UpdatedSat, 8 August 2026 at 6:52 am UTC
Val Ripley may be 101 but she still enjoys playing with dolls’ houses.
She was given her first by her parents when she was eight, in Christmas 1932, and remembers waking up and seeing a huge parcel all wrapped up.
“I remember thinking ‘they can’t have bought me that one’, and it was my pride and joy my whole childhood.”
More than 30 years later, Val and her sister rediscovered what she thought had been lost while clearing out her parents’ attic and decided to create a museum.
In 1939, when Val’s father went back into the Army, the family’s possessions, including the prized dolls’ house and toys, were put into storage until the Ripleys found a new home.
When the family did settle again, the toys were put in the attic and not seen again for decades.
Val said: “We thought they were all gone. But after our mother died in 1977, my sister Pam and I discovered all our toys in their pre-war crates. It was so emotional, I can’t tell you.”
With a pristine collection of vintage toys, Val and her sister decided to expand their collection and share it with others. Together, they opened Ty Twt Dolls House and Toy Museum in Newport in Pembrokeshire.
That was 26 years ago, and Pam has since died, but Val still welcomes visitors and school groups to show them the toys of the past.
Val said: “I ask them if they have dolls’ houses, but all theirs are pink.”
The collection, she said, is a document of social history and shows how the way we live, even down to the appliances we have in the home, has changed over the years.
The oldest house in the collection dates back to 1840 and displays a typical home of a wealthy family in the early Victorian period.
“That was the date when dolls’ houses became children’s toys,” said Val.
Prior to that period, they had been expensive, detailed display pieces for wealthy adults, often handcrafted in Europe.
But the Industrial Revolution allowed for wider production, making dolls’ houses cheaper and more accessible for families. They were also made to be more sturdy, so that children could play with them.
Another treasure in the collection for Val is a miniature school for little bears – she said she still remembers all the names she gave to the little pupils.
“Reggie, Bruce, Yvonne, Carol, Gus, Penny, Miss Brewin, Mr Edwards the headmaster. My father gave them this wonderful mock Latin school motto: Ursus Nobiscum, which is Bear with Us.”
Despite her large collection, Val still can’t resist buying new pieces for the houses.
“If I see something I haven’t got, I still buy it,” she said.
More top stories
-
Brothers jailed for killing man and injuring his son while racing cars home
-
Police to end review into siblings who died in farmhouse ‘bloodbath’
-
‘Like a bus seat back in the day’ – new Wales kit leaves fans divided
