National Trust Museum of Childhood

Sudbury Hall is a lovely manor house, closed in winter for conservation purposes. But the Hall houses the National Trust Museum of Childhood in the servants’ wing. It was open to the public when we visited it last week.

The Museum of Childhood is a delight for all ages. We found it fascinating and there are so many toys for kids that it makes it a wonderful family attraction.

The museum has 8 galleries and it’s much bigger than I was expecting it to be. It also shows the way children worked and how school was. There is an array of beautiful old toys and a few modern bits&pieces as well.

These are doll houses, the one from the top is Edwardian from 1910s and the other one is Victorian from 1880s. Doll houses were so important for upper class girls to learn how to run a household. I can’t imagine it was easy to manage a large staff, keep an eye on the finances, decide menus for banquettes and so on.

It was the first time hubby and I saw a peepshow book and it was fascinating. The peepshow book is made out of cards and there is a hole from where one can see the other cards. It creates a 3D image.

These are Christmas crackers from 1910. The company that made them, Tom Smith, began making them in 1847.

This is the ceiling. It was fun to hear others talking and then have a look up to see a child bedroom.

One of the galleries is a classroom. I love the way they look, but I’m sure they weren’t that pleasant 100 years ago.

There is a baby gallery with glass bottles and Victorian nappies. It is quite interesting.

Wooden doll from 1745 – 1765.

Sedan chair from 1880.

The amount of details on these toys is amazing.

Wooden doll, probably made in Germany in the 1710s.

Meccano truck. I had meccano when I was a child, hubby had one too… we both felt excited to see them and then we both felt old. It was funny.

I had a great time at the museum. Have you been there?