Our Lottery Funded Project

In partnership with our volunteer group, The Friends of Eastgate House, we will fully restore the chalet with conservation led repairs using traditional techniques.

The chalet will become more physically accessible for visitors than ever before. It will be fully interpreted for the first time with an imaginative and inclusive interpretation scheme on both floors, and a Victorian sensory garden around the chalet, reflecting its original ‘Wilderness Garden’ setting at Dickens’ Gad’s Hill home.

Our expansive community engagement plan links directly with Dickens’ multi-faceted heritage – his life not just as a writer but also a passionate social campaigner. We want to involve as many people as possible with an exciting range of arts and cultural experiences, training placements and learning opportunities – all inspired by the stories Dickens wrote inside the chalet and the issues he really cared about.

Our project development phase will be completed in Spring 2027. We will then apply for the second stage of funding which is the delivery phase. If we are successful, this would start in Spring 2028 and last 36 months completing in Spring 2031.