Stiffkey Artist's Guide to Cley-Next-the-Sea: Wildlife, Light, and Local Flavours
Updated: 5 days ago
Sophia Williams April 17, 2025
This week it's Cley-next-the-Sea, with its windmill and shingle beach. It's next door to Blakeney but feels quite different.
East Bank path - Marsh Harrier territory
The inspiration for my "Watching the Marsh Harrier" painting came from countless walks along the East Bank path. Access it from the car park near the Norfolk Wildlife Trust visitor centre and walk north towards the sea.
About halfway along, where the path rises slightly, stop and scan the reed beds on your left. The harriers hunt low there early in the morning and in the hour before sunset. Binoculars help, but you'll spot that V-shaped flight without them.
Beach Road viewpoint
Where Beach Road crests before it drops to the shingle, turn round. The village and windmill sit below you with the marshes running towards Blakeney Point.
Go at sunset and the windmill turns into a silhouette.
The 'secret' boardwalk
Lots of people miss the small boardwalk running east off the East Bank. About a third of the way along, look for a narrow wooden walkway into the reeds on your right. It gets you right in among the reed beds.
In spring and summer look for reed warblers and listen for the 'ping' of bearded tits. The light through the reeds has found its way into the texture of my paintings.
The old shingle bank
For a different perspective of Cley, walk east along the beach from the Beach Road car park. After about twenty minutes, you'll reach an old, partially vegetated shingle bank that offers views back towards the windmill and village.
The weathered stones and salt-loving plants make a good foreground against the soft reed beds behind.
Eye field marsh view
Access this lesser-known viewpoint by taking the footpath west from the church towards Wiveton. Where the path crosses the marshy area known locally as Eye Field, there's a section with a slightly elevated wooden walkway. Stop here for a view across to Cley Windmill from an unusual angle.
Go in early morning mist or when storm clouds build over the marsh. Those skies have shaped several of my paintings.
Local flavours
Picnic Fayre Delicatessen
Picnic Fayre on the high street has fed most of my painting trips, with its local bread and Norfolk cheeses.
Their Norfolk fruit cake goes straight in my bag before a walk. Look up while you're in there, the vaulted ceiling is lovely.
The George
An 18th-century coaching inn on the high street. After a morning on the marshes the local seafood or Norfolk lamb hits the spot, and the garden at the back gets the afternoon sun.
Artemis Café at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust
The visitor centre café looks right across the reserve. Soup and homemade bread for a winter lunch, cake after a summer walk.
Cley Open Gardens
Cley Open Gardens is a charity event, usually in June, when the village opens private gardens that are normally hidden behind flint walls.
It's fascinating to see what people manage to grow in the salty air.
Check the village notice board near the church or the local Cley groups on social media for dates.
When to Visit
Each season brings something different.
Spring brings migrating birds and the first marsh flowers
Summer evenings are best for wildlife once day visitors have gone
Autumn creates dramatic skies and changing reed colours
Winter offers stark beauty and the spectacle of thousands of geese against the sunset
For a quiet visit go midweek outside school holidays, before 9am or after 5pm.
To see how Cley has shaped my paintings, including "Watching the Marsh Harrier", book a studio visit. Email thesophiawilliams@gmail.com or call 07800590262.
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