DAVID MARSHALL: The Aquatic attractions of Great Yarmouth (Photographs by Sue and David Marshall)

The Norfolk seaside town of Great Yarmouth is famous for its golden sands, amusement arcades and vast choice of fast foods. However, for Aquarists, it holds the magic of having three places of aquatic interest, all within a few minutes’ walk of each other, situated on the main promenade.

1. The Great Yarmouth Sea-Life Centre

Sue and I had heard so many excellent comments, through both ‘word of mouth’ and on the Internet, about this attraction that we walked through the entrance door with high expectations. We would not be disappointed as the displays here are excellent and cover a vast array of aquatic life.

The first section is home to several large and themed aquaria, which display a diversity of native marine fish. Among the fish to be seen are Conger Eel, various Wrasse, Nursehound and Gilthead.

Conger Eel

The second section features Compass, Upside-down and Moon Jellyfish. Please note that anyone with an aversion to strobe lighting should not linger very long in this section.

Now we move on to the glory of ‘Shark Bay’. Ten aquaria, of various sizes, are home to a wonderful array of creatures both native to the North Sea and those which have been brought to the Centre after been carried to Norfolk on the Gulf Stream. The mischievous activities of the Tompot Blenny were a joy to behold whilst the beauty of Blue Triggerfish (left) hundreds of miles from home was here for all to see. This area ends with a touch pool and the Warden was truly enjoying himself as he explained the fascination of Starfish and various Crabs to entranced visitors.

The Warden explains the wonders of Starfish

In the ‘Harbour’ Pollack and Cuckoo Wrasse are beautifully displayed.

Now we enter the ‘Tropical Zone’. Here you are best to forget the fact that fish from different corners of the World are mixed together and just sit back and enjoy the excellent displays.

Three tropical freshwater aquaria begin the ‘Zone’. The first of these is a well planned ‘fish senses’ display that mixes Blind Cave Characins and Black Ghost Knifefish in order to show the use of electrical navigation in certain fish. To display livebearers the next aquaria mixes Platys, Guppies and Swordtails whilst, for some reason, throwing a few small egglaying Characins into the mix. The final aquaria of the three, houses Amazonian Stingrays, Congo Tetras and one of the largest Clown Loach I have seen in many a year. A wonderful Chinese River Turtle and Axolotls complete the freshwater displays.

Chinese River Turtle

What follows are several spectacular tropical marine displays. All of the aquaria here are beautifully decorated and complemented with fish of high quality. Various Tangs and Porcupinefish were the highlight for me. The tunnel that ends this ‘Zone’ would, I am sure, be the favourite attraction for many visitors, due to its various Sharks and shoal of Fingerfish; however, I actually preferred the smaller displays.

Tropical Eels

‘Pirates Cove’ continues the tropical marine theme. Young visitors were eager to see the ‘Nemo’ exhibit as here are all their favourite film characters ‘in the flesh’. Sue was taken with the many Seahorse exhibits which end the visit.

‘Nemo’ and friends

By the time you read this report a newly constructed Penguin exhibit will add even more to the attraction.

What you need at the Yarmouth Sea-Life Centre is plenty of time. My condensed report does not give the Centre the full credit it deserves. The ‘must visit’ Great Yarmouth attraction.

2. Amazonia World of Reptiles

In contrast to the Sea-Life Centre this attraction is not, as yet, fully established. Here you find yourself in a large display area similar to that of a Zoological Garden Tropical House. Three centre-piece displays are surrounded by a large number of variously sized glass enclosures, vivariums and ‘bug display’ areas. Well arranged tropical plant displays and authentic jungle sounds complete the picture.

Authentic jungle surround

The collection of amphibians and reptiles is excellent and includes Garter Snake, Asian Box Turtle, Horsefield Tortoise, Green Iguana and Speckled Caiman. What all of the creatures displayed had in common was that they looked in good health and had plenty of space in which to move around.

One of many well cared for snakes

What about the fish interest? Built around two of the centre-piece display areas, for a large American Alligator and various Turtles respectively, are ponds containing assorted strains of Goldfish. You could tell that these fish were in good health by both their size and deep body colour.

Goldfish and Terrapins

We enjoyed this attraction and recommend that you pay a visit.


3. Merrivale Miniature Village
For sheer family escapism they have thought of everything here. Beautifully landscaped gardens are contrasted with model displays that not only depict scenes from both modern day life and long gone days but also include a terrific model railway layout.

Plenty of seating allows the chance to relax and, literally, return to childhood days as you revel in the model castle (complete with damsel in distress), 60’s Zoo (the model animals here are fantastic although you would have needed to visit China to have seen so many Giant Panda) and 60’s Funfair among many others.

And yes, there are fish here also! In the main lake we counted 3 large Koi but there could have been more as a roped -off section was full, at the time of our visit, with hundreds of fry. As this was mid-May a number of channels running into the lake were home to growing Frog tadpoles.

As your Merrivale visit ends forget the fast food establishments and spend time relaxing in the excellent cafeteria here with its large selection of snacks and cooked meals.

For us the Merrivale experience was an unexpected delight.

So Aquarists here is your chance to suggest to the family that a visit to Great Yarmouth may be a good idea. I suppose you could conveniently forget, until you are walking down the promenade, that you had a fishkeeping motive behind such a suggestion!