Discover Bucks Museum Review, Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery
Discover Bucks Museum located in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, is a family friendly museum that tells the story of the people and landscapes of Buckinghamshire, from 200 million years ago to today.
The Museum has many family friendly exhibitions and events throughout the year, including school holidays, that are extremely affordable, and fun for all ages.
The Museum also contains the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery, a permanent Gallery I recently visited with my toddler and school aged child, and we all loved it.
If you’re interested in visiting the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery at Discover Bucks Museum but would like some more information before you go, then I hope this Discover Bucks Museum review on the Roald Dahl’s Children’s Gallery helps you decide if it’s a family day out that you’d like to do.
In this Discover Bucks Museum review I’ll cover:
I hope you find this Discover Bucks Museum review helpful.
If there is anything you think is missing from this review, or anything you’d like more information on, then I’d love to hear from you.
Discover Bucks Museum’s location
Discover Bucks Museum is located at:
Church Street
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
HP20 2QP
As well as driving to the Museum, you can also get there by train or bus, and both the train station and the bus stop are a short walk from the Museum, all you need to do is follow the signs to the Market Square, and you’ll find the Museum located in the old part of town, near St Mary’s Church.
Things to do at the Museum
There are many things to do at the Museum, which include:
Museum Galleries
Within the two floors of the Discover Bucks Museum Galleries are paintings, pottery displays, Tudor house displays, embroideries, and exhibitions that change throughout the year.
On the day I visited the Museum I didn’t get to look at the Galleries because the main reason for our visit was to go to the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery.
If I revisit I’ll definitely spend some time in the Galleries, as they looked really well laid out, and had many interesting objects in them.
Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery
This Gallery was so much fun, and really, really interactive, perfect for toddlers and older children.
This Gallery is smaller than The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, but had a lot of interactive areas within it, making it perfect for my toddler.
This Gallery is set up inside an old coach house that you enter by walking across the courtyard next to the Museum’s entrance.
There are two floors within the Gallery, on the ground floor is the Discover Gallery, and on the first floor is the Imagination Gallery, which you can access by the stairs, or taking a glass elevator similar to the one Charlie and Willy Wonka took.
The Discover Gallery
Located on the ground floor is the Discover Gallery, which had five themed areas within it, with each area being inspired by one of Roald Dahl’s books, and included:
Fantastic Mr Fox
Both of my boys loved this area, it had a tunnel in it containing different animals and objects hidden inside it, as well as a peep hole for children to look through.
Miss Trunchbull & Willy Wonka
On the outside of Fantastic Mr Fox’s tunnel was a wall showing Miss Trunchbull’s punishment tools, and on top was a machine that helped Willy Wonka make chocolate.
The highlight of this area for my toddler old was a section on the outside of the tunnel that blew air out once a button was pressed, and the air kept a beach ball in the air, I couldn’t get him away from it.
James and the Giant Peach
In this area there were a lot of mini beasts to look at, some of which you could see through a microscope.
Both of my boys loved this area because it had a lot of objects that could be picked up and moved around, including cars, shells, and puzzle pieces.
The BFG
Next to James’ Giant Peach was a wall that had dreams written on it, and on the opposite wall was a microphone where you could change your voice and move a large BFG Super Hearing Machine around.
Matilda
At the rear of this part of the Gallery was Matilda’s library, which contained many books, including Roald Dahl books, and the cupboard that Miss Trunchball put students in.
The Discover Gallery was a lot of fun, the highlights for my two boys were the James and the Giant Peach area due to the bugs and things they could hold and move, and the microphone in the BFG area because they love anything that makes noise.
The Imagination Gallery
Once we finished exploring the Discover Gallery we took the stairs to the Imagination Gallery, which was colourful, and had many different things to play with.
Here the boy’s had fun exploring:
- The Twit’s feely holes, a wall with holes in it that you put your hands in and felt all sorts of things from wigs, spiders, cups, and slimy objects
- The Shadow Booth, which my 6 year old loved, here you press a button then move your body. A photo is then taken and your movement is captured as a shadow on the wall
- An invisibility cloak, where one minute you see yourself on a screen, then you’re gone!
