Roald Dahl wrote all his books for children in the Writing Hut at the bottom of his garden.
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!
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?
Some of the weird and wonderful items on the table in the Writing Hut. Look out for:
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!
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 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.
Get some home working inspiration from none other than Roald Dahl himself, who had working from home down to a fine art!
© The Roald Dahl Story Company Limited / Quentin Blake 2018.
Roald Dahl is a registered trademark of The Roald Dahl Story Company Limited.
