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Tuesday 11am - 4pm Wednesday 11am - 4pm Thursday 11am - 4pm

Sidmouth Toy and Model Museum

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Sidmouth Toy and Model Museum

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Visit us today - no booking required!

In our beautiful converted chapel, visitors are treated to deeply personal and relatable history spanning over a century – our collection spans from pre-Victorian toys and models to the present day.

11/09/2026

Tomorrow is the Sidmouth Classic Car Show (we're open 11-4 tomorrow by the way...), so this week's Did You Know is all about Percy the Pedal Car! 🛻

Percy is a very special Tri-ang Pedal car, which was bought second-hand for museum trustee Ian Gregory in 1959 by his father. The price was just £1.

Ian loved Percy and hand-painted it in a distinctive shade of blue. Many years after the car had been outgrown and thrown away, Ian found it at an exhibition at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, bought it, and set about restoring it.

Ian has written a brilliant book about Percy, which you can find in our museum shop - its an excellent read and tells the story of this most amazing reunion.

We hope you'll pop into the museum for much more incredible history...

08/09/2026

Saturday is the Sidmouth Classic Car Show!

We're open specially on Saturday, so why not pop in? The show is run by the Sidmouth Chamber of Commerce and features a wide array of vintage cars in pristine condition.

We have old models of many of the car types displayed at the show, and look out for our stall at the event! We're bringing a classic car of our own (a toy one of course!) - a vintage Austin J40 in a beautiful cherry red.

See you on Saturday...

31/08/2026

It's the last day of August, and the forecast looks a little cloudy...

So why not spend today with us at the museum!

If you're after a hit of nostalgia, or want a lovely day out with the kids, we're the ideal place for you to visit.

From the centre of town, walk up Church street, and turn onto Chapel Street about halfway up. You'll see us, so pop in!

We look forward to seeing you - we're open Monday - Thursday this week.

27/08/2026

If you're in town for the Sidmouth Airshow 🛩️, pay us a visit!

We're open from 10am-5pm tomorrow (Airshow day), with last entry at around 4.20pm. Ticket prices are really affordable, and we offer discounted tickets to families, seniors and children. Dogs are welcome too! Prices are:

Adult £3.75
Senior £3.25
Child (4-16) £2.50
Family (2 adults + 3 children) £11.50

Included in the cost of your ticket is the chance to take part in one of our quizzes. Children can do our minifigure hunt or junior quiz, and we have a more challenging quiz aimed at adults as well. There's also a prize included for our younger quizzers too!

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow ☺️

26/08/2026

We're down to our last few Bachmann trains!

Our museum shop is selling unused, boxed Bachmann trains from just £40, but only whilst stock lasts. They've been really popular, so visit the shop as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. As a reminder, the trains are all 1/76 scale and OO gauge.

And, if you're on a tighter budget, we also have a few used but fully tested and working Hornby models for £30 each.

Bachmann trains are well-known for their high-quality engineering and intricate detailing. You can test any of the trains for sale in the shop on our track upon request. Brand new, they normally retail for well over £100 and sometimes even for multiple hundreds, so we're offering exceptionally good value.

Buy now before our stock runs out!

25/08/2026

If you're interested in buses 🚌, you'll love our collection.

We have cabinets full of model cars, emergency vehicles, aircraft and, of course, buses! We have models of buses from the early 20th century right the way through to more modern buses and Routemasters.

The model pictured is a large mid-century Tri-ang model in the enchanting and classic London Bus red.

Explore the collection today!

24/08/2026

If you like model towns, you'll love Sidsea!

Sidsea is the culmination of three winters' work by Professor Brian Diffey, one of our excellent volunteers. Brian spent his career in the NHS and academia in the north of England, but has always enjoyed making models as a pastime.

The town itself is of Brian's design, being a fictional fishing port in the South of England. All the models included are perfectly scaled, including the buildings, the people and their cars. There are also animals as well as a detailed landscape, in addition to a working train!

We especially love Brian's colourful seafront fairy lights, which he wired up by hand, and which sit in threading needles - an excellent example of reuse in modelling.

Pop in and see Sidsea for yourself!

21/08/2026

Happy Friday!

This week's Did You Know... is on Concorde. We have a display cabinet dedicated to aviation, and Concorde features quite prominently. Ian Gregory, trustee of the museum, was lucky enough to fly on Concorde 4 times, so it's a special plane for us. He kept one of his in-flight menus, which you can find in that display cabinet.

In service between 1976 and 2003, Concorde was the world's only successful supersonic commercial airliner. It cruised at Mach 2.04, over twice the speed of sound, and could cross the Atlantic in around 3 hours. It flew for British Airways and Air France, having been built as a joint Anglo-French project.

Something you might not know is that Concorde had a Soviet twin, the Tupolev Tu144. Whilst bigger and faster than Concorde, its development was rushed from the start. It had an appalling safety record, experiencing 2 fatal crashes in 5 years, and was so loud that passengers couldn't talk to one another during flights, so was withdrawn after just 7 months in passenger service.

20/08/2026

We're now selling Bachmann trains in our shop!

And, what's more, we're selling them at bargain prices, starting from just £40. Our current stock numbers around 10 locomotives, which can be found in our shop and by asking at the front desk. They are all 1/76 scale and run on OO gauge track

Bachmann trains are well-known for their high-quality German engineering and intricate detailing. Our selection of trains are unused and boxed, and can be tested in the museum upon request. Brand new, they normally retail for well over £100 and sometimes even for multiple hundreds, so we're offering exceptionally good value.

Pop in now before our stock runs out!

19/08/2026

Stuck in the rain today? - escape the bad weather and join us in Sidmouth Toy & Model Museum!

Our collection is perfect for all ages - adults and seniors love seeing so many toys they recognise, and our younger visitors can't get enough of our Lego minifigure hunt, which (along with a prize for finishing it) is included in the cost of their entry ticket. Fans of beautiful architecture will also be very impressed with our historic chapel.

Tickets are really affordable too:
Adult - £3.75
Senior - £3.25
Child - £2.50
Family - £11.50

And well behaved dogs on leads are welcome 🐾

We're looking forward to seeing you here soon!

Address

The Old Chapel, Chapel Street
Sidmouth
EX108ND

Opening Hours

Tuesday	11am - 4pm
Wednesday	11am - 4pm
Thursday	11am - 4pm

Telephone

+447858448444

Website

http://sidmouthtoymuseum.com/

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