The Toy Shop

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I've found myself thinking quite a bit about one of the unexpected little delights of my recent visit to England. I'd taken the train from London Paddington to the Cotswold market town of Moreton-in-Marsh, in Gloucestershire, arriving at lunchtime. Isn't it a lovely place, with all that golden Cotswold stone?

I had a fabulous lunch at Martha's Coffee Shop on the High Street, a place I'd discovered on my last visit. And, then, as I only had a small suitcase and no schedule to keep, I decided to explore a little. 

The first thing I saw was the window of the shop right next door to Martha's.

A toy shop!! THE TOY SHOP, as it turns out. I was so enchanted with the place that I took photos of the displays to send to my daughter. I wish now that I'd bought some of the little animals for my granddaughter--I'm sure she would have loved them. I loved them!

I wondered how long it had been since I'd seen an actual toy shop. This one, I learned, has been in business for almost fifty years and has NINE rooms! You can take a virtual tour on their website. Absolute heaven for a child--or a childlike grown-up.

And then the next day I went to Bourton-on-the-Water (don't you love the names?) another beautiful Cotswold town--

 where they have not only a super toy shop--

but a model railway shop, too.

Back in London, I managed to get to Regent Street, where I peeked in the windows of the toy shop to end all toy shops, Hamley's. This is a London institution, and a visit to Hamley's at Christmas is something for children to dream about all year.

This photo doesn't begin to do it justice--the windows are fantastic and the store is immense!

All this made me realize I missed the wonder of toy shops. Have the English held on to something Americans have lost? With the demise of Toys R Us (never all that appealing) about the best we can do around here is the toy aisle at Target.

REDS and readers, do you have toy shops where you live, or memories of wonderful toy shops?

And just for fun, while not a toy shop, this was my favorite magical Christmas window in London--Anthropologie in Regent Street. Isn't that just divine?