, book through the Walking Festival. Part of the heritage programme running across the island 14-17 May. Lunch or tea in Ventnor works well after the walk.
