The Oxford Story Museum

What is the Oxford Story Museum?

The story of the museum – this most unusual museum celebrates stories in all forms and explores their enduring power to teach and delight. It was founded in 2003, The Story Museum began by taking stories and storytellers into schools and communities. Since 2009, they have gradually been transforming a large, dilapidated building in the centre of Oxford into a museum. With the help of authors, artists, teachers and other cultural organisations and volunteers of all ages. In Spring 2014, they celebrated the first phase of our development with refurbished facilities, the opening of a shop and cafe, new events and a major exhibition around a central courtyard. Since this date, it has continued to evolve with the help of the patrons of the museum, to bring the power of stories to children of all ages.

Entering the Story Museum

After a brunch of tea, hard-boiled eggs and soldiers plus a salmon and avocado bagel for me we were fully recharged and set to explore – albeit still a little damp! We parked the buggy in the buggy park as it is not possible to take it in with us. Across the courtyard is a yellow door which leads into the museum. On opening it we were greeted with a huge picture of Alice which stretched up the staircase.

At the top of the staircase, we met one of the readers, who explained that there was story telling every hour apart from 1 pm. On the chalkboard, it tells you in which room the story is going to happen. From there you are free to explore the two floors and work your way around the story-themed zones. It does remind me a little of an old school in the way the rooms run on from each other.

We decided to explore the ground floor first learning all about a spider who collected stories from the gods. Giving an introduction to story history. Charli enjoyed playing with the characters and the room is decorated in theme with the story. On the wall there was a tablet that told you all about the story and had a background soundtrack to set the mood. It was a good room to start in.

Temporary Exhibition Space

Also on the first floor was Mission Control, an interactive exhibit that Charlie moved around. Following simple instructions on the wall and via television screens. Mission control is all about collecting stories and you get the chance to make your own in way of a short film. Considering Charlie is a bloggers child and quite often on film. He became really shy when it came to designing his own. But he happily got involved in all the tasks around the room, voting and answering questions as well went.

From Mission control, we decided to head upstairs to the second floor. Our first stop was the Chronicles of Narnia in the whispering wood. Walking through the wardrobe and the furs and seeing the white snow in front of you was magical. Of course, we couldn’t resist a picture opportunity in the witch’s sleigh. Charlie is a little too young for Narnia stories but I loved it.

You actually go down the rabbit hole and through the Mad Hatters Tea Party to get to Narnia. On the way back out we decided to stop and solve some riddles. I could imagine it would make a great venue for a Birthday celebration. Like all the other exhibits it relies on you as parents helping the children to live the story. There is a large mirror in the corner which makes you all distorted which Charlie thought was really funny. 

The Giant Bed

We then found my favourite room next. Walking up to it there was a long wall of pegs with a dressing gown on each, all in different sizes and up to adult. At the end a sink with giant toothbrushes. There is a lot of attention to detail throughout the museum. As you walked into the room you are greeted by the largest bed I have ever seen.

Off to one side there is a room which is full of little square cupboards. In each one is a book and a story prop relating to that book. Since Harry is mad about opening cupboards he had great fun taking things out and putting them back in. The idea behind the room is to pick your dressing gown, your story and your cuddly toy and then snuggle down on this huge bed, or one of the other rooms and read. Of course, Harry was more interested in crawling all over the bed! They had some great stories to choose from including Going on a Bear Hunt and Winnie the Pooh in th hundred acre wood. There was plenty of choice of picture books for younger children.

There are a couple of other rooms off to the side. One is a nursery and was playing nursery rhymes which transported me back to when Charlie was small. The other bedroom had a beautifully stunning mural painted on the walls. I could have stayed here for hours reading.

For the older children

The next area we visited had lots of different exhibits relating to books well above Charlie’s age range such as those written by j.r.r. tolkien, Terry Pratchett and Animal Farm. He still had fun playing a board game and finding out what his ‘rat’ name was – Fruity Dunker. By this time Harry was starting to tire and needed to go back in the buggy so we decided to check out one last room before heading back down.

That room was on the first floor and was called The Changing Room. So clever I would love to know how they do it. There’s the option to dress up or not. Then you collect a picture frame and needed to choose an adjective and person and place that slots into the side of the frame. Then you walk down the red carpet and the throne announces you. Charlie thought this was simply amazing. To be honest so did I. Such a clever idea. It was great as it got him trying to read all the different words.

The Story Museum is brilliantly interactive and full of the magical world of stories. However, it is the sort of space that is only as good as you make it. I love how it really encourages quality time between parents and children. We really enjoyed our time there and there was so much more for us to explore. I can see why it is so well-regarded. As many of the rooms are temporary exhibitions that if you visit on multiple occasions you will see and hear a different story or new exhibition.

It is great that it also suits all ages from Charlie’s up to Tweens quite easily and a great way to encourage a love of reading. If you have any plans to visit central Oxford then I would put this immersive experience on your list of museums. I really wish there was one closer to us.

Things you need to know:

• The Oxford Story Museum is a registered charity – entry costs £10 per person for the small worlds gallery. Expect to spend around 60-90 minutes. There is also a small worlds section which is designed for children 0-5 years and hour-long sessions costs £5.50 per child. There is also a City of Stories film experience that lasts 27-minutes and is aimed at children over the age of 5 for an additional £2.50 per person.
• Generally, they are open every day from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm. They also have loads of events on, so it is worth checking out their website to see the timetable. The events are held in the Woodshed and are priced individually. They run special events for school children and over the school holidays.
• 50% discount for those who are part of the Arts Council England.
• Caféopening hours vary depending on whether it is term time or not. Outside of term time, they are shut on Mondays and Tuesdays.
• Address: Rochester House, 42 Pembroke Street, Oxford OX1 1BP
• Parking – the closest carpark we could find was Oxpens although it’s not cheap. There is a park and ride which may be worth considering.
• In the cafe, there are also gift shops with some lovely items so make sure the kids remember their pocket money

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