Discover Roald Dahl's Writing Hut

This ordinary, slightly messy place was where all of Roald Dahl's wonderful characters and stories were imagined.

The interior of the Writing Hut was moved into the Museum in 2012, and since then visitors have been able to peek into this very special place for themselves.

As you can't visit the Museum at the moment, we're bringing the Writing Hut to you!

Roald Dahl's chair

The chair Roald Dahl sat in to write. He'd put the board across his lap, propped up with a roll of corregated cardboard, and settle in to write. He always wrote in pencil on yellow lined paper, for two hours in the morning, and two hours in the afternoon. That sounds like a great working day, doesn't it?

Roald Dahl's table

Some of the weird and wonderful items on the table in the Writing Hut. Look out for:

• The copper aeroplane. Roald Dahl flew aeroplanes in the Secord World War. This plane was made for him by a fan who had read My Year.

• A white rock veined with opal. Roald Dahl went on a book tour of Australia in April 1989. To reach fans in the Australian outback, there was a 'Bush Telegraph hook-up' to children in the opal mining community of Mintabie. Roald asked a one of the children if they had ever found any opals. Later the child found this and sent it to him.

The shelves

You can see a framed photo of Roald Dahl's father, Harald Dahl (1863-1920), with smaller photos of his sisters Asta and Else tucked into the frame. In Boy, Roald describes how Harald had an accident at the age of 14 that resulted in the amputation of one lower arm. Apparently, the only inconvenience this caused was not being able to slice the top off an egg!

Roald Dahl's books

These books were within arms reach of Roald Dahl while he was writing. They include rhyming dictionaries, Roget's International Thesaurus, The Penguin Dictionary of Quotations and The Synonym Finder. 

The wall

The wall to the right of Dahl's chair is filled with mementoes of his family and career. There are photos as well as drawings and letters from his family. In this photo you can see a Christmas card. This was sent to Roald from a real-life Willy Wonka, a postman in Blue Hill, Nebraska. He replied that he was "astonished and excited" that a real person had this name.

See the Writing Hut in the Museum

You can see the Writing Hut in the Museum using our virtual Museum tour.

Roald Dahl's working tips

Get some home working inspiration from none other than Roald Dahl himself, who had working from home down to a fine art!