04 Jul Roald Dahl

The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre – in the village of Great Missenden, 30 miles northwest of London – is both enchanting and instructive: a special place to include in your next literary tour of England). Dahl (who was Welsh by birth) lived in the village from 1954 until his death in 1990 (aged 74). The Museum is aimed at 6- to 12-year olds: it offers workshops and activities to fire their imagination. Nearby, the Village Trail and Countryside Trail take visitors to places in and around Great Missenden that inspired Dahl.

It was in his Writing Hut – preserved and displayed in the museum – that Dahl wrote his ever-popular children’s books: a total of 17, plus three collections of children’s poetry and numerous works of adult fiction. Among his most popular stories, all of which have been more or less successfully adapted as feature films, are James and the Giant Peach (1961), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), Fantastic Mr Fox (1970), The Twits (1980), The BFG (1982), The Witches (1983), Matilda (1988) and Esio Trot (1990).