I really enjoyed my visit to Stevns Klint today, on what was one of the only dry days we have had during our visit to Denmark. However......it seems a bit like whoever is in charge of managing this site has lost interest in it. The car-park and restaurant are well maintained, presumably because they make an income, but the rest of the site seems lost.
Clearly though Denmark is enthusiastic about the site as it is signed extremely well from every possible approach, and from many miles away. But then on arrival there is very little mention of the UNESCO listing, nor information relating to the actual reason for the listing in the first place.
In earlier reviews, there is mention of the small museum. This has now been closed, permanently it seems. Instead, there is a small caravan, yes really, which has a small amount of detail relating to the geological layers found at the site. Sadly this is very brief, does not highlight the location of the all important fish clay layer, and is all in Danish. The App which is mentioned by a few reviewers has now been dis-continued pending the release of a better one, but no time-frame for this is given. Also, on the website there is a suggestion that a new Visitor Centre is being built, but I have visited a number of locations along the coast today and saw no evidence of this.
So I was pleased that I had researched this site before we arrived, so at least I could understand the importance of the site and have a reasonable idea of what to look for from the beach.
This brings me onto another rant, this time on accessibility. The metal staircase down to the beach is incredibly steep, to the point that most people visiting today were descending it facing inwards, more like you would a ladder. After this you have to walk along an un-maintained path, and scramble over some rocks to reach the beach area. This approach was beyond a large number of the visitors I saw there today.
Having said all of this, I really enjoyed my visit. I enjoyed the views from the back of the church, enjoyed desperately trying to spot the fish clay layer, and the lovely cliff top walks in either direction. I just felt a bit sad that so little is being done to make this site accessible for more people, both in terms of reaching the cliff and obtaining information on site about the importance of the findings here.