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On The Trail
Plan your own journey of discovery to take in the places that you like best:
In Search of Fantastic Mr Fox
In his imagination, Dahl set Fantastic Mr Fox around his home in Great Missenden. As this is part of the Chiltern's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the countryside here is very special. Take your own imaginative look at Mr Fox's hideaways on the Angling Spring Wood Talking Trail, (7) where well-known actors provide a guide to the woodlands and their wildlife secrets. Click the link to download the audio tracks now.
A Giant's-Eye View
See how we looked to the BFG, at Bekonscot Model Village (8) - the oldest model village in the world. Look down on hundreds of tiny figures going about their business in a minute version of England as it was in the 1930s. The six villages in their miniature kingdom are all linked by a working, Gauge 1 railway - the finest of its kind in Britain. Enid Blyton once lived next door: perhaps Bekonscot inspired Toy Town, her imaginary world. Feeling creative? Click Interactive on the website to build your own 3D model village, complete with moving trains.
Your Guide to Railway Fun
Roald Dahl was so fascinated by trains (great and small) that he wrote his own Guide to Railway Safety. The Buckinghamshire Railway Centre (9) enables everyone to share his interest in that Golden Age of Steam. The 30 acre country site is home to a handsome collection of steam and diesel locomotives, historic carriages, engine workshops, a period station and terminus building. Visit the website for details of steam days, rallys, themed rides, driving events and other special occasions.
Doing the Nibbleswicke Walk
"In a few years, our great-great-great grandchildren will be born with hardly any legs at all because we haven't any use for them" wrote Dahl, who clearly thought that we were all getting very lazy. If you like a walk, and enjoy a challenge, the pretty little village of Turville (10) is just the place. Dahl would have known the steep footpath from the village to the windmill, featured in the film of Chitty, Chitty Bang, Bang for which he wrote the script. Turville is now known as the location for TV's The Vicar of Dibley. For the challenge, take a leaf out of Dahl's Vicar of Nibbleswicke: do the walk backwards!
Top Secret Gobblefunk
Roald Dahl loved playing around with words. For The BFG, he created a collection of 238 new, mixed-up words in his special language, Gobblefunk. Boffins at Bletchley Park National Codes Centre (11) knew all about mixed-up words, for this was the top-secret code-cracking Station X of World War II. It is rumoured that Dahl worked for the British Intelligence Service during the war and he definitely wrote the script for the James Bond adventure You Only Live Twice. There's talk of hidden treasure on this website. Are you the one to find it?
No Bunkdoodling!
Like Dahl's characters, 18th-century Sir Francis Dashwood seemed larger than life. He fashioned the lovely Italianate villa and gardens at West Wycombe Park but made his mark on history as Chancellor of the Exchequer and founder of the infamous Hell-Fire Club. You'll find Witches Workshops now in the The Hell-Fire Caves, (12) half a mile of haunting underground passages, halls and chambers which Sir Francis created deep in the hillside beneath West Wycombe church. All a little bit spooky, but no need for bad dreams!
Dirty Beasts?
Certainly not! A visit to Tiggywinkles (13) of hedgehog fame shows that these "comfy looking little mounds" are often much maligned. Like all good Roald Dahl stories, this haven for hedgehog casualties also began in the garden shed. It has now grown into the world's busiest wildlife hospital, dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating wild birds and animals of every kind. Meet some of the inmates on their website Hospital Tour.
"Come deep into the forest if you dare"
There are, as yet, no reported sightings of the Terrible Bloodsuckling Toothplucking Stonechuckling Spittler in Waddesdon Manor's Woodland Playground - (14) just fun and games on an award-winning adventure trail, climbing frames, slides and swings. The Manor is first class too. Find out who cleans all those ornate, high windows: could it be The Giraffe, the Pelly & Me?
Beware the Magic Finger!
To cure the Gregg family of their horrible hunting habits, the feisty heroine of The Magic Finger turned them into ducks. Dahl, who hated any unkindness to animals, must have approved of Odds Farm Park - (15) a happy, hands-on sanctuary where assorted farmyard creatures are born, shorn, milked and fed. Check their webcam now, to see who's doing what.
Chenies Marvellous Medicine
King Henry VIII stayed at pretty Chenies Manor House (16) with one of his wives, who later lost her head. It would take more than marvellous medicine to put that right, but for lesser ailments Chenies can still call on its physic garden for healing herbs. Like Dahl, the owner of Chenies Manor has a passion for gardening. If you've seen and enjoyed the maze at Gipsy House, you'll love the Chenies labyrinth and parterre yew maze.