As a couple of collectors, sometimes our travel plans are informed by places of interest related to our hobby. Other times we’re lucky and find such places while away from home. With the latter, it’s become standard practice to Google search terms such as “vintage toys” + the location we’re visiting, to see if it returns anything relevant.
If memory serves me correctly, that was the case when we found Lynton Toy Museum. We’d stayed in nearby Appledore ten years earlier and finally made it back to the north coast of Devon in 2023. There’s a thousand small towns like this in the UK who could have a toy museum (there are plenty of other distinctive features to this civil parish), but they don’t, Lynton does.
It’s here because owners Tony and Lorraine’s toy collections outgrew their three bedroom house in Bristol and they decided to relocate to Lynton, fulfilling a dream of opening a toy museum to share the vast range of items with visitors to the area. We’d have stopped by if they’d set up shop in Bristol, but Lynton works for us too.
Tony’s collecting roots are in Star Wars, for Lorraine it’s Sindy. The collection as a whole has a more 80s/90s leaning compared to Brighton Toy Museum’s focus which is the decades earlier than that. House on the Hill Museum meets the two somewhere in the middle, although I would say that there is more depth to specific collections, particularly in the action figure field to be found in Lynton.
At street level is a small toy shop aside the unassuming entrance to the toy museum itself. There’s some great stuff to be seen in the adjacent room where you begin your route around the exhibition, but it’s in the basement where you’ll really be wowed at what Tony and Lorraine have here.
I took lots of photos, unfortunately the lighting on the glass was a challenge to work around so they’re not my best. Hopefully they will give you a taster and inspire you to make the trip to this beautiful seaside town in the West Country to see it all for yourself in person.
One of the first displays in the museum has the best selling toys of each year. I focused in on this four year period of 1993 – 1996, quite possibly my prime for toys being aged 6 – 9 at this time. 93’s Thunderbirds passed me by (I think I was still into other T’s, Thomas and Turtles) but my best friend had a Tracy Island (the actual one and the infamous Blue Peter version). Power Rangers in 1994 was huge for me, I certainly had a collection of Pogs and I definitely got why Barbie was cool, even if I didn’t get one myself.
Two of the iconic Power Rangers combinable Megazords could be found a couple of cabinets away. I had both of these, alas I do not anymore. I’ve seen them for sale in lots of vintage toy shops and at toy fairs, I do often consider buying them (despite the high price they now command) but haven’t yet. These two were loose on the counter top and as strange as it might sound, actually picking them up had a nostalgia hit for me that went beyond just seeing them in person.
In the above photo is one of a few diorama style displays in the museum, this featuring a selection of classic Kenner Star Wars figures and vehicles, depicting three scenes from the film (L-R), the Battle of Endor, Jabba’s Palace, and the Battle of Hoth. Plus, check out that beautiful play mat on the wall behind.
A couple of other angles on the display
After finding one to purchase less than a year earlier, it was a coincidence to see another of the ‘Mos Espa scene’ Pez handlers here in the wild for only the second time in two decades of collecting Pez. I was relieved that I had managed to buy this, because otherwise I may have had to try and barter with Tony and Lorraine for theirs! A niche item for a niche collector, its place in a museum is earnt.
Lynton’s on the left, Liam’s on the right
Sam’s collecting focus, robots had some good representation in the museum too. The ‘Saturn’ model (below) she has since purchased at a toy fair. The very cool Tomy ‘Mr DJ’ and the prophetic ‘Chatbot’ are currently omissions from her own collection.
There wasn’t much on sale for us in the shop, although I did buy a lone Rebel soldier from the Battle of Hoth (which was only slightly different to the many others I have) to take home as a souvenir from this very fun attraction.
Lynton Toy Museum is just £2 for adults, £1 for children under 16 and free for children under 4. Opening times do vary, so check their Facebook page or see their website for further info and contact details: lyntontoymuseum.co.uk
Liam Toms 