Among all the TV specials and stage productions at this time of year, one story is always guaranteed to be retold – A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Fans might be jollied to know about a new holiday cottage near the seafront in Broadstairs, Kent, which recreates a setting in another favourite Dickens novel – Oliver Twist.
Fagin’s Den – which its owners claim is the first Dickens-themed escape in the UK – has been styled as a Victorian thieves’ hideout, like that of the book’s shifty pickpocketing character.
Great expectations? Mine were more on the medium side. I wasn’t totally convinced that the hovel of a dubious literary character was the sort of place I wanted to spend a weekend. But we were there for the kids, who are not huge fans of Dickens, but definite enthusiasts for make-believe.
Set on a narrow backstreet a few steps from the sea, the flint-walled terraced cottage certainly looked the part. And as our eyes adjusted to the dark interior, we felt excited by the theatricality of it all, with Victorian-style furniture, clocks, candles and a rocking chair. A string of pocket handkerchiefs was strung like bunting above the stairs; framed portraits of Dickens characters and shelves of his novels decorated the walls. Upstairs, costumes for Oliver Twist characters hung in the bedrooms, should we wish to indulge in some Nancy and Bill role play or dress up as the Artful Dodger. Bathroom walls were papered with prints of the illustrations that accompanied the original Oliver Twist instalments, published monthly between 1837 and 1839.
The overall effect was perhaps more am dram stage set for Oliver! than authentic Victorian home, but it’s fun for families, and for Dickens fans, who are also sure to appreciate the cottage’s location. Two minutes’ walk away is Bleak House, once Fort House, but renamed in honour of the author, who frequently stayed there when holidaying in the town between 1837 and 1859. He wrote David Copperfield in this striking perch above the harbour. (For those coming in warmer months, there’s a choice of beaches too – the town’s own curl of sand at Viking Bay in one direction, and East Cliff and Stone Bay’s kilometre-long stretch of golden sand in the other.)
The Dickens connection has been wholeheartedly embraced by Broadstairs: strolling through the town we pass Artfuls Bed and Breakfast, the Charles Dickens pub and Please Sir!, a lurid fast food joint. There are also the more gracious Dickens House Museum – former home of the woman who inspired the character Betsey Trotwood – and the Dickens festival, held annually in June since the 1930s.
Things have changed much since Dickens’s day, when the main street was “stopped up with donkey chaises”, there were “first-rate bathing machines” on the beach, and fishing boats and mariners galore, according to descriptions in his essay of devotion to the resort, Our English Watering-Place.
They’ve changed a fair bit since my last visit, too, with cool new spots such as The Table, serving dishes such as Kent clams with dashi against a monochrome backdrop of metro tiles and exposed brick; new bistro The Jetty Broadstairs on the main Viking Bay beach, and posh fish and chips place Flotsam and Jetsam, which alongside the standards offers treats such as crispy crab dumplings and monkfish scampi in black, squid ink batter.
It’s not as if all we ever get is gruel, but the enthusiasm with which we devoured those unctuous bites was matched only by that of the seagulls, who dive-bombed and pecked us as we wandered along the sand with our paper cones. Beaten back by these airborne thieves, we retreated to our own robbers’ den to finish the meal, and then complete the Fagin’s Den scavenger hunt left for guests. Following clues around the house, finding answers in pictures and recipe books, the children eventually unearthed “Fagin’s stash” – a treasure chest of bubble wands, pencils and chocolate coins. And then of course, they asked for more, which I suppose was only appropriate.
Accommodation was provided by Fishermen’s Cottages Broadstairs. Fagin’s Den sleeps four from £90 a night, two-night minimum
More accommodation for fantasy fun with kids
The Wizard Chambers, Pimlico, London
In the basement bar of the seemingly ordinary Georgian House hotel near Victoria station, magic commences at teatime. Those who book an “enchanted afternoon tea” are treated to cakes and savoury bites presented in a blackbird cage, scones topped with cream and popping candy, and a teapot that pours smoke into a cauldron. Wizard hats are provided. Potion making is available too: test tubes of colourful liquids arrive with a recipe explaining how to warm “troll fat” and add thunderhead dragon blood and phoenix teardrops to baby werewolf fur to concoct a delicious drink.
Afterwards, young sages can retire to one of the wizard’s enchanted chambers, accessed through a bookcase and down a candlelit staircase, with gothic decor that would make Harry Potter feel at home – four-posters with red velvet curtains, cauldrons, tapestries and trunks.
Potion experience £12, or £15 for alcoholic version, wizard afternoon tea £45 adult, £29 child. “Wizard” chambers for four from £290 B&B, georgianhousehotel.co.uk
Wizards and hobbits, North Yorkshire
Newest among the accommodation options inspired by fantasy stories and fairytales at North Shire is the Dorm Room Cottage, based on the Gryffindor dormitory in the Harry Potter films, and sleeping six in single four-poster beds. Groundkeepers Cottage, also sleeping six, is reminiscent of Hagrid’s hut and has a huge copper bath for scrubbing off forest mud (or boarhound fur), while Shire House is a Hobbity cottage for four with a round green door and grass roof.
All from £250 a night, northshire.co.uk
Looking Glass Cottage, Brighton
More comfortable than a rabbit hole, this colourfully decorated 16th-century cottage near Brighton’s seafront and Lanes has an Alice in Wonderland theme. Flamingo-patterned wallpaper is hung upside down in one bedroom, the wall of another is peppered with looking-glasses, the lounge is papered in a playing card print, and teapots bear “drink me” labels, for tea parties best enjoyed on the south-facing sun terrace.
Sleeps eight from £203 a night or £890 a week, Coolstays.com
Ice-cream-themed hotel, Bournemouth
A £2m refurbishment of the ibis Styles Bournemouth hotel has given it a retro ice-cream theme, with a choice of pastel-coloured rooms in “mint choc chip”, “tutti frutti” or “very berry”. Carpets look like sundae swirls, walls feature hundreds-and-thousands patterns and once the Pavlovian response kicks in there’s a 1950s-style ice-cream station downstairs to sate the cravings.
Family rooms sleeping four from £120 a night B&B, doubles from £81, all.accor.com
UFO pod, near Narberth, Pembrokeshire
Wales has had its fair share of UFO sightings over the decades, but this may be the first you can sleep in. Called an “intergalactic glamping pod”, Spodnic has a classic flying saucer shape, bendy legs and a space-agey interior with a metal ladder up to a bubble-dome cockpit in the roof. Guests can don space helmets, play a retro game of Space Invaders, soak in the hot tub and use a bathroom hidden inside a Tardis.
From £430 for two nights sleeping four (two adults, two children), melinmabes.com
Fire truck cabin, Cumbria
Little ones who are thrilled by fire engines and firefighters will love the Red Rescue Retreat in the southern fells of Blencathra mountain in the northern Lake District. Inside the bright-red converted fire truck, a ladder leads to a fireman’s pole, the children’s beds are shaped like fire engines, with wheels. Firefighter costumes are provided, and there’s a real hose to play with.
Sleeps four from £476 a week, holidaycottages.co.uk