Norfolk Broads

Broadlands Caravan Club site is a lovely place, just yards from one of the Broads rivers, and a pub within walking distance! A little drive down the road was our nearest town, Wroxham. On arriving in the little town centre, which was heaving with tourists, we were a little worried about the dominance of Roy who seemed to have taken over the town centre. Who is Roy you might ask, well it made us wonder too as he seemed to own most of the town. We parked in Roy’s car park, got the dogs out by Roy’s garden centre, walked past Roy’s department store and went for a little walk in Roy’s small park next to the river, we crossed the road and passed Roy’s fishing shop and Roy’s Toy shop before dropping the dogs at the car and doing our shopping in Roy’s supermarket. Weird.
We managed to tear ourselves away from Roy’s World and came back to the ‘van where we packed a picnic and headed out of the site up the road to the river. While it is called the River Ant it looks much more like a canal, and there doesn’t appear to be much water flow in it. As it was such a sunny day there were lots of boats moving around on the river today so we headed along the footpath for around a mile before finding somewhere to sit with our feet dangling over the water to eat our picnic. The picnic also contained 2 bottles of cider so as those went down our waves to the passing boats became more and more enthusiastic up until the point where a lady waved at me and when I waved back she quickly looked away in case she attracted more of the lunatics attention!

We’ve also been into Norwich, a lovely old city with lots of character, we headed to the castle first and had our lunch sitting on the grass in the castle garden, while we were sat there we spotted the no dogs sign, so had to tell Prince and Smudge to do their best human impressions while we finished our picnic. We then headed around the castle keep with a great view over the city before heading into the town where we had a walk around the cathedral and the narrow streets, as well as having a look around the permanent market square with its tiny stalls squeezed into tiny spaces.

We had decided the night before that we were going to do a walk across the broads today, and so we planned a route along the Weavers Way, it was a circular route that was around 8 miles.
We drove to the village of Halvergate and parked Tonks on the road before heading out on a farm track. As expected the walk was extremely flat, as the whole route only passed over 2 contour lines on the OS map. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the view was fantastic, but early in the walk I did comment that it was unlikely that the view would change. It didn’t, as we moved on it just meant we were looking at stuff in the distance from a slightly different angle! The closer scenery did change frequently though, and we saw new born cows and sheep, lots of swans and other bird life, several farms, lots of windmills in various states of repair, lots and lots of water (ditches, ponds, rivers, sea) and even a pub! Around half way we crossed a level crossing and went up an embankment to reveal a great view of Breydon Water (the river Yare’s estuary) so we sat on the river bank and had our picnic with a great view watching lots of river boats passing us by. We carried on along the estuary until we came across a small pub in the middle of nowhere, the Berney Arms didn’t look very appealing from the outside, but we gave it the benefit and had a pint and a half of what tasted like cats piss! Wish we hadn’t bothered! We swiftly left and had a quick walk around Berney Arms Mill, a well preserved black mill with huge white sails, before carrying on the return journey to Tonks. At the next level crossing there was a tiny train platform which services the pub and the visitors to the mill. Phil posed for a photo on the track and was lucky not to be killed by the many trains wizzing by, we then carried on along the flats, past some more cows fields and back on the farm track to a welcoming Tonks! 9.7 miles in total meant we were all tired when we got back, and both of us a little sun burned, after a well deserved shower we had a barbeque for tea.


We also visited Felbrigg Hall, a country estate which was only handed over to the National Trust in 1967 by it’s then owner Robert Windham as he had no benefactors. The Trust have since kept it exactly as Windham had left it, which makes it feel unusually lived-in.
First we took the dogs around the grounds and did around 4.5 miles in 2 circuits, first we did the woodland walk which took us through Felbrigg Great Wood, a place mentioned in a book Neil and Nicky bought us about beautiful countryside (and it was), back at the car park we saw our neighbours from the campsite who were also walking their dogs before going in the house. Then we did the church circuit which took us past (and for a quick peek inside) the estates church and then on to a man made lake before returning to the house. After stopping at the café for tea and cake we put the dogs in the car and went for a wander inside. First was a look around the walled garden with its pristine borders, exotic plants and unusual layouts. We then headed into the house where we wandered around the opulent surroundings and amazing collections of paintings and artefacts, the rooms were very grand as you would expect, but it did look like the Squire had just left it as he’d lived in it.
We then drove up the road to Sheringham Park, where the National Trust also own and manage a vast area of woodland and countryside, the hall however is still in private ownership. We did one of the many circular walks, a 3 mile loop that took us through the woods past the grand looking hall and up to a “Gazebo”, a huge platform in the woods that towers over the trees and gives you fantastic panoramic views of the area. Smudge didn’t like the steps on the way up as they had gaps so she took a lot of encouraging to get up there! On the way back we passed the front of the Hall again before coming to a small temple which liked like a cross between an eccentric folly and a tiny bandstand.
We then headed on to Mundesley where we took the dogs onto the beach. Prince went mad, running up and down like a mad thing chasing stones and having a great time, don’t know where he got the energy! We had a quick walk up and down but as it was now a bit cold we didn’t hang around any longer. Once back in Tonks and on our way back we spotted Stow Hill Mill just outside the village of Mundesley, with a sign saying ‘open to the public until dusk’. We quickly pulled over for a look, it is a great big corn mill which has been painted black with white sails, entry was a bargain at £1.50 and at the time we went there was no-one there and you just pop your money in the honesty box. Inside the mill is a fascinating history of the mills use, and subsequent fall into disrepair, and then details of its recent regeneration in 2002. As you climb up the narrow staircases you see more and more of the mills interior workings and the views from the windows get better and better. A real gem of a find that we were glad to stumble across.


