Have things changed or improved

[Guest KeithC]

Hi

Just looking through this years Broads photos and comparing them with ones taken many years ago. It is surprising how generaly, little has changed {thankfully}. Perhaps the biggest exception is Wroxham. Not a great deal of change at Horning--Southgates upper yard gone and replaced with upmarket properties.

I know we all moan but I think overal things have improved. The water quality is better now-certainly with use of sealed toilets. New moorings have been made, not enough, I know, but ones like the excellent one at How Hill are most welcome.

I may get shot down in flames here, but what is your opinion of todays Broads compared to that of yesteryear?

Keith

Norfolk : :

[Brian]

In my youth i frequented Bridge Broad and the Wroxham / Salhouse Area.

This was nearly 20 years ago, its still the same today. I have to say that the BA have worked hard this year on Moorings at various locations on the Northern Broads. THey have done a great job

Makes me wonder what their plans are for the Potter area though.

[Guest scuba]

The water quality is better now-certainly with use of sealed toilets.

I unfortunately saw something unmentionable floating in river up towards Dilham a few months ago.

[pks1702]

From one of the 'Sea Toilets' on Traditional Broads Yachts - possibly

[senator]

Makes me wonder what their plans are for the Potter area though.

If there is a man with a JCB around it might be worth a backhander,

Ian

[Brian]

Goodness me Dave thats rather Spot on Mate

[gancanny]

yes,things have changed and in my humble opinion improved, but looking around there are lots

of blots on the landscape which really disappoint and not all the BA doing, although some of the planning

decisions have been horrendous

i, like lots of others remember wroxham of a few years ago ; jack powles yard and ernest collins, i don!t know

if this is an improvement, and what about the development immediately under the bridge opposite the pub,it stood empty

for years,and is still a poor example of improvement

into horning and the developement next to norfolk marine alongside the road, when will this be finished and the

immediate area tidied up

the pub next to the chippie at potter which burned down years ago could also do with a tidy ,no doubt the fault of the landowner and not the BA

all in all i think things have improved and i for one are still loving it

alan

[VetChugger]

Many folk seem to forget or conveniently ignore the fact that the areas "guarded" by Wroxham, Potter, Beccles, Wayford and, to a certain extent, even Ludham bridges are in this attractive state because access is limited. I don't think there is any coincidence in the fact that many peoples favourite stretches just happen to be the other side of these bridges. I'm as frustrated as the next person when I can't get my boat under a bridge but this is forgotten on the occasions I do and enjoy the quality of the scenery and the peace and tranquility.

With regard to the points about mooring improvements, I think this is at the mercy of the inflated property market. You only need to look in estate agents to see prices at places mentioned like Wroxham and Horning to illustrate the unlikely prospect of the BA ever being able to purchase river frontage to provide moorings. The Waveney River Centre is at the pinnacle of examples that, if you want facilities, you will pay through the nose for them.

As for a new cut from the Bure to the Yare! What's the hurry?? It seems to me that all the points being mentioned centre on areas that are an essential part of the Broads identity. People have enjoyed watching boats struggle to get under Potter and Wroxham for years! There are many posts and observations of trepidation at the prospect of a Breydon crossing. We all know that, with common sense, there is not a problem and these parts of a holiday on a boat are parts of Broads folklore.

Leave it be! As things are there are parts of the Broads that will suit most tastes. All you need to do is explore and, if you like a spot, stop and enjoy.

Trevor

http://www.normanboats.co.uk

[Guest]

I suppose as the hire fleets shrink and private boat ownership inceases the dynamics will continue to evolve and the changes from commercial use to residential use will continue to march onwards, as the boat builder's and hirers property becomes worth enough to make a sale more sense than struggling to make a living, with it comes a smart tidy appearance replacing run down unkempt areas and boat scrapyards, yes some of the ugly and the quaint rustic buildings from our past memories will go too, but for the Broads to stay alive, evolution and progress must go on

[Guest]

ill tell you a nice place the BA have just done up that right at the mouth of the Chet looks really nice but could do with a few shore power posts i only know of one place that has more than one post and that is ranworth. we need at least two post at each mooring with two-16amp and one-32amp like they have up north

would be great if they put one ladder on each free mooring if they put a ladder in as i slipped in at church fen and thanks to some very nice and persistent hirers 30 mins later i managed to get out not before looking like a beached wale. as for safety reasons alone they should have put one or more ladders at each mooring would be hard for the mature and the bigger boater :

[Guest KeithC]

Hi Jonny

You mention ladders.

If my memory serves me right, I think they have installed ladders along the new moorings at Sutton Staithe.

It is a good point that you raise.

Keith

Norfolk

[Jim]

I first visited the Broads as a hirer back in 1979 and to be honest, the place has seen a few changes but in my opinion, nothing too drastic overall.

There seem to be a lot more private craft than back then and also a lot more sailies which seems to be a very popular leisure activity especially in the north. The newer riverside properties aroung Horning reach look pretty nice (and un-affordable to most peoples budgets) but, one day, if the right numbers come up, I could be tempted.

[senator]

With the Northern broads over crowded in peek weeks and the Southern broads virtually deserted then a link somewhere around Wroxham - Norwich would be the perfect solution allowing for a circular tour of the Broads, how realistic this is I have not got a clue but I am sure there are a thousand and one problems to overcome.

Hire boat numbers have reduced from something like 4000 at their peak to now just over 700 so if the bridges where altered the extra traffic above potter, Wroxham and Beccles would, I think will be less than was there when most of the hire fleet passed under these bridges, personally I would like to see the low bridges modified but then how many 12' wide boats use the narrow beam canals, can't see the traditionalist being too happy about ripping out all the locks to let bigger boats through, tradition does play a large part in the attraction of tourists to an area in the first place so its importance should not be under rated.

