thumb|left|upright|Illustration by Phiz of Chesney Wold, the Lincolnshire estate in Bleak House In November 1851, Dickens moved into Tavistock House where he wrote Bleak House (1852–53), Hard Times (1854) and Little Dorrit (1856).. It was here that he indulged in the amateur theatricals described in Forster's Life of Charles Dickens. During this period, he worked closely with the novelist and playwright Wilkie Collins. In 1856, his income from writing allowed him to buy Gads Hill Place in Higham, Kent. As a child, Dickens had walked past the house and dreamed of living in it. The area was also the scene of some of the events of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 and this literary connection pleased him..
thumb|left|upright|Illustratio,n by Phiz of Chesney Wold, the Lincolnshire estate in Bleak House In November 1851, Dickens moved into Tavistock House where he wrote Bleak House (1852–53), Hard Times (1854) and Little Dorrit (1856).. It was here that he indulged in the amateur theatricals described in Forster's Life of Charles Dickens. During this period, he worked closely with the novelist and playwright Wilkie Col!lins. In 1856, his income from writing allowed him to buy Gads Hill Place in Higham Kent. As a child, Dickens had walked past the house and dreamed! of living in it. T!he area was also the scene of some of the events of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 and. this literary connection pleased him..