Toy Museum

Penshurst Place Toy Museum Awarded £100,000 Grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Re-imagining the Toy Museum For 2025 and Beyond:

Now Open!

The Toy Museum at Penshurst Place and Gardens in the Weald of Kent was awarded a grant of £100,000 at the beginning of 2025 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This has enabled the renovation and re-imagination of this popular attraction. The Toy Museum officially re-opened on Thursday 31^st July for visitors to enjoy.  

In its 55^th anniversary year, the funding has allowed the beloved Toy Museum to be a refreshed, engaging and permanent exhibition that can be enjoyed by families, schools and lifelong learners alike.

New cabinets and display cases have ensured that Penshurst Place’s extensive collection of toys and games are preserved for future generations. Interpretation boards and object labels now make it easier to view artefacts and understand their history, while some of the objects – including the ever-popular 1920s automation Drinking Bear, made by Roullet & Decamps of Paris- are getting sensitively repaired by conservation specialists to ensure they can be enjoyed for many more decades to come. The conservation of some of these artefacts are still being restored and will be joining us in the autumn time.

Four new themed ‘zones’ are now within the Toy Museum to engage, educate and delight visitors. Focusing on Games and Pastimes; Dolls and Bears; Building Blocks; and World of Imagination, these zones have been designed to inspire connections with the heritage on display, as well as encouraging visitors to recall their own history and stories to share with their families and friends.

The revamped Toy Museum offers more interactive activities for younger visitors, including an activities area, a special trail to follow, and an exhibition space where local children and schools can show off their creativity.

The accessibility has improved overall, enabling more people to enjoy the Toy Museum. There will be an installation of a new lift in autumn 2025, which will provide access for wheelchair users. Sensory exhibits and additional interpretation, including British Sign Language signage panels are making it easier for more visitors to interact with the collection everyday.

The Toy Museum collection at Penshurst Place consists of around 2,000 items, with pieces dating from the Georgian period to the 1980’s. It included dolls’ houses and dolls’ house furniture; Pollock’s toy theatres; mechanical toys; rocking horses; story books; and games.

A History of The Toy Museum

The Toy Museum was opened on 1st July 1970 by William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L’Isle. Since then, those who have visited have been delighted by the wonderful collection of toys on display from bygone eras.

The museum was created out of an old carpenters’ workshop and is part of a range of ‘Gothic’ stables of 1836, built by the 1st Viscount’s great-great grandfather.

Many of the toys are from the collection of Yootha Rose, stage designer, artist and royal toymaker, as well as toys from generations of the Sidney family, including many new ones from the present-day owners.  Numerous others have been given or lent to Lord De L’Isle for the collection.