Roald Dahl Museum Review – Esio Trot on DVD

Which is your favourite Roald Dahl book? Is it George’s Marvellous Medicine? The Witches? or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Three of my favourites! I grew up reading these stories and a few years ago I bought Kyle who is now 7 the box set of stories. Initially we started off sharing the books together and now he can read them on his own. Finlay 4, although too little to fully appreciate the stories and lacking the patience to listen to a chapter a night for a few weeks, loves the film versions. With the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film being a firm favourite.

We were so excited to be invited to visit the Roald Dahl museum in Great Missenden for the launch of Esio Trot on DVD. We hadn’t been there before and I thought it would be something my eldest would enjoy. I was a bit dubious as the whether the 4yr old would get much out of it, but thought we would give it a go.

The Museum is really hands on and there were lots of things for both boys to do. As the day was all about the DVD release of Esio Trot there were lots of Tortoise themed activities.

We found out facts about Roald Dahl and his life by finding all the Tortoises hidden around the Museum.

Whilst there we also heard about some of the processes Dahl used to develop his stories, the talks are brilliant and kept even the 4 year old engaged with lots of questions. Kyle really took it all in and had a go at sitting on the prop chair in exactly the way he had been told Roald Dahl would sit in it. I doubt he would have had a Spiderman facepaint but still.

The Museum has three interactive galleries. Boy gallery looks at Roald Dahl’s school days while Solo gallery houses his original Writing Hut. The Story Centre puts your imagination centre-stage with lots of activities to inspire the writer in you.

The boys loved the height chart showing how tall you are compared to Roald Dahl’s characters. Kyle was so pleased to be the same height as Charlie. Finlay loved all the story sacks in the Story Centre and enjoyed dressing up as the characters from the books.

My favourite part was seeing the actual writing hut and Roald Dahl’s chair. It’s safely behind glass, but after the talk we had all listened to earlier I felt like I knew more about the man who sat in it.

There was also the chance to watch some of the film. As we didn’t  watch it all I have it ready to watch tonight for our film Friday which we are all looking forward too.

The Museum is well worth a visit. We didn’t get everything done and I would like to take them back and spend more time in the Story Centre with Kyle and Finlay when he is older.

Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot is out now on DVD and Digital HD. You can find out more about The Roald Dahl Museum here.

Disclaimer: We were guests at Roald Dahl Museum. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

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