First stop the next day was Hickling Broad, the largest of the broads, and only up the road from us, it was recommended as a place to visit in our Readers Digest beautiful countryside book. When we got there we found there was nowhere to park, but we did find a nature reserve car park, they wanted £3.50 and wouldn’t allow the dogs in so that was that. We later found out that the best (only) way to see the broad is by boat! We continued up the road to Sea Palling, a small village next to a huge beach, we walked over the dunes and down to the beach which is protected from the waves by some huge off shore rock barriers. After a bit of a play on the beach we rejoined Tonks, and a bit further up the road spotted a huge thatched barn with a sign saying café open, not ones to turn down some tea and cake, in we went!
Tea and cake duly consumed while sitting in the sun we went into the barn for our free audio tour, it was interesting to learn that the huge Waxham Barn had been built as a sign of wealth by the landowner, and only had to be so big to gain one-upmanship over his neighbours. The barn had lost its roof in the 100mph winds during the storms of 1983, which caused substantial damage. During the more recent restoration the new thatch roof took a year to complete using 15,000 bundles of reeds! The original beams were used where possible, and you could still see that some of them were made up of salvaged ships masts.
We carried on along the lanes until we reached the national Trust owned Horsey Mill, a water pumping mill which suffered extensive damage, again in the 1983 storms, after which the Trust took ownership and have restored it and opened it up to the public. Whilst the mill no longer operates, a lot of the machinery is still in place and you can get a real sense of how it worked, pumping water out of the fields and into the rivers to make the land dry enough for farming. There are still hundreds of these disused mills all over the broads, now replaced by diesel and electric pumps, and one board in the mill explained easily how they work: The mills pump water from the ditches by the fields into the higher level waterways of the rivers and canals, imagine it as water on your bathroom floor, being pumped up into the bath and then being released down the plug hole (into the sea).

Next we had a trip to Thetford Forest Park, where Phil went off for his ride and Linda went walking the dogs. Phil did a 17 mile ride which incorporated the “Black” route, I put black in quotes because it can’t really compare with any other black I’d ridden, and most people with any degree of bike handling skills could manage it, it was good fun though and nice to be out on a track where I didn’t have to worry about navigation, I’d say the track was like Cannock Chase trail, tight, twisty and lumpy singletrack but with none of the uphills and none of the downhills of Cannock! While out I met a couple of lads on the only downhill section so we had a chat and I did a couple of runs down with them before heading back. Linda followed one of the waymarked walking routes through the forest, it was quite busy with other walkers, and the dogs were chasing occasional squirrels, 6 miles in total meant the dogs were tired out when she got back.

Next up was the mandatory trip on a boat! The guy on the desk slipped us some life jackets, gave us the briefest of briefings and we were off, accelerating out of the harbour and under the Wroxham bridge as fast as out boat would carry us (about 4mph). The 2hrs gave us plenty of time to head to Salthouse Broad, so that’s where we headed, past all the lovely riverside properties on the outskirts of Wroxham, and out into the heaths and broads. Phil was captain of the ship to start, and we soon came upon Wroxham Broad, a large lake where we spotted a mooring at the side so we decided to attempt a stop. Phil wiggled the steering wheel in a random fashion which somehow made the boat bump into the side where Linda deftly threw a rope over and hopped on to dry land. She then jumped on to the front of the boat to grab the other rope just as it started drifting out again! Somehow, through a great deal of luck and no judgement Phil managed to get it back to safety and Linda tied the front on. We stayed there for a few minutes and had a drink looking out on Wroxham Broad before Linda took over the captaincy and we continued on to Salthouse Broad. A much smaller lake, Salthouse had a few day hire boats and a few holiday boats on it, Linda managed to avoid the slow motion melee and turned us around for the return trip. On the way back we went across the middle of Wroxham Broad, which was much busier with faster moving dinghy’s whizzing about (don’t know how you do it Mike!), we got shouted at once by one of the instructors before hot footing it out of there. Phil became el capitan again before we reached the end of our trip and after a botched first attempt at reversing the owner shouted a few instructions and we glided back into dock with the greatest of ease and grace and only a minor shunt. After that excitement we needed a calm down so we went to Woodford’s Brewery and Pub where we had a quick look in the visitor centre before going to the pub for some good grub and beer.

Next morning Phil suggested going to the café up the road for a cooked breakfast which Linda thought about for half a second before agreeing! We sorted the dogs out and then headed down the road to the café at around 11:00. There was only one other couple in there who were just finishing a coffee, so we grabbed a table and ordered our breakfast! As we ate 2 other families came in, one of which had a father who loved the sound of his own voice, and could be clearly heard over the noise of the mini digger outside! Once we’d finished we popped into the art shop and gallery next door, we had a look at a good few of the pictures before we got chatting to the artist Linda H Matthews. She told us a fascinating story about her previous career and how she took up art and set up her own studio and business, and is now working on books and DVD’s as well as doing evening classes, an interesting and inspiring story. That afternoon we had a walk to Salthouse broad along a lovely woodland footpath and boardwalk, as well as getting to know our neighbours Vic and Veronica, who we shared storied and a few drinks with, and Vic gave us some useful tips which we put into practice when moving to Sandringham site the next day, thanks Vic!