THACKERAY'S c.1660

Along the upper reaches of the London Road facing the common, are a number of villas where, in the eighteenth century, visitors to the spa would stay.

Among the oldest of these is this one built in traditional Kentish Style, weatherboarded and tile-hung.

In the nineteenth century it acquired fame by being home to William Makepeace Thackeray. The town features in a number of his works, notably "The Virginians" and the essay "Tunbridge Toys" in which he recalls his childhood here.

"I see Tunbridge Wells Common and the rocks, the strange familiar place which I remember forty years ago." Thackeray's is now a restaurant whose quality is worthy of its setting.

"The World Is A Looking-Glass,
And Gives Back To Every Man The Reflection Of His Own Face"

W.M. Thackeray
Vanity Fair