The City of Rochester in the county of Kent is situated some 20 miles south east of the capital of England, London. The City of Rochester is also within easy reach of mainland Europe and is only one and a half hours from France by train. 

One of Rochester’s most famous connections is that with Charles Dickens. His family moved to Chatham when he was five years of age. After moving away from Chatham he later returned to Gad’s Hill Place in Higham. By then many of his novels were published and read around the world. However, he died whilst writing his novel “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”. Many of Dickens novels included references to Rochester and the surrounding area where today two festivals are held in his honour, the Dickens and Dickensian Christmas Festival.