Roald Dahl Museum puts students right inside the working world of one of Britain’s best loved authors. In Great Missenden, the Buckinghamshire village where Roald Dahl lived and wrote for 36 years, students explore interactive galleries built around his life and books, then step inside his real writing hut, the place where Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda and the BFG were dreamed up. It’s a literacy trip built entirely around getting students writing.
What to Expect on Your School Trip
The Roald Dahl Museum is the perfect place to see the writing process in action by one of its masters. Students will discover how they can use the same techniques themselves and find out more about Roald Dahl‘s life while exploring the museum’s fun, interactive galleries in one of its facilitated workshops, suitable for Reception to Year 8.
Come face to face with Fantastic Mr Fox, measure up to your Roald Dahl heroes, and pull a power pose next to Matilda. Then discover Roald Dahl‘s famous Writing Hut, the birthplace of your favourite characters, at the Museum of the World’s No.1 Storyteller. The aim is for every visit to be hands on, investigative and exciting. The schools’ programme is delivered by an experienced Learning Team, and all staff hold Enhanced DBS clearance and regularly review their professional skills. There are two types of workshop to choose from: galleries based 90 minute sessions for Reception to Year 8, or archive based 180 minute sessions for Year 2 to Year 8, each built around a key literacy focus.
Where Fantastic Mr Fox and Matilda Began
Roald Dahl lived in Great Missenden for 36 years, writing every one of his major books from a small hut in the garden of his home, Gipsy House. In 2011, that hut, complete with his wing backed armchair and the yellow pads he wrote on, was moved piece by piece to the museum on the High Street, where it’s now part of the permanent collection alongside his original manuscripts, letters and Ideas Books.
For English and creative writing lessons, that makes for a genuinely useful trip. Students aren’t just looking at objects behind glass. They’re seeing where the ideas for Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda and the BFG actually came from, and the workshops build on that directly, with sessions on characters, editing and storytelling craft. As one teacher said after an onsite session, “It’s easy to say ‘use your imagination’ but this has given me the tools to do that.”
Roald Dahl Museum links to English, with workshops covering creative writing, storytelling and poetry.
Why Book It for Your Next English Trip
Workshops run Tuesday to Friday, and bookings are open all year round, so there’s no fixed season to plan around. Prices start from £7 per student and rise to £8.13 per student for the longer archive session, with workshops priced per group of up to 32 students. There’s one free adult ticket for every six students booked, extra adult tickets are £13.95, and the museum recommends at least one adult for every eight students.
Roald Dahl Museum is suitable for Reception through to Year 8, making it a strong fit for KS1 to KS3 English and creative writing schemes of work.