Waterside living is the current trend and if I could afford it I would jump at the chance, provided the building was flood friendly. With pressure increasing to use brown field sites for housing the developers can hide these ultra exclusive appartments in with the goverments wish to see protection of the countryside and the provision of affordable urban living, although how the ideals and actuals equate I really have no idea.

Modern shoreside toilets and showers would I am sure be the choice of most hirers over the cramped facilities offered on the boat, more importantly with private ownership growing and smaller boats becomming the norm these are the sort of things, along with shore power etc. that make an owner choose the broads over another waterway, or even to become an owner at all.

A link to the easten river network would do wonders to encourage visiting craft and although this could be a 2 way thing which way would you bet on most of the boats going.

Was very encouraged on our trip around the south this week to find a number of stores open late and what a store that Rockland St Mary post office is, for those that hav'nt yet discovered it then all I can say is it should be painted blue and have police telephone written in a band round the top. I know it is difficult for traditional village stores to staff to open longer hours and the owners are entitled to a life but it is what the visitor expects to find these days and solutions need to be found before the little shops are all swept away.

Family Friendly is not something that sits well in the UK and I don't think it is any worse in Norfolk than elsewhere but at home familys either jump in the car and go to the nearest family friendly place or don't go out at all, these are a lot harder to do on a boat and with boating offering such a supurb family holiday it would be nice if more places reflected this and catered for the family.

One thing though, if by some miracle the new cuts do get built, please, please put a few bends in them, a 20 mile Haddisco cut is more than anyone could take.

Ian

[Guest]

A cut through to Wroxham could not possibly happen Ian. The land is some of the highest in Broadland - it wouldn't be like building Haddisco Cut, more like the Suez Canal. We're only 20 mins walk from Salhouse Broad but we're about 65ft above it. It would be even worse at the southern rivers end. Brundall is going be well over 100ft above the river. You couldn't even use locks because the climb is far too steep - remember the road down to the boatyards at Brundall?

[Guest]

not good when farther is not around with his car and you get some shopping from budgins just as you start to descend down the hill the eggs and the bottle of wine fall through the bag ahhhh

now at this point only three eggs survive the fall out of a dozen and the wine is still rolling down the hill. when i realise its not broken i pick up my stuff chasing it few hill nearly over when it hits the dam curb and smash it makes you think why dint the just level it off at some point

[SteveO]

We have been visiting the broads for 30 years now and have just finished our first full season as boat owners based on the Northern broads. Things have changed in some ways, but there are still places, both on and off the beaten track, which are just as they were when we first fell in love with them. Water quality has undoubtedly improved over this period, as has the fishing. We have been amazed by the amount of wildlife on the broads now, including otters that we saw at Irstead recently, grass snakes swimming across Salhouse broad and an abundance of kingfishers.

One place we mourn for is the Black Horse pub that used to be between Hoveton and Horning, which did inexpensive traditional food like rabbit pie and liver "n" onions, and which was demolished in favour of executive residences a few years ago.

We went to Potter Higham a couple of weeks ago and sadly I have to say that the place looked a bit of a mess - businesses in prefabricated buildings, the cafe by the approach to Herbert Woods' tower burnt out and derelict land where there used to be a hotel. This place should be a honeypot of the broads, but you wouldn't have thought so to look at it.

The boating industry seems to be in good shape judging by the number of boats on the rivers - not just in high season and not just at weekends either. There seems to have been a bit of a shift from hire boats to privately owned ones over this period as well as an explosion of holiday cottages, some which have reclaimed interesting old buildings which were previously part of the boating infrastructure.

The Broads Authority has obviously been very busy with piling and improving the moorings, but I have to say that the fly-ash type material that they use on their pathways is murder in the wet. It sticks to shoes and gets everywhere on the boat. I agree with the point made in an earlier post about electrical points - there are far too few of these to make electrical power viable.

All in all, I think there are many good reasons to be optimistic, notwithstanding accidents of weather and /or the well-intentioned but sometimes misguided actions of officialdom.

Steve

[Guest KeithC]

Hi Steve

A good post which goes along with the sentiments i expressed in the first post.

Keith

Norfolk

[Guest]

There was some talk a while ago about bringing the Broads into the Kingslynn waterways to make a complete link to the cannel system.

Found it would not be worth while but think how interesting it could have been.

Leave Norwich or Oulton Broad, up to Kingslynn then into the system to Manchester, Bristol and Thames?

Would need a bit more than two weeks !!

[pks1702]

Not heard that one Paul.

Looking at the KL area and the Fens I can't see much that would attract me to 'ditch crawling' this area.

On the way home I go over the Ouse Nene & Welland at anything other than HW staring up at muddy banks does not overly appeal to me. Lower reaches need some very careful Navigation with very strong currents and shifting shoals.

[Guest sirdar]

MMMMMM something that doesnt appear to have changed over the years thankfully. The " windmill" in Horning. It was a family joke that every year when on holiday my Dad would tease my Mum by saying " If that ever comes up for sale Im going to buy it". One year it did. Everytime we passed that week Dad would slow right down and stare. The agents I think were Drapers in Wroxham. Towards the end of the week we tied up at Powles and Dad wandered off. He came back after a while saying that he had bought Mum the windmill. Just before Mum exploded he handed her a paper bag containing a brass windmill 4 inches tall. It still stands on his mantlepiece today. The year? 1962 ish. The price........................£5000.00.

Sirdar