By Emma Kisby, family and lifestyle blogger living in Berkshire, Mum of two, coffee addict and good at sleeping.
The Roald Dahl Museum, Great Missenden
The village of Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire was home to the children’s author Roald Dahl for thirty six years, until he died in 1990. Known for his books such as Charlie and the Chocolate factory and Matilda, Roald Dahl spent each day writing in a hut in his back garden.
In fact many of his stories were based in and around Great Missenden. The garage in ‘Danny the Champion of the World’ was based on the petrol pumps on the high street. Plus the countryside and Angling Spring Wood were meant to be the inspiration for ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’.
Getting to the Museum
When you arrive at Great Missenden, you will see the Roald Dahl Museum on the main road. It is a Grade II listed building, but is painted white with an illustration of the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) on the front. As you enter, you’ll see the original Willy Wonka gates from ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ – actually donated by Warner Brothers as they featured in the 2005 film.
Tickets for the museum are priced (2019) at £7.00 for an adult, £4.50 for children from the age of five to eighteen and £22.50 for a family ticket. Children under five go free and your ticket is valid for re-entry for a year!
There is no parking at the museum itself, but there is a large pay and display car park which is approximately a three to four minute walk away.
What is there to see at the Museum?
The museum itself isn’t very big, but there’s plenty to see and lots for children to do. As you go in to pay for your ticket, there is a little shop. You are also given an activity to do if you wish going around the museum. You are given clues to find which are all about Roald Dahl or his characters. All the answers are around the museum and it’s fun to keep the kids interested.
In the rooms, there are plenty of facts on his life and where Roald Dahl got his ideas from. Plus a replica of his hut. Inside shows the chair he used to sit in to write his stories plus everything he had around him from his pencils, to his ball of foil from his chocolate bars!
In the last room, there are more fun activities for kids and grown ups to do. There is dressing up, screens where you can ‘make a movie’ and pictures to cut out and stick in their very own story book. It’s all about using their imagination to come up with ideas and characters. There is also a rhyming tree on the wall where children are free to add their own rhymes.
You get a real feel of his life and how much his children and grandchildren meant to him. He had five children, three step children and seven grandchildren. One of which is the famous model Sophie Dahl.
Activities to do Dotted around are Roald Dahl books which you are free to sit and look at, plus there are allocated story telling times.
There is an area for arts and crafts. Paper and card is laid out on tables as well baskets of sequins, feathers and other bits to stick onto your creation. Children are free to leave them there or take them home. Plus they can write a little note on a tag and hang it up. As it’s all about being creative, it can say anything they wish.
You are free go back and forth to the different rooms and spend as long as you like around the museum. There’s a little cafe with indoor and outdoor seating in the courtyard area.
However, as you can re-enter as many times as you wish, you could go out and explore the village and countryside and even go back. You could take a picnic if it’s a nice day or head to one of the village pubs for lunch as an alternative to the cafe.
The Countryside Trails
Lookout for leaflets by the Wonka gates with guides on the countryside trail and what the see in the village. It tells you were Dahl visited plus a map for the circular walk through the field and woods.
If you come out of the museum and turn left, you can walk up to the church of St Peter and Paul and visit his grave. There are imprints around it of the BFG’s feet set in concrete. Then a memorial bench with the names of his children.
Around the bench on the ground is also a poem taken from one of his books, called The Giraffe the Pelly and Me.
Worth the Visit
You could spend as much or as little time as you like around the village and in the museum. It’s not too big but there’s plenty to occupy the little ones. If you don’t want to do it all in one day, then you could always head back another time.
Look out for the ‘Scoff n’ Stroll’ walks with afternoon tea. These are on the last Sunday of every month. For story telling, a stroll and afternoon tea in the museum cafe, it costs an additional £12.00 per person.
Author Bio
Emma Kisby is a blogger living in Berkshire, Mum of two, coffee addict and good at sleeping. Check out her blog where she shares the things in her life from fashion and health to family and lifestyle. Follow on Instgram, Facebook and Twitter.
