The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre Review

Over the summer break, Ryan and I went to The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.

This museum has been on my to do list for some time, so I thought that it was time that we finally visited.

It was also a great time to visit because Ryan and I have started to read chapter books together, so learning more about Roald Dahl and his amazing books was something we were both excited for.

Here’s my Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre review from our recent visit, which I hope will help you decide if it’s somewhere that you’d like to visit as well.

In this review I’ll cover: 

I hope you find this review helpful, and would love to know if there’s anything that you think I can add to it to ensure it’s as helpful as can be.

Where is The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre?

The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre is located at:

81-83 High Street
Great Missenden
HP16 0AL

Great Missenden is in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, and is just off the A413.

Great Missenden is also the place where Roald Dahl wrote and lived in for 36 years.

What is there to do at The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre?

There are many things to do at The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, which include:

Galleries

There are three galleries to walk around, the Boy Gallery, Solo Gallery, and Story Centre.

Boy Gallery

This is the first gallery after the entrance.

It’s small but provides a lot of information on Roald Dahl’s childhood and school life, which you can read about in his book titled Boy.

At the entrance of this gallery are two large chocolate bars, which also smell like chocolate.

Solo Gallery

This gallery had a lot of information in it detailing Roald Dahl’s real life adventures, especially those he experienced whilst he was a Fighter Pilot, and which inspired much of his writing.

There were some really fun things to do in this gallery, including a wall where you could compare your height to one of Roald Dahl’s characters. Ryan was as tall as Matilda.

Another fun thing was seeing Roald Dahl’s original writing hut, which was assembled by Roald Dahl to minimise his aches and pains, and to store his precious memories associated with his family, friends, travels, and interests.

The hut was relocated to the museum from its original location, and was recreated exactly as Roald Dahl left it.

This gallery also has flying costumes that younger visitors can wear as they climb into a life sized cockpit, as well as film props from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, including information on how parts of the film were made.

There’s also a wall dedicated to details about some of his other popular books.

Story Centre

The Story Centre Gallery is the museum’s creative hub, and the gallery where we spent most of our time.

In this gallery there’s a craft room, dress ups, areas where children can make their own stories, and a section to make your own bookmark, which Ryan loved.

There’s also a rhyming area, an interview of Roald Dahl talking about his writing process on a TV, Mr Fox puppets, and a writing chair.

Ryan’s favourite thing in this gallery was the make your own movie section, where he got to choose a background and put different characters on it.

He then moved each character slightly, and pressed a button on the screen that saved the image. He then repeated this about 15 times, and at the end he got to see the movie he made.

The Chomping Room and Upper Babbling Room

Next to the Story Centre are some stairs that lead up to The Chomping Room and Upper Babbling Room.

The Chomping Room is an indoor picnic area, and the Upper Babbling Room is an area where you can read quietly, or attend an event that the museum is running.

Courtyard

The museum has an outdoor courtyard.

On the day we visited there were 17 Quentin Blake illustrations to be found in the courtyard, as well as a Matilda statue.

Lower Babbling Room

During the school holidays, and on most weekends, the museum holds story-telling sessions in this room, which you enter from the courtyard.

As we visited during the school holidays, we were able to attend a Danny Champion of the World story time session.

Our session involved a staff member reading a section of the book, and getting the kids involved by getting them to make noises, and catch soft toys that they had to pretend were pheasants.

It was a lot of fun.

Museum shop

The museum has a shop located towards the side of the entrance.

It sells stationery, books, toys, gifts, games, clothes, and other Roald Dahl inspired products.

Food options

The museum shop sells cold drinks, and a selection of treats.

There are also picnic areas throughout the museum where you can eat food and drinks that you’ve bought from home.

You’re also welcome to exit the museum and buy food from surrounding cafés, and then come back to the museum to eat it.

On the day we visited the onsite café was closed, and I’m not sure if it has reopened.

Facilities

There are toilets, accessible toilets, and nappy change facilities onsite.

There’s also a separate section at the entrance to park your buggy, so if you have a baby, it’s best to bring a baby carrier with you.

The museum is mainly on the ground floor, and the rooms located upstairs can be accessed via a lift.

Opening times

Below are the opening times on the day we visited, with the last admission being 3.15pm.

Buckinghamshire term time:
Thursday to Sunday 10am – 4.30pm

Summer holidays:
Tuesday to Sunday 10am – 4.30pm

October half term:
Monday to Sunday 10am – 4.30pm

Ticket prices

At the time we visited ticket prices were:

• Children 5 years and over £7.95
• Under 5 free
• Adult £7.95
• Students 18+, MAX card holders, people in receipt of state benefits £5.95
• Carers free

All tickets include free re-entry for a year.

You can book tickets here.

Parking

There isn’t any onsite parking at this museum.

However, the closest car park is a 5 minute walk from the museum, and is located on Link Road, HP16 9AE.

On the day I parked here the prices were:

Monday to Saturday 7.30am – 6pm

• Up to 1 hour £0.70
• Up to 2 hours £1.40
• Up to 3 hours £2.00
• Up to 4 hours £2.50
• Up to 9 hours £3.60
• Over 9 hours £7.00
• Sunday and bank holidays free

How long you’ll need for your visit

We spent about 2 hours at the museum, which included the 30 minute story telling session.

You can enter and exit the museum as often as you like during your visit, so you could spend some time doing one or both of the surrounding walking trails, which the museum has guides on for free.

The trails are the Village Trail, or the Countryside Trail.

The Village Trail takes you around Great Missenden’s village, where you can see the shops and sights that Roald Dahl frequented when he lived there.

On this trail you’ll also see Roald Dahl’s grave, at the Church of St Peter and St Paul.

The Countryside Trail takes you further out through the countryside that inspired a lot of Roald Dahl’s writing.

What age is The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre suitable for?

The museum is suitable for 5 to 12 year olds, and is great for children who are either familiar with Roald Dahl, or have read some of his books.

Younger children will love the interactive parts of the museum, whilst older children will love reading about Roald Dahl’s life.

My thoughts on our day at The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre

I loved this museum, and I really enjoyed learning about Roald Dahl’s life and the inspiration behind his books.

Because of this visit, Ryan and I are now making our way through Roald Dahl’s books, starting with George’s Marvellous Medicine, which we bought at the museum’s shop.

Highlights

The Story Centre, it had a lot for children of all ages to enjoy and it was Ryan’s favourite part of the museum.

Upon entry Ryan was given a booklet with questions to answer as he walked around the museum. He really enjoyed finding the answers to each question, and wrote his answers wherever he could, including on the floor. When he finished a staff member at the entrance gave him a My Story Ideas Book, which was a book he could start to write his own story ideas in.

The staff at the museum were fantastic. They helped all the kids with the hands on exhibits, explained things to them, and even asked them questions to get them thinking.

As a parent I really loved that I didn’t have to walk Ryan through the museum shop to leave, as it was located on the side of the entrance area where Ryan couldn’t see it.

Lowlights

This isn’t a lowlight for me, but could be for younger kids, which was that there was a lot of information to read throughout the museum that younger kids wouldn’t be able to understand. However, it wasn’t anything that parents couldn’t explain to them, and there were many other things in each gallery for younger kids to enjoy.

Overall we had a fantastic day, and I loved the museum much more than I thought we would.

It’s also encouraged us to read some new books together, which is always a plus for me.

What’s your favourite Roald Dahl book?