I'd seen their beautiful Victorian pet shop featured in a dolls' house magazine some years ago, but other than that, I didn't really expect there to be a great deal in the way of dolls' houses. Boy was I wrong about that!
I hardly know where to start but, as I've already mentioned it, I'll start with the Victorian pet shop:
I'm not a fan of pet shops in real life but I find this Victorian miniature version utterly charming.
Downstairs left-hand side. The shop seems to sell both domestic, farm and wild animals! I think those are ducks or maybe geese poking their heads through the bars of the cage under the mirror.
Downstairs right-hand side. Birds, cats and dogs.
Upstairs left-hand side. The galleried landing is a lovely feature of the shop.
Upstairs left-hand side. Perhaps some of the prettily dressed ladies prefer to view the 'wares' from a distance.
Centre foreground. Fish and rabbits.
As I said, I had heard about the pet shop but I hadn't heard about the toy shop:
It's amazing! So many tiny dolls!
My friend Claire, or 'Bobadoll' as she's become known, would have been in seventh heaven if she'd been with us. Unfortunately, she lives several hundred miles away - next time you visit, Bobadoll!
Tiny doll heaven!
Such an array of wonderful objects.
Some very lovely customers too.
And finally (for today) I was absolutely blown away by Mrs Kendall's Glass Shop:
Here is the proprietress herself doing a spot of knitting behind the central counter.
Left-hand side. The information in the museum said that the contents are from the 1840s.
Right hand side. The assortment of tiny glass and china items on display is astounding.
The little Grodnertal customers are fabulous too.
And I'd give my right arm for the AMAZING glass dog, reclining happily at the front of the shop!
So that's it for today. Next time I'll post photos of the dolls' houses - some of which were surprisingly familiar to us!
Until next time,
Zoe
What glorious shops! They don't look anything like the German dolls' shops I am familiar with, was there any information about their history / makers?
ReplyDeleteAll those poor animals look like they most urgently need to be liberated to loving DH homes... and I wouldn't mind liberating some of the beautiful dolls either. Thank you for sharing, Zoe.
Unfortunately, we only got to the museum an hour before closing so we only just had enough time to drool over the exhibits and take photos. There was probably information around and about that I didn't get to read. My guess would be that the glass shop and toy 'shops' (more room boxes really) were built specifically to house someone's collections of those little items, but it is just a guess and I'll try to find out the real story next time I'm there. I wish I could find the magazine article about the pet shop - I think it was in Dolls' House World a couple of years back and I'm sure I kept a copy of it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Edel! The shops are indeed glorious, but those poor animals in their tiny cages need liberating to good homes!
ReplyDeleteI love the china and glass collections and wish I had the skill to dress my 12" Grodnertal so elegantly, let alone the tiny d/h sized ones.
Any particular "good/loving homes" in mind, for those poor caged animals, Edel and Jenann? LOL
ReplyDeleteNo, no, not at all... (VERY innocent look)
Delete:-)
DeleteFantastic photos, strangely I feel I can take it all in better and see things more clearly from your photos than when we were there. I'm so pleased you do this blog!
ReplyDeleteSo true, Jenny, and for that very reason it's such a shame we couldn't take photos at Hoghton Tower.
DeleteWow I love these shops, I too read about the pet shop in a dolls house magazine but had no idea the Ilkley Toy Museum also had all these other amazing shops and houses.
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