Cley Marshes Visitor Centre — Attraction in North Norfolk

This review is of the centre itself, not the reserve, which, as with all, can be hit and miss. The centre itself is beautifully laid out and has a lovely cafe with huge viewing windows looking out over the marshes, and an outside platform with tables for the warmer months. There is a small but well stocked shop and nice clean facilities with a small gallery to the side and access to the excellent Cley Spy binocular and scope store. All good so far, BUT, the café prices leave a bad taste even if the food doesn't. I understand that people need to keep it profitable, but offer value. £3.20 for a coffee isn't unusual, but the cup it comes in is no bigger than a small china teacup, where the equivalent in other centres and restaurants gets you a large cup, a proper mug. Likewise the food and cakes are at least £1 more than similar places. Good they may be, but not the Cafe Royal and we never eat or buy coffee there now, lesson learned once. The only other downside is that, with the exception of one or two members, the staff aren't very knowledgeable or helpful when it comes to asking about sightings and the areas they are in. Look at the board seems a usual answer, but that doesn't tell you much, just a name, and a lot of people aren't experienced birders and are not always going to know the best areas to look, so more guidance is nice. Definitely room for improvement and definitely offer better value...

We have often driven through Cley and wanted to stop and have a look round the reserve but as it is a two hour drive away we thought we would stay at The George so we could explore all of Cley! We parked at the reserve and the very helpful assistant gave us a map saying that if we didn't want to go into the hides then there would be no charge to walk round! We had a cup of warming hot chocolate in the very spacious, light and airy cafe - which incidentally I can't understand the reviewer who slagged the cafe off on here when the matter had been resolved on the day AND he got his money back, that's just not fair! Anyway we set off and headed to the beach road and had a lovely brisk walk along the beach and unfortunately took the first turning into East Bank where as we meant to go a bit further to Iron Road but it still took us nearly two hours. It really was lovely and although we are not keen bird watches thoroughly enjoyed the walk. The terrain is good for buggies of all descriptions apart from the shingle beach. The visitor centre is amazing with various exhibitions going on, a shop, toilets and great views and all FREE although donations are gratefully received! We went from here to find the church which is also well worth a visit - it would have at one time been enormous and still has a cathedral feel about it! A lovely day out if you spend time to explore all...

Beautiful marsh with great birds, totally exploited by NNWT. You have to pay £3 to park in order to use the cafe. If you want to use the hides it will cost you £5 per person (non-members) but the parking is then included. If you inadvertently pay for parking and then decide to use the hides the staff may refund the £3 parking fee. Be sure to ask for the all day parking pass to display in your vehicle window instead of the limited 3 hour pass that you originally purchased. Be aware that you do not need to pay the £5 per person if you only want to use the paths to the sea, the charge is ONLY for the hides. This is not made clear, so you may easily be ripped off thinking that you have to pay for the 'reserve'. Whilst the NNWT car park is convenient for the reserve and cafe there are others nearby which are free. The NNWT cafe is struggling to maintain a consistent standard of service and comply with its self imposed Covid rules. One day it's table service the next it is self service and very crowded. They could easily do a lot better. I used to love this place, I doubt that I will return, it's commercialised daylight robbery - but I will...