- Various optical illusion machines, which my 2 year old loved because he could spin things, touch things, and move things around
Victorian Garden
There’s a Victorian Garden next to the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery with tables and chairs, a grassed area, a statue, and gardens.
It’s a great area to eat your lunch, take a break, or let your children run around to get their energy out.
The Gift Shop
There’s a gift shop next to the ticket area as you enter the Museum that sells cards, gifts, toys, Roald Dahl books, and homewares.
Food options
Discover Bucks Museum has a café with indoor seating that sells hot and cold drinks, cakes, sandwiches, and hot soup, and is located next to the ticket area.
Family friendly facilities at the Museum
There are a number of family friendly facilities at Discover Bucks Museum, including:
- Baby changing facilities in the toilets next to the café
- Buggy storage downstairs (buggies can’t be taken into the Galleries)
- Highchairs inside the café
- Birthday party facilities
Opening times
The Museum Galleries and the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery are open at different times, which are:
Museum Galleries opening times
- Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm
Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery opening times
- Saturdays 10am – 4pm
Ticket prices
Tickets for Discover Bucks Museum come in 3 different options, which are:
Discover Pass
The Discover Pass gives you entry to the Museum Galleries only, and costs:
- £5.50 adults
- Free 4-15 years
- Free under 4s
Adult tickets for the Discover Pass include 12 months free entry to the Museum Galleries.
Explorer Pass
The Explorer Pass gives you entry to the Museum Galleries and the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery.
This ticket costs:
- £5.50 adults
- £8.50 4-15 years
- Free under 4s
- £25 family of 4 (2 adults + 2 children or 1 adult + 3 children)
- £30 family of 5 (2 adults +3 children or 1 adult + 4 children)
Ticket prices for the Explorer Pass are for a single entry into the Museum Galleries and Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery, and include a minimum 10% voluntary donation so the Museum can collect gift aid on your admission price.
Adventure Pass
The Adventure Pass gives you entry to the Museum Galleries and the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery for a year, and at the time we visited cost:
- £16 adults
- £18 4-15 years
- Free under 4s
- £55 family of 4 (2 adults + 2 children or 1 adult + 3 children)
- £65 family of 5 (2 adults +3 children or 1 adult + 4 children)
For up to date ticket prices please visit Discover Bucks Museum ticket prices.
Parking
The Museum doesn’t have onsite parking, but there are two parking stations nearby, which is the Exchange Street carpark HP20 1QY, or Friarscroft carpark HP20 2TE.
When I visited I parked at Friarscroft carpark, which was £3 for the entire day (it was a Saturday), and was a 10-minute walk to the Museum.
How long you’ll need for your visit
We spent 2 hours at Discover Bucks Museum, which included visiting the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery and eating lunch.
However, if visiting the Museum Galleries as well, you could probably spend 3-4 hours at the Museum.
My thoughts on Discover Bucks Museum
We had a great time at Discover Bucks Museum, the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery was the perfect size for my 2 year old, because it wasn’t huge, which meant he could explore it easily without me worrying about where he was.
As well as being a great size, I loved that it had so many interactive areas because going somewhere where my kids are allowed to touch things means I don’t have to constantly tell them to be careful, which can take the fun out of days out.
The Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery was also incredibly safe for children, there was a member of staff manning the entrance so children couldn’t get in or out without their carer, and there was a button that had to be pressed to exit, which was too high for children to reach.
Lastly, I booked a 1pm entry time to the Museum and got stuck in a lot of traffic so was really late. I called the Museum to ask if I could arrive later when I realised I’d be late, and the staff were really nice about my stressed state, which made the day even better.
I really enjoyed Discover Bucks Museum, it wasn’t expensive to visit, it has Galleries that are interesting for smaller kids, and it’s just the right size to visit if you don’t have a lot of time.
I hope you’ve found this Discover Bucks Museum review helpful, and that it’s helped you to decide if it’s somewhere you’d like to explore.
What are some of your favourite family friendly museums?
