Norfolk Broads – Places To Stay
The Norfolk Broads National Park is 117 square miles. There are seven rivers and 63 broads, thirteen broads are open to navigation. The Broads crosses the counties of Norfolk, and some of Suffolk.
The Norfolk Broads are completely manmade and created circa 9th and 10th centuries by settlers to Norfolk discovering peat in the area to use as natural fuel. As time went on and a couple of centuries passed the peat digging created channels and pits which started to fill with water naturally from rising tides and later Dutch settlers channelled and linked these manmade pits and waterways together for transporting goods from the UK’s then second largest city, Norwich to the rest of the world via Great Yarmouth. And there you have it in a condensed version, the famous Norfolk Broads.
The Broads is a protected national park and supervised and regulated by the Broads Authority now known as the Broads National Park. The eco system of the Broads is monitored and maintained as a quarter of the UK’s rarest plants and animals are found in the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads according to a survey by the University of East Anglia.
There’s an estimated 8 million visitors to the region annually many choosing to have a boating holiday or to stay in one of the many waterside cottages. The location allows short journeys to the coast, countryside and Norfolk’s capital, the City of Norwich.
I live near, and have worked for the Norfolk Broads and cruised and sailed on the Norfolk Broads for many years. Sometimes I will find a new Broads experience, for example most recently a little boat trip on Ranworth Broad, a protected Broad not open to the flow of boats. There’s the floating Broads Wildlife Centre reached by a boardwalk and has a panoramic vista across the water, where you can view the changing scenery and wildlife. A seasonal daily boat trip takes visitors around the broad guided by a knowledgeable Norfolk Wildlife Trust expert.
If you’re staying near, or on the Norfolk Broads and want to add relaxing treatments and fun activities to add to your break away then do contact us.
I spent a lovely afternoon visiting Ranworth Broad with Joanne Green, an AirBnb visitor staying at a neighbours flat. Joanne, from Israel was on an educational to the UK to study and obtain information about female entomologists, and Margaret Fountaine from South Acre, Norfolk was on her list. Joanne was interested in visiting the Broads during her short time in Norfolk, so we had an afternoon Ranworth Broad experience.
Inset image: Joanne Green at Ranworth Broad August 2017.
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