When Gad’s Hill opens its doors to Charles Dickens’ fans again this weekend, there is one thing that will be missing – his desk.

The surface where the great writer penned classics such as Great Expectations has, sadly, not returned home.

It was sold off some years ago and came up for auction again recently. It sold for £780,000 and will now be housed at the Charles Dickens Museum in London.

Norman Munn, 78, has volunteered at Gad’s Hill, an 18th Century Grade I listed building in Higham, for close to four years and is also on the board of trustees at the museum.

He is sad the desk is not coming to Gad’s. He said: “The desk was owned by an American, but he couldn’t get it out of the country as he couldn’t get an exit licence for it.

“We get people from all over the place, so we try to get them to sign our visitors book. We get lots of visitors from across the world making pilgrimages" - Mr Munn

“It would have been nice to have it based here. If we were a bit further forward with getting this place organised as a [larger] museum, we could have had an appeal for it.”

Dickens lived at Gad’s Hill for 13 years, writing his last four books there, including a Tale of Two Cities. He also passed away at the house in 1870, while still working on his novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

The writer bought Gad’s in 1857 for a sum of £1,790. The £90 was for a patch of land across the road nicknamed ‘the wilderness’.

On the land he constructed a chalet where he would work on novels and other works and to make access easier he built an underground tunnel. This was later used by children at Gad’s when it was founded as a school in 1924.

The school has since moved to a larger, more modern facility behind the house and there are plans to completely vacate the old building by the 2020s.

At present some of the rooms in the house are used for examinations and as offices for staff.

Tours at Gad’s begin on Sunday for the first time since October, after a break for the winter.

The tours have become a must-see for Dickens fans and include his study, conservatory, drawing room and the underground tunnel.

Expert guide Mr Munn explained Dickens often entertained at the handsome property and would give readings of his work in his drawing room.

He said: “He used to have summer parties, cricket games and always had big Christmas parties – he was quite the local celebrity.”

The writer first laid eyes on the building as a young boy, when walking through the area with his father.

It was a love affair that would continue later in life and he bought the building when he was 45 years old.

The study in particular is a highlight, complete with books lining all of the walls, some of which were specially built for Dickens and have comedy names such as nine volumes of ‘Cat’s lives’ and ‘Hansard’s guide to refreshing sleep’.

Mr Munn said:“The study is the main attraction here because that’s very much the same as it was when Dickens was here.

“That’s where he would have written, as well as in the chalet across the road from here and sometimes he would write in his bedroom. However, we can’t take the tour up there because it’s still used as a classroom.

“We get people from all over the place, so we try to get them to sign our visitors book. We get lots of visitors from across the world making pilgrimages, people from Australia and America who come here as part of their visit to England.”

The tours of Gad’s Hill take place at weekends.

The first is this Sunday. There will be three sessions at 1pm, 2.15pm and 3.30pm and each one lasts around 45 minutes.

People must book with tickets costing £9. For information call 01474 337600, or log on to www.gogravesham.co.uk