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The Roald Dahl Museum at Great Missenden

October 17, 2016 by Jacqueline Harvey 5 Comments

Hi Everyone,

At the moment I’m on tour in the United Kingdom. Since arriving almost two weeks ago we’ve visited 11 schools and spoken to lots of children. But we had today off – partly out of necessity as we drove from Hertfordshire to Manchester for school visits tomorrow and partly because I’ve been to England lots of times and had never visited the amazing Roald Dahl museum in Great Missenden.

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The village itself is gorgeous – quintessentially English with it’s narrow, windy streets and houses right on the footpath. Some of the front doors were so low, I couldn’t imagine how many visitors had hit their heads on the way in or out!

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The museum is full of Dahl memorabilia, but my favourite thing by far was his writing shed. Roald Dahl had a shed at the bottom of the garden where he used to go to write each day. It was an unconventional space to say the least, as he wrote sitting in an old armchair with a desk like affair that he fashioned for himself covering the arms. It in turn was covered in green felt like a billiard table as he said the colour was easy on his eyes. He had a clothes brush to dust it off every morning before he started work – he liked to work for 4 hours at a time. There was a low table with all manner of curiosities including the ball from his very own hip which had to be removed and bone shavings from his spine after an operation (ick! I don’t know if I’d find my body parts inspiring for writing but obviously he did!).

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The room was moved piece by piece, from the linoleum on the floor to the sleeping bag he used to put his legs into. He also had a rather dangerous radiator set up above his head. There is a replica of the chair that you can try for yourself. I’m not sure that I would find this comfortable for hours on end, but it certainly worked for Mr Dahl!

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The museum shop is a veritable treasure trove and I couldn’t help myself, buying all manner of things Dahl.

If you ever get the chance to go to England, you simply must visit Great Missenden and the Roald Dahl Museum. I loved it!

Best wishes,

Jacqueline

Categories: Alice-Miranda, Clementine Rose, Jacqueline Harvey Tagged as: Boy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, England, Fantastic Mr Fox, Going Solo, Great Missenden, Iconic writers, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Roald Dahl, Roald Dahl 100, Roald Dahl Day, The BFG, The Twits

Comments

  1. Hattie says

    October 24, 2016 at 8:15 pm

    Dear Jacqueline Harvey
    I love Roald Dahl’s books.
    My favourite one is James and the Giant Peach.
    The Roald Dahl Museum sounds exciting.
    I wish I could go to see the museum in the UK.

    kind regards

    Hattie.

    Reply
    • Jacqueline Harvey says

      October 25, 2016 at 12:10 am

      Hi Hattie,

      I think my favourite Dahl books are The Twits and Matilda. There are so many great ones though. I hope you get to go to the museum one day too.

      Best wishes,
      Jacqueline

      Reply
  2. Hattie says

    October 25, 2016 at 8:50 pm

    Dear Jacqueline Harvey
    Did you know there is a play about Matilda I think it might have been in Brisbane
    I ‘m not to sure if it is still showing In Brisbane

    kind regards

    Hattie

    Reply
  3. Julia says

    January 12, 2017 at 10:45 am

    Dear Jacqueline Harvey,
    I think my favourite Dahl book is Charlie and the chocolate factory.

    Reply
    • Jacqueline Harvey says

      January 13, 2017 at 8:25 am

      I love that one too! But my favourites are still The Twits, Matilda and The Witches I think.

      Reply

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