The museum's holdings concentrate on British vehicles from the Cold War era, which is reflected in what fills the main hall: a Centurion Mk 13, a Fox CVR(W) armoured reconnaissance vehicle, a Ferret armoured car, a Sultan CVR(T) command vehicle, and a Saro Skeeter helicopter among others. Three vehicles — the Mark IV tank replica, the Alvis Saladin, and a Chieftain — are open for visitors to climb inside and explore, which gives the place a very different quality from a museum where you look but cannot touch.

Outside, due to lack of indoor space, a further collection stands in the open air: an Alvis Saracen, a Soviet 9K31 Strela-1 missile launcher, an FV101 Scorpion, an AEC Militant Mk III, and a 15 cm sFH 18 German field howitzer, among others. A converted shipping container holds deactivated firearms spanning from the First Boer War to the present day — Martini-Henry rifles, Vickers machine guns, an AK-74, an M2 Browning. A Nissen hut houses military radios, medals, and local history displays. The collection is eclectic, personal, and arranged with the logic of someone who genuinely loves these objects.

In 2017, Channel 4 approached the museum with an unusual request: would they help build a replica First World War Mark IV Female tank for a television programme? The project — Guy Martin's WWI Tank — brought JCB in to manufacture the hull and major components, with Chasetead making the track pads and smaller parts. The museum staff assembled the engine and transmission and put the whole machine together in six months.

The finished replica was named Deborah II, after the original Deborah: a British Mark IV tank knocked out by artillery at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917. Deborah II was driven to Cambrai exactly a century after the original fell there. The original Deborah, recovered and partially restored, is still on display in the French village of Flesquières, its battle damage still visible in the hull. Deborah II returned to Norfolk and remains at the museum, a working reminder of what the original once was.

What distinguishes the Norfolk Tank Museum from many smaller military collections is that the vehicles are kept operational. The museum runs a yearly weekend event called Armourfest, at which most of the vehicles in the collection are driven through an assault course built behind the main building — steep hillocks, rough terrain, the kind of ground that demonstrates why armoured vehicles were designed the way they were. Visitors can watch, and on most open days can also ride on the museum's Bv 206, a Swedish articulated tracked carrier that handles soft ground and slopes with easy competence.

The museum became a registered charity in November 2018. It also runs an archery range on the first Sunday of each month and on Tuesday evenings, which is either an unexpected combination with a tank collection or a perfectly logical one, depending on your perspective. The original Alvis Saladin, the purchase that started everything, is still on display.