Mike Laycock and his daughter, Gabrielle, visit a new toy museum in Ilkley

IF you or your child like toys, a visit to Ilkley would well be in order this autumn. For a new museum has opened there containing one of the finest private collection of toys in the North. Not that you necessarily need an extra reason to visit this splendid gateway to the Dales, nestling under its famous eponymous moor.

We were planning just to have a wander round the upmarket shops, and maybe enjoy a coffee at Bettys Caf in The Grove before heading for a walk on the moor when we saw a sign to the Ilkley Toy Museum.

It is situated in a side street off Wells Road, only a couple of minutes' walk from the town's main shopping thoroughfare, Brook Street.

Walking inside would take any grandparent back to their childhood - a world of wooden and china dolls, tin cars, toy soldiers and doll's houses, board games and paper toys.

It was a shock to me, brought up in Ilkley in the 1960s, to spot toys that I used to play with in those days: models of Thunderbird 1 and 2, and also the one I always wanted but never got - Thunderbird 5.

My daughter enjoyed seeing all the toys, despite one frustrating snag which could not really be avoided - the need to keep the valuable toys safely behind glass screens rather than allow them to be picked up and cuddled.

However, she did enjoy a magnificent working-model fairground which dates back to the 1940s and still works.

She bought a token for 20p that activated the swing boats, roundabouts and chair rides for almost a minute.

Among the star exhibits is Blanche, a white mohair German bear dating back to 1910, who was owned by the daughter of a German Jewish family and who escaped with her owner to England at the start of the Second World War.

Another star is Miss Barwick, a fine English wooden doll from 1760, with her own contemporary sedan chair complete with brocade curtains.

After touring the museum, we explored Ilkley's other attractions, ending up as usual with a walk on the wide open spaces of the great moor.

Fact file

Ilkley Toy Museum, Whitton Croft Road, Ilkley.

Open Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4pm.

Admission: £3 for adults, £2 for children aged five to 16, free for under-fives. Family ticket (two adults and up to three children) £8.

Further information 01943 603855.

Updated: 16:42 Friday, September 27, 2002