The Roald Dahl Museum And Story Centre

The museum is in a pretty village with historic inns and colourful artsy little boutique shops selling books, toys, clothes, gifts, furniture, bric a brac and even colourful spectacle frames.

The shop has a big collection of toys and books. I found a kit for turning balloons into animal shapes (always wondered how they did that - my new party trick), as well as a great selection of books such as The Gruffalo.

Everybody around here seems very well-spoken and well-behaved. The schoolchildren visiting the museum are kept busy drawing and cutting out and schoolchildren are given a little ideas book in which each child can write their story ideas and stick a photo of the face of a character - both of which Roald Dahl did. The booklet even has yellow lined writing paper like Dahl's.

If you are a writer or interested in writers, whether or not you are a Roald Dahl fan, you will probably enjoy the videos of various writers describing how they work.

My Memory Aid For Spelling Roald Dahl

If you've had trouble remembering the spelling of either the first name or surname or both, remember that the names Ronald and Roald are Norse for ruler's wise adviser. Drop the N from Ronald and you have Ro-ald.

The second vowel, a, is in the second name or surname. D-A-HL.

What about the last two letters of the surname? Although the first name, roald, has the 'l' first, the 'l' is second in the second name or surname. Alternatively think of it as a shortened form of the words hall, hell and hill. Da H L.

Last tip: the first name ends with D. The second name starts with D. So the website name has a double D. Roal-D D-ahl. roalddahlmuseum.org

Your Roald Dahl trail:

Roald Dahl Museum. Roald Dalh grave in The parish Church of St Peter & St Paul. Flat on the ground gravestone (which you can see in the Wikipedia article on the author).

The Nag's Head Country Inn & Restaurant

Dahl's local pub was the 15th century Nag's Head where I enjoyed a tasty meal and was intrigued by drawings illustrating Dahl's books. The pub also features in the film about The Fantastic Mr Fox. The price range includes a lot of pricey items as you might expect from a restaurant with several accolades and being in an upmarket area, so if you are on a budget keep an eye on what you are ordering. The bedrooms are lovely. Check it out in Michelin, AA guides, trustedplaces/yell.com

Before going to the Dahl museum on your way to check into a hotel, check whether the Nag's Head or another hotel or another is including a free visit or two for one offer on a visit to the museum. You might find the offer on the hotel's website or a brochure. That could save you anything from £4/£5 to a lot more.

If you don't have time to see everything, and are likely to make more than two visits, or two visits plus some purchases from the shop or teashop, consider buying a friend's ticket, which gives you unlimited visits for a year plus 10% off your shop purchases and teashop purchases.

Writing Tips I Learned

1 Keep an ideas book.

2 Use a photo or face picture cut from a newspaper or magazine for your heroes, heroines - or villains.

3 Exaggerate the qualities of your heroes and villains.

4 Write about unusual animals, insects, people or monsters.

Diary Dates

September 13th is Roald Dahl Day, celbrating his bithday nationwide, with events and activities at the museum.

www.roalddahlday.info

Cream teas at the Church of St Peter & St Paul, Gt Missenden. Easter Sunday and every Sunday from May to September.

www.missendenchurch.org.uk

Museum Shop and Cafe Twit open to all

The Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre

81-83 High Street, Great Missenden

HP16 OAL

Tel:01494 892192

www.roalddahlmuseum.org

www.roalddahlstore.com

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What else to do in the area?

Amersham - was in Midsomer Murders and Four Wedding and a Funeral.

Amersham Museum has a Tudor house hall and medicinal herb garden. Amersham Museum, 49 High Street, Amersham, HP7 ODP, museum tel:01494 723700

www.amershammuseum.org curator@amershammuseum.org

What's FREE!

1.) Free parking outside Milton's Cottage when visiting it.

2.) Free entry to Wycombe Museum: Priory Avenue, High Wycombe, Bucks HP13 PX, tel 01494 421895.

website: wycombe.gov.uk/museum e-mail: museum@wycombe.gov.uk

3.) Bucks County Museum Church St, Aylesbury HP20 2QP, tel:01296 331441,wwwbuckscc.gov.uk/museum

free exhibitions on local history about the county. But a charge is made for the Dahl kids gallery which in midweek is only for schools. (Crawl along Fantastic Mr Fox's tunnel'). Gift shop and garden cafe

Spanley Spencer Museum: stanleyspencer.org.uk (about £5 each entry).

More Hotels

Hotels with pools and / or family rooms were:

Crowne Plaza, Marlow, was cheapest

Holiday Inn, High Wycombe M40 Junction 4, Crest Road, Handycross, High Wycombe, Bucks HP11 1TL, tel +44 (0) 871 942 9042 www.holidayinn.co.uk . central reservations +44 (0)800 40 50 60

Holiday Inn, Aylesbury

Bellhouse, Beaconsfield

Novotel Milton Keynes.

Roald Dahl Day Sept 13 - see later post.

Author of this blog and and other blogs:
Angela Lansbury, author of 20 books, travel writer and photographer, speaker. Please share posts.