About Me

I ramble about a number of things - but travel experiences, movies and music feature prominently. See my label cloud for a better idea. All comnments and opinions on this blog are my own, and do not in any way reflect the opinions/position of my employer (past/current/future).

03 October 2010

Rose Boats & Toy Museum



The road to Bedarsdorp passes through the town of Napier; which would most likely not warrant a stop; except for two things: the absurdly amazingly large chruch that stands tall, and the Rose Boats & Toy Museum.




The museum is run out of a house, by its owner; focuses mostly on toys from the early 1900's to 1970's; and its standout attraction are the Rose Boats. The boats are handmade (and available for sale) out of tin; and feature cyclic flush steam engines; powered by a candle. The concept is simple, and the results are amazing; and there a number of articles and awards hung around the museum to support how well the boats are engineered. See this wikipedia article for more.



Apart from the boats, there are a number of other attractions, such as trains and cars; and although the collection is not particularly large; it is certainly a very worthwhile stop.

3 comments:

Sarai Pahla said...

Actually read about this place in Getaway last year - there's also a brewery there that warrants pillaging.

Graham Poulter said...
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Graham Poulter said...

I went there last year: drove up to George for my gran's 80th and came back via Bredasdorp - paying a visit to Donald - then Napier, Stanford and Hermanus.

At Napier I spent a couple of hours in the Boats & Toy Museum looking at all the mechanical and steam-powered toys