The Beauty Of The Broads
Neil Mcallister explores the area’s famous waterways and windpumps in this popular National Park.
THE once marshy area north-east of Norwich, which today we call the Broads, is a popular place to enjoy the peace of quiet, reed-lined waterways.
These channels are mainly man-made, the result of peat-cutting in the Middle Ages.
Outside holiday season, the Broads are lightly populated, but in the past this area was home to a lot of people, who quickly ran out of trees for fuel.
From the 1100s, peat provided an alternative fuel, and within a few hundred years, bug pits and channels had been dug – a huge and heavy task by hand.
Rising sea levels may seem a current concern, but the same thing was happening in the 1400s.
Therefore, as the briny breached these excavations, the flooding turned the ditches into watercourses, creating the network of navigable channels so beloved of boating folk.
Whilst I love the sea, I am not a natural sailor, so with only a few days to spare, we bypassed Norwich, pausing first at the lovely little market town of Acle to visit Fairhaven.
We have Major Henry Broughton, Lord Fairhaven, to thank for today’s 180 acres of water gardens and woodland walks.
When he bought the estate just after WWII, the land was wild, but over 15 years he turned what had been a military base into a series of lovely gardens, woods and moorings.
When he died in 1973 leaving no heirs, a trust was formed, opening the gardens to the public with a modest entry fee, which is cheaper when you book online.
Nearby South Walsham’s low and high churches were built next to each other in the early 1300s, in the same churchyard, to take advantage of the higher ground. St Lawrence’s hasn’t fared well over the years, however.
It burned down in the early 1800s, then, in the spring of 1971, lightning destroyed the nave.
Shortly after, the tower collapsed, supposedly because of a sonic boom.
If you fancy a week afloat, or just a day trip, there are a few places to hire boats, like Strumpshaw, where a couple of marinas providing boating facilities access the River Yare.
“I hope it is easier navigating the waterways,” Hazel joked, rotating her map to guide me through the maze of lanes to the Steam Museum.
This rather special place in the grounds of Strumpshaw Hall was originally a small private collection, and is still run by founder Wesley Key’s family.
Anyone fascinated by Fred Dibnah’s programmes will love this collection of traction engines, tractors, static engines and historic fairground machines.
In 2024, it celebrates 60 years of entertaining and educating history-loving visitors.
Burgh Castle, a bit further south on the Yare, was the extent of our southerly exploration.
Here, the Berney Arms Windmill, like most on the Broads, doesn’t grind corn.
Instead, England’s tallest structure of that kind pumps water from field to channel, controlling the water level.
The castle is Roman, reached by road from the Great Yarmouth side or by Reedham’s chain ferry on the western bank.
This is a useful investment of £4.80 to save a ten-mile drive!
Returning northwards on the road towards Horsey, the part-ruined church at Billockby caught our eye.
The tower and nave roof are a shell, but the rest has been saved, serving the spiritual needs of this tiny community.
Even though we know they are actually pumps, it is difficult not to call the pretty landmarks windmills.
Horsey Windpump is one
of the prettiest, framed with moored boats in front and a summery sky behind.
The nine-storey one at Sutton is impossible to miss and is actually a mill, built so tall to catch the wind in order to grind corn.
It originally only had eight storeys, but another was added after a fire in the 1860s, extending it to almost 68 feet tall.
It is worth diverting over this direction not just to see this magnificent mill, but to pop into the Museum of the Broads in nearby Stalham for a nostalgic reminiscence of how life was in the area not so long ago.
As well as enjoying rooms full of bygones and the seasonal exhibitions, this is an ideal spot to get a taste of life afloat on the steam launch Falcon.
There is also the wheelchair-accessible electric boat Marsh Harrier, which is both quiet and environmentally friendly.
By coincidence, we had spotted another antique launch earlier in the day.
The Broads Authority run solar-powered trips aboard the boat Ra from Hoveton on summer weekends and bank holidays.
Another church, St Helen’s at Ranworth, provides one of the best
views of the Broads when the tower is open.
Built on higher ground, as most are, this structure rises over 100 feet.
You need sure feet as the staircase is narrow and winding – 89 steps, Hazel counted them – and don’t forget two ladders.
Fingers crossed, we rose, hoping nobody was coming down – they weren’t – and the view even distracted Mrs Wobbly Legs from her vertigo.
Back in the church, the beautifully painted rood screen is an unmissable sight.
When many churches were “restored” by our Victorian forebears, medieval rarities like this were ripped out, so for this one to remain intact for more than 500 years is a minor miracle.
Another lovely garden awaited us at Hoveton.
Hoveton Hall’s horticultural delight opens at Easter, although the perfect time to visit is when the herbaceous plants are mature.
Even in early or late season, the woodland and lakeside walks are lovely, although Hazel’s suggestion to put on our walking shoes was wise, as after recent rain some paths were a bit soggy.
Keep your eyes open to spot a hint at the Hall’s path, where an ice house was once filled with ice in the depths of winter to provide year-round refrigeration for the hall’s kitchen.
If you are in the area for two nights or more and want somewhere special to stay, the South West Room offers quiet, luxurious double accommodation for £140 a night.
But road and water aren’t the only ways to get around these parts.
The nine-mile-long Bure
Valley Railway makes the word “miniature” seem woefully inadequate.
Most heritage railways running on old lines have rails almost five feet wide, but this Lilliputian line has a 15-inch gauge.
What it lacks in size it more than makes up for in sights as it chuffs its way from Hoveton to Aylsham, mostly following the river.
One alternative to an 18-mile round trip in tiny carriages is to take the train one way and walk back.
If you want a short stroll, leave the train at Brampton and follow the little lane down past its roundtowered church.
From here, the road turns into a farm track past Brampton Hall, after which a riverside path meanders a few miles back to Buxton to pick up the next train.
Together with Hoveton, Wroxham is known as the “Capital of the Broads”.
There are all manner of boats departing on week-long cruises and sightseeing day trips.
Many people start their Broads trip here, but this was our final stop.
We took a walk along Hoveton Riverside Park, almost as fast as the boats, which are kept to a six miles per hour speed limit.
As a group of young canoeists passed, Hazel mused if they could exceed the limit.
My boast that I could, for about 10 seconds, ended our visit with mutual mirth.