Roald Dahl Museum

Got the chance to go to the Roald Dahl museum and story centre in Great Missenden last week - with a Year 3 school trip (they were short of parent helpers, so drafted me in (as a TA), since I work with the class 4 afternoons per week). Trips can sometimes be hard work - depending on the children, the destination, the staff, and the organisation/planning. This one, however, was both easy and great fun. Very few difficult children, and none in the group of 5 for whom I was directly responsible. The travel only took about 45 minutes each way, and the Education Officer at the Museum was EXTREMELY good - I was very impressed.

Even the potentially tedious half of the day spent on a map-making exercise along the main street of the village went well. We did rather a lot of extra walking - because we went both to the churchyard to see Roald Dahl's grave, and to Gypsey House, where he lived (and where his widow still lives). We got tantalising glimpse of both the house and the garden (I found it touching to notice that the main door of the house was yellow, with yellow tulips on either side, having earlier been told that yellow was Roald Dahl's favourite colour). I'm glad we risked a short distance along a road with no pavement to get there (we were very careful indeed to ensure the children were safe at all times!) The garden was open that day, as part of the British Garden Association programme - so it was a real shame we couldn't go in (the children would have been free, but it was £4 per adult - and (more crucially) we didn't have time. I checked the list of dates once I got home, but they all fall on mid-week working days for me, so no chance of going.

It started to rain before we got back to the museum to meet up with the rest of the group and to go back to the coach. But just a light drizzle, so (given what it COULD have been like) no real complaints.

I was somewhat disappointed that - when I asked if he'd like to visit the place - Bob was so entirely uninterested in going to see the museum or village. Hey ho. Mind you, the museum is very much targeted at children, so maybe he's right.