FUN DAY OUT IN UK – GREAT MISSENDEN
We had a day free and wanted to do something local to where we were staying. Our sister in law recommended the Roald Dahl Museum and seeing as the boys were currently reading Fantastic Mr Fox in their English class we thought this was right up our street.
Due to Covid restrictions we had to book in advance on their website… this didn’t take too long at all and thought that an hour would be enough and we could then move onto something else…. How wrong were we!!!
Firstly, can we just say how cute Great Missenden is…. We had planned to just go to the Museum and then go somewhere else but once we arrived in Great Missenden with all the cute shops and streets we knew we would be exploring the village afterwards.
We found the Roald Dahl Museum quite quickly as it is on the main road. There aren’t any carparks close so we had to go back on ourselves and find a car park which you will see before you get to the Museum on the left. It is only a small walk (not even 5 minutes) and frankly it is a lovely walk down the high street.
Once you arrive at the museum, you are given a little activity sheet which asks you questions about each room. They are fun to fill in whether you are a little human or a big human. This is a great touch to your visit, however there is so much to do in the museum that we ended up forgetting about the activity sheets and just enjoyed the museum.
The first room is appropriately called “Boy” and gives you some insight into Roald Dahl’s childhood and also shows you some early drafts of Fantastic Mr Fox. The boys loved dressing up in uniforms which Roald Dahl would have worn and there were plenty of photo opportunities.
The second room focuses on his adult life and here we learned about his time in the RAF, what his writing hut looked like and also interesting facts about his work. There was a great section where it talked about Roald Dahl and Quentin Blakes’ working relationship and there is a great exercise where one person has to describe a character and the other person has to draw it… Jenson thoroughly enjoyed being Roald Dahl and describing a fish to Fletcher (a.k.a Quentin Blake)
It was around this point that I realized we had already spent an hour here and hadn’t even made it to the third room…. And the third room is a biggie.
Here you can create your own movie by posing figurines and taking photos (we spent quite some time doing this as it was so much fun and easy to do) – there is also more dressing up, more crafts, more information…. And if you think that was enough… you also get to share your dreams to the BFG and sit down and read some books. It was sooo good…. The boys were thoroughly entertained and frankly, we were as well.
We spent around 2 hours there but could have spent a lot more. There were so many activities, so many chances to be creative and also so many photo opportunities…. This place is seriously amazing and really should be seen and experienced.
After we left the museum we visited the The Crown house which was the the inspiration for Sophie’s ‘norphanage’ in the BFG.
We also got the kids to pose in front of the Red Pump Garage that was written about in book Danny the Champion of the World.
We spent some time visiting the gorgeous shops around Great Missenden and then made our way to the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul to visit Roald Dahl’s grave. There is a lovely sitting area near the grave which has such a lovely quote from The Giraffe and the Pelly and me
“We have tears in our eyes
As we wave our goodbyes,
We so loved being with you, we three.
So do please now and then
Come and see us again,
The Giraffe and the Pelly and me”
There are then two giant BFG footprints heading towards Roald Dahl’s grave.
It is such a lovely area… and we spent around 10 minutes there just enjoying the quote, view and seating area. Some may think visiting a grave of someone you haven’t really met is being a bit weird or morbid. However, we felt it was the perfect end for the experience. We learnt about his childhood, adulthood, his work, his home and finally his final resting place… it was a lovely journey that we would recommend to everyone!
