Great Missenden

Dahl's village in the Misbourne valley

The Red Pump Garage on the High Street, with two old petrol pumps, appears in *Danny, the Champion of the World*. A little further along, Crown House — number 70, patterned in black and white — was the model for Sophie's orphanage in *The BFG*. Great Missenden was Roald Dahl's village for thirty-six years, and it turns up in his books in pieces you can walk past.

The High Street itself is narrow and half-timbered, lined with old inns, and the A413 to Aylesbury now runs around it rather than through it. The village sits in the valley of the River Misbourne, with the Chiltern chalk ridge rising to the west and beechwoods on the hills above. Dahl called it "fine Buckinghamshire country with its rolling hills and beechwoods and small green fields."

Old inns and High Street shops

The Nag's Head, on the South Heath side, is a 15th-century country inn serving mussels, fish and chips, and sticky toffee pudding; Dahl put it in *Danny* too, catching "a glimpse of old Rummins going into the Nag's Head for his morning pint." The Cross Keys is 16th century, noted for its Sunday roast. Origins at the White Lion has taken over the former White Lion pub and now runs as a tapas and wine bar. The George is the last of the old coaching inns still trading — the arches into its yards are still visible along the street.

Shopping is on the same stretch. There is the Cross Keys Bookshop, the homeware and gift shops Janes and Hooch and Big Sky, and a traditional butcher and greengrocer. On the first Sunday of the month, from ten until three, an artisan market brings food and drink stalls and local craft producers into the village.

Walking from Great Missenden

The walking starts from the centre. The South Bucks Way heads south past Missenden Abbey and its Abbey Park, where a lake and the Misbourne run below the trees, then on through Little Missenden and the Shardeloes Estate. The most popular route is the Coneybank Wood and The Lee loop, about seven and a half miles through ancient woodland and chalk hills. Great Missenden has its own station on the Chiltern line, with direct trains to London Marylebone and step-free access on both platforms.

The Writing Hut, church and manor

The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre occupies a converted coaching inn and yard, and has his original Writing Hut on display. Above the village, set apart on a hill over the A413, is the Church of St Peter and St Paul — mostly 14th century, with sarsen stone footings, a fine nave arcade and a 15th-century timber roof. The Domesday surveyors valued the whole manor at four pounds.

Dahl's grave

Dahl is buried in the churchyard. Visitors still leave toys and flowers on the grave.