Brandon Country Park Reviews Summary

Park and Walks

Pros:

• "Country park was amazing!"
• "Fantastic walks in a lovely woodland and forest areas."
• "Absolutely stunning! Such a lovely place."
• "There's some lovely walks to go on, and a park for the kids when they're fed up with walking!"
• "It is also very beautiful and gives you inner peace."
• "A really beautiful country park with lots of interesting walks, good amenities and a superb little cafe."
• "Beautiful peaceful woodland walk for the whole family."

Cons:

• "The only downside was that the local military airfield were flying their very loud jets very low over the forest that day."
• "Can be prone to ticks, as there are wild deer here."
• "Only draw back is parking soon gets full on peak days."
• "Also the poacher trail states it's 11 miles long, I can't get more than 6 miles out of the official route."
• "We struggled to find the start of the walking paths and got lost a few times as the trail map was quite inaccurate."
• "In poor weather some of the paths will get muddy."
• "And very loud fighter jets overhead from neighbouring air base."

Cafe and Food

Pros:

• "The small cafe serves good locally sourced food and the staff are pleasant to deal with."
• "The restaurant had great food/snacks, and the home made cakes were brilliant!."
• "Small coffee house is lovely and friendly, staff are kind and friendly and are able to direct you."
• "Lovely coffee shop serving fresh barista coffee and cakes."
• "Nice coffee and treats went down well on a cold sunday afternoon."
• "The café had seating both inside and out."
• "The vegan pastie was very nice!"

Cons:

• "The drinks are good the food isn't the best we once waited 30 minutes for food to arrive."
• "Cafe seems to be slightly less of a good spot compared to what it used to be."
• "The cafè is aweful: expensive and below quality food."
• "Service in the cafe is pitifully slow."
• "Cafe would be good if service wasn't so slow, queued for half hour just for coffee and cake."
• "Cafe now serves nothing but snack food at exorbitant prices with so little choices."
• "Cafe was expensive for a small frothy coffee and a below standard pastry."

Parking and Accessibility

Pros:

• "Car parking was £3 for the day."
• "Toilets and a cafe. Decent spaces and enough parking."
• "If I'm heading to Thetford to cycle I will always park at Brandon, £2 all day compared to £7 at Thetford."
• "Parking is cheap and accessible."
• "£3 for parking all day."
• "Good value parking if you are making your way to Thetford forest."
• "Absolutely brilliant value car park at only £3 for the whole day."

Cons:

• "Parking is ring go (which I hate, and you struggle to use it as there little signal in the middle of the forest."
• "Only draw back is parking soon gets full on peak days."
• "There's not much parking and you do have to pay."
• "The parking charge is a joke."
• "Not pleased about paying to park."
• "Insufficient parking near the cafe leading to visitors parking on access roads."
• "The only bad thing is the parking, it can't be paid by card, only coins or you have to download the app to pay through and sometimes internet is not the best there."

Amenities and Facilities

Pros:

• "Cafe & bathroom facilities next to the main car park. Cafe was spacious and busy."
• "Ample parking (currently charged at £3 a day), cafe and toilets."
• "There is a vast array of wild life. Squirrels, Robins ducks and deer."
• "Great place to take kids, play park is really nice and full of activities."
• "Even a little lake to add to its charm."
• "Lovely duck pond which you can buy food to feed the ducks."
• "Clean toilets, nice shady picnic area and a lovely little cafe."

Cons:

• "One star taken away as the toilets were out of use all day."
• "The walled garden is so unkempt and overgrown with nothing of interest in it."
• "We got ticks from there last time so not going in the forest any more."
• "The cafe has no inside seating."
• "The toilet facilities aren't particularly pleasant and could do with a refresh."
• "Shame the coffee shop shuts so early... so no ice cream for the girls or coffee for us."
• "Disappointing part is the cafe and toilets need to be open for longer."