Bressingham Steam Museum & Gardens — Attraction in South Norfolk

This is a great weird and wonderful attraction that has plenty of character and quirkiness to it in a good way. Many would think that a steam museum and gardens would not mix together but in this case they blend in very well, which is amazing as there is something for everyone but you have steeliness of the steam heritage with the brilliance of the natural wonders of the gardens. The Steam Engine aspect of it is excellent with an exhibition hall where you can learn about the Origins of Alan Bloom how the attraction became the place it is today with his work and endeavour. The exhibition hall also houses some interesting exhibits dedicated to the Railways and also traction engines but there is also interesting and informative exhibition dedicated and in tribute to Dad's Army. There is the Locomotive Engine Shed where you can see a few of the Locomotive Steam Engines that Bloom has collected over the years where each has an informative and interesting amount of information on the information boards provided for each one and The Locomotive Steam Engines are all in great condition showing the great diligent work the staff do at the site. There are different rail lines at the attraction such as The Fen Railway Line, The Lakeside Railway Line and The Waveney Railway Line to name but a few. The Steam Engines run on the lines on selected days so check the website to avoid disappointment but they do run the Diesel Engine on the days that the Steam Engines don't run and the journey on the Diesel Engine is just as good and the journey on both the Steam and the Diesel Engines are well worth it and value for money as the journey is for a considerable decent distance and also you can take some amazing scenery along the way. Your ticket allows to have unlimited rides om the Diesel and Steam Engines which is brilliant and value for money. When the Steam Engines aren't you can see them displayed magnificently in the shed and the staff also working on the maintenance of them again showing the amazing work they do to keep them going. The Gallopers Fairground Ride is another great addition to the attraction and also adds a decent dimension to it and rides on the Gallopers run at different times throughout the day and the rides are pretty on it are enjoyable and brilliant the only catch is your ticket limits you to 3 rides. The Gardens are amazing and out of this world displaying the perfect paradise and has an amazing array from the flower displays. The Gardens are probably one of best flower displays in the UK and are renowned for being the best around. The level of colour is just the right level and also the transition between the different colours of flower is just the right level. There is a cafe on site selling refreshments at affordable reasonable prices and the gift shop sells a nice assortment of gifts at decent affordable prices. Overall this is a Magnificent day out and one you can appreciate the life of one man's work to make a such a brilliant attraction to come to light and survive and thrive and Credit goes to the staff and volunteers to keep this place...

Edit after our second visit: Brought my 7 year old son here for his birthday. It’s an hour away so we spent a good amount of time travelling. I’m honestly disappointed and wish we took him elsewhere for his birthday 😭 the play park was closed with no warming, one of the two model railways was not running (wouldn’t be an issue if there were a bunch of setups but when there’s only two, one not working was a big disappointment for him). One of the steam trains he’d looked forward to going on wasn't running. Cafe took absolutely forever to serve each customer. When we bought the tickets they automatically charged for the cost with added donation without asking first even though it’s overpriced to start with. We probs won’t come back here ☹️ Only redeeming factor is they played the Happy Birthday song on the carousel for him which was cute.

This place was very 50/50. My son adores trains and loved the trip but we had to queue for half an hour to get food because tills wouldn’t stop breaking between each order. The guy nearly charged me £47 for 5 little items which I thought was strange, thankfully my card rejected and when he scanned it through again it was half that price. Overheard another lady coming in to say she’d waited half an hour for her food and the kitchen apparently never received the ticket for it. Luckily, our food arrived quickly after ordering even if ordering itself was hassle and took forever. queued for about half an hour for a train ride to then be told it wasn’t working and wouldn’t be ready for an extra half hour. When we did manage to get on a train, it took about 20 minutes for it to actually leave 🥲 be prepared for a lotttttt of waiting for everything. Gardens are really pretty though! And my son loved the model railway setups. Would love to bring him for his birthday but not if we’ll spend the day...

We had a gorgeous day out here last summer so thought we'd treat ourselves to another this year. Firstly let me say this is a lovely place to visit, really relaxing & so interesting with all the wonderful engines & exhibits plus the Dad's Army part is truly great for us of an age to remember it. The gardens are truly beautiful, to be honest not quite so this time but that was due to the season & it being 1st of September. A couple of gripes tho. We were going to indulge ourselves to a bit of fun at the little vintage fair ground with the crazy golf. Gone. What a blooming shame. We paid £36.30 ( my husband is of retirement age but no concessions) to enter ( could have saved a few pence by booking online to be fair) which I think is pretty steep. Everything you purchase once inside is very expensive from the cafe to the shop. I suppose that's normal nowadays. What we thought was a complete rip off tho was the £3 we paid for a teeny tiny kiddiessize one scoop of ice cream in a tub. I mean tiny. Also we had already had coffee & snacks in the cafe when we arrived but took a picnic for later. I like to make my own tea but realised had forgotten the tea bags. So thought I'll ask the young guys in the cafe if I could buy a couple of tea bags. They wanted to charge me the price of a cup of tea for 2 tea bags! £ 2.45. Now we are not meanies by any means & of course it must cost a huge amount of money to keep Bressingham going & an excellent job they do but have to say we did feel a little ripped...