The teddy bear and doll room houses the majority of Patsy’s Collection amassed over the last 30 years.
There are 11 dolls houses dating from the 1930s onwards. These have been lovingly furnished with furniture from the period.
On display you can see a number of bisque dolls dating from 1880 onwards Armand Marseille and Heubach Kopplesdorf to name but a few. We also have a number of celluloid dolls in various sizes including the lovable Kewpie doll; our examples are mostly manufactured by Japanese companies and by Schildkrot.
Our composition dolls dating from the 1920s are mostly made by Armand Marseille.
You can also see pressed felt dolls from the 1930s made by Lenci, Norah Wellings
and Chad valley. We move on to the 1940s with a large display of “Wartime
dolls” these included Pedigree pot china dolls, cheap pot china dolls
and other homemade examples. Moving onto the 1950s when hard plastic was introduced
we have a number of “walking dolls” made by Roddy and Pedigree,
alongside some more recent examples from the 1960s and 1970s by Rosebud and
Pallitoy. We even have some of the elusive Sasha dolls from the 1970s.Along with all the dolls you will find over 100 vintage teddy bears both German and British makes in all sizes and shapes, some of them very well loved and now in retirement! Examples on display include Chad Valley, Merrythought, Chiltern, Alpha Farnell, Wendy Boston, Deans, Schuco and Hermann.
Next to the bears is a case of lead and plastic figures and accessories of Scouts and Guides, Street scene including Salvation Army, Hunting scenes, Circus and Dancers. These are backed by a box set of Britains garden, Scouting memorabilia and circus jigsaws.
As if this is not enough to see you can see cases filled with such favourites as Felix the Cat, Noddy, Magic Roundabout and Rupert the bear.
To complement all the gollies on display elsewhere in the museum, we have gathered together a wide selection of Robertson’s Golly badges, figures and other memorabilia. In the same case you can view an almost complete collection of the famous Britain’s CoCo cubs and other fairy tale and nursery rhyme figures from the 1930s onwards including Snow White and the seven dwarves.
Book lovers amongst you will not be disappointed as they enjoy seeing Enid Blyton collectables, alongside our vintage Christmas decorations.
The window sports an interesting display of “Wartime Toys” including books and homemade wooden toys including some made by prisoners of war.
Younger visitors enjoy studying our display of Hornby Cecily Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies.
For 2006 we have further enlarged our display of vintage Steiff animals with some unusual birds.
We also have on display everything for the well equipped doll including Tea sets, cooking sets, toy sewing machines and cookers, with well stocked grocery shops standing by with every possible ingredient.