Day Three: Conservation in action - Salhouse and
Cockshoot Broads The Broads are a unique landscape within the
UK, but they do not manage and maintain themselves. This day is
designed to show you two completely different approaches to the
conservation and sustainable management of the Broads. Our
suggestions will take you on a tour of Salhouse Broad; to lunch at
the local pub, home to one of the UK’s best known independent
breweries; followed by an afternoon spent exploring Cockshoot
Broad and the Bure Marshes nature reserve. To complement the theme
of sustainable development, an environmentally friendly transport
option is also available using the Broadshopper bus.
Our recommended itinerary is as follows:
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Drive to Salhouse Broad car park, situated on a minor road off
the B1140 between Acle and Wroxham |
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OR, for a more environmentally friendly option, leave your car
at Acle and catch the Broadshopper bus from outside the King’s
Head pub in the village centre, which stops at Salhouse and
Woodbastwick. |
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The Broadshopper is a great value bus service, which has room
for your bike as well. Linking Blickling Hall to Acle, and serving
key locations en route, it’s the perfect way for visitors and
locals to enjoy the Broads National Park. |
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Privately owned,
Salhouse Broad has an active group of Friends
who help to manage the Broad and organise a programme of events
throughout the summer months to encourage visitors to enjoy the
many and varied bird life living in the area. The Broad is home to
the only pair of Australian black swans living in the Broads. |
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Take a walk from the car park down through the woods to the
Broads edge, enjoy some refreshment from the ice cream boat plying
its trade around this part of the Broads, and perhaps take a boat
trip across to Hoveton Great Broad Nature Trail, not accessible
from land, a true wilderness within the Broads National Park. |
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Make your way to the Fur & Feather Inn at Woodbastwick for
lunch, within walking distance from Salhouse Broad along the quiet
lane (turning left out of the Broad car park). Attached to the
Woodforde’s Brewery, this iconic Norfolk inn serves great beer and
food in a picturesque setting. The Brewery Shop is also worth a
visit after lunch before continuing through the village of Woodbastwick, either by car, or on the Broadshopper bus (asking
the driver to let you off at the junction of the road to the
marshes and Cockshoot Broad). |
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Feeling re-energised after lunch, amble down the lane through
the Bure Marshes to the river, bearing in mind that this road
floods easily and may be wet. This is a popular spot to sit and
watch the busy river traffic pass by, but if you follow the
boardwalk to Cockshoot Broad you will enter a different world -
one of peace and tranquillity overlooking a Broad closed to boat
traffic and as a result recovering to represent a haven for
wildlife. Around one metre of mud was pumped out following its
damming off, and within three months, seeds which had lain dormant
at the bottom of the Broad for decades started to shoot, and the
water became clear again. |
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You can expect to see a
wide variety of insect and bird life along the boardwalk
and from the bird hide overlooking the Broad, including
herons, marsh harriers, several species of duck,
dragonflies and butterflies. |
Useful Norfolk Broads Contacts
Below you will find suggestions for accommodation, activities, attractions,
food & drink and shopping. All useful
contacts while visiting the Norfolk Broads.
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Dairy Barns
Dairy Barns is part of a family farm located 5 minutes from sandy beaches and the Broads. Finalist best bed and breakfast in Norfolk 2006 and 2007. We love welcoming people to our farm and offer a warm welcome to everyone. 6 spacious rooms.
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Wherrymans Way
You can walk the whole route or explore parts by cycle, train and river bus. Alternatively you can walk one of the ten circular walks enroute. Look out for the unique waymarkers, which include figures, sculpture, information panels and audio points.
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Elizabethan House Museum
Museum of domestic life in a 16th-century house. Hands-on activities throughout the house. Childrens playroom filled with toys from the past. Conspiracy room, where the trial and execution of Charles I was plotted. Events during school holidays.
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White Horse Inn
Traditional Norfolk pub, serving several real ales and tasty home made food
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Sutton Pottery
Small studio workshop in rural East Norfolk, established by Malcolm Flatman in 1977 in the Broadland village of Sutton, near Stalham. He uses the Potters Wheel and the fire of a gas kiln to create a large range of reduction stoneware entirely by hand.
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"Cockshoot
Broad
had enough mud
pumped out to fill
around 44
Olympic-sized
swimming pools
in the 1980s to
help improve
water quality"
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Wildlife Fact File |
THE BLACK
SWAN
Cygnus atratus
An Australian species, the only pair on the Broads live on
Salhouse Broad. Approximately 110 to 140 cm in length, they are
easily recognisable from their black plumage and bright red bill. |
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TOP TIPS |
| 1. |
If you are planning to use the
Broadshopper bus, ring the timetable information line
on 0870 6082608, visit the
Traveline website, or pick up a leaflet from a
Visitor Information Centre |
| 2. |
For details of events taking
place at Salhouse Broad, or to
book a trip to Hoveton Great Broad Nature Reserve, contact the
ranger Tobi Baker
on 07795 145475 or 01603
722775. |
| 3. |
The Fur & Feather Inn
opens at 11.30am, while the Brewery Shop is open from
10.30am to 4.30pm all year round (11.30am to 4.30pm on
Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays) |
| 4 |
There are public lavatories
located at Salhouse Broad, and
customer toilets with baby changing facilities at the Fur &
Feather Inn. There are no toilet facilities at Cockshoot Broad |
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The boardwalk at Cockshoot Broad is suitable for disabled
access |
| 6. |
There is free parking
at Acle for the Broadshopper bus next to
the leisure centre |
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Each of the days suggested on this website are covered by the OS Map, Landranger 134
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grid reference TG319150
