A Peachy Writing Hut

A few eyebrows were raised on learning that the Dahl Family were asking for public donations to 'restore and move' the late great Roald Dahl's beloved writing hut from his estate to a museum in his own name.  I gasped when I read this news a few weeks ago, though not so much that the family were seeking donations, more that they felt the need to move the writing hut itself.  I mean, like, why?  Surely people would gain more from viewing the hut as it stood in the garden - precisely as Roald Dahl would have seen it.  To sit in the very spot where his wonderful novels were first penned but more than that, to soak in a little of the atmosphere, the sunlight hitting the windows in the morning, the breeze in the afternoon.  Surely, all of that is lost if it is moved 'brick by brick' and placed in a museum where the surroundings would hold little connection to the beloved hut itself.   

Deep sigh.  Or am I just being a great-big-girls-blouse, overly romantic and whimsical.  I think not.  Readers, fans, writers, -all walks of life, like to visit the writing huts of the literary heroes or heroines and let their own imagination wander wild and carefree.  I know I've stared out of castle windows and thought... imagine that - 'Queen-whats-her-face probably saw this view, just before she lost her head'... well, something like that.  But you know what I mean, don't you?  

Writers bolts, sheds, huts, call them what you will - they are sacred, and messing with them, well - messes with the karma.  Methinks.  

In the meanwhile, how do I find this place?

Ps:  And do check out the pictures of  famous writers sheds which the Independent has kindly listed.