Redwings Horse Sanctuary Aylsham

Lovely horse sanctuary, disappointing café. I'd give two different ratings if I could! We had a gorgeous walk and enjoyed seeing the well-cared for horses, which is great for free entry. However, we arrived just before midday so decided to satisfy rumbly tummies first. Despite there being only 3 people in the queue for the cafe, it took 30 minutes to reach the till. This mainly seemed to be caused by the amount of apologies being issued by the lady on the till to the woman in front of me about everything they'd run out of. No jacket potatoes (at 12:15!), no cranberry for the brie and cranberry toastie etc etc. When I made it to the till,I waited a further delay whilst a member of staff from elsewhere started quizzing the poor girl on the till about whether she'd accidentally overcharged a previous customer. I'm not sure this was the best management of the situation, with the queue growing ever longer behind me! When it was my turn, I asked for two kids' rolls, to be told they'd run out of those too, but not a big problem as they offered sandwiches instead. I also ordered two adult tuna mayo sandwiches, mainly based off the description on the menu of the delicious sounding accompaniments (black rice, avocado). Quite pricey too, a tea was I think £2.50, which came in a tiny cup, no pot or anything. After another 30 minute wait, when it arrived, there was none of the advertised accompaniments, but a sad teaspoon of sweetcorn, a slice of apple and red onion. Despite ordering 2 adult sandwiches, only 1 arrived, apparently it hadn't been written down. The lady from the kitchen kindly rushed off and made another, which I was grateful for. I also wonder whether the whole operation might run better if customers were issued numbers, or used table numbers. Having staff call out names in a busy café environment seems extra faff for them. We signed up to do the advertised Easter trail, which wasn't really a trail at all, just look out for some pictures of eggs and we'll give you a bag of sweets when you come back. So, £3 for a bag of sweets really. No sheet to tick off or anything. And one of the pictures was in the car park, so we didn't find it until after we left 🤦🏼‍♀️ It's an absolutely beautiful place for a walk, and how fabulous that there's no admission. But the bits we had to pay for were so disappointing! I appreciate it was probably very busy and maybe short staffed, but to run out of most food items before lunchtime is just bad organisation. And Redwings has been around for donkeys (excuse the pun), so really should know what they're doing by now!

· via Google

Fantastic Charity we’ve supported for many years but never got to visit until now. Lovely, bright and spacious reception area and cafe and friendly, enthusiastic staff opens to a walk around the enclosures to check in with the residents and learn their stories of rescue. Also includes a small wildlife loop around a pond brimming with critters. Very dog friendly and well worth a visit

· via Google

Absolutely wonderful. Huge place with healthy, happy horses and donkeys. Very clean and neat. The coffee shop and store is large and nice. Many visitors. Congrats and applauses to all staff members here. Brilliant job!!! We enjoyed Maya's 21st birthday.

· via Google

Fabulous place with all needed facilities to include a cafe with lots of seating to include a nice patio area overlooking the paddocks.

· via Google