Meantime

Please tell me that they've never sold a hamper at those prices!!!!

I'm sorry but if wasps build a nest in or near your house then by all means deal with it, but out in the countryside then leave well alone. We may not like wasps, but they play an important part in our eco system. Disturbing your ability to enjoy a wild mooring is not reason enough to deal with them. You are the interloper in the countryside not the other way round. Did you know for instance that wasps are rather good predators of horse flies, which give rather a nasty bite to humans and also live in abundance up The Ant. A few years back there was a rather large wasps nest at the BA Berney Arms moorings near the mill. The BA "dealt" with it by staking and taping the area off and putting up signs that there was a wasp nest and to avoid the area. The better course of action would have been to inform the BA and let them put signs up. Link to Natural History Museum piece about wasps

Forgive me Griff, but it would appear you are leaving one wild mooring, for another.

Having done exactly that a few times I can tell you that it is at the upper end in terms of cost however the food is excellent. Dress code is casual and you don't feel out of place in jeans and a shirt, or polo shirt. As for out of place for a Broads holiday, I would say no different to dining at The Ingham Swan, Wroxham Hotel, The Recruiting Sargent, or The Mermaids Slipper when it was open. We like to try one such place during a weeks holiday. However my biggest tip is if you have Gourmet Society membership you get 25% of the total bill, yes drinks as well. People often get Gourmet Society membership as a perk of their current account or other such offers. However even if you don't you would probably cover the cost of annual membership with 2 visits in a year. The 25% offer doesn't cover Fri, Sat or Sun, so choose your day carefully. For those who just want to try it the once, The Gourmet Society do offer a free 60 day trial membership which converts to a monthly membership if you forget to cancel the trial. So for that one off special occasion you could take out a free trial membership, receive your 25% off at The Norfolk Mead and then cancel your membership, however the chances are once you've been the once you'll want to go back again. A similar offer is also available at The Rushcutters Arms Thorpe Mon thru Fri 25% off the total bill. You do normally need to book ahead and inform them at the time of booking that you are a member of the Gourmet Society. At The Mead we normally moor up mid afternoon, walk up and have a drink at the bar and book a table for the evening and let them know then and also that we are on their mooring. As an aside, we have always got the discount, but never had to show the card, but always have it with us just in case.

I think the only exception to that, and strictly it's not a cost, but for some groups some hire companies ask for a security deposit per person. Not a cost if the boat gets returned undamaged. Other than that the price is normally per boat, not party size.

I wonder if it could be used in place of anti foul?

I don't think I'm the one dreaming!

I may be wrong but I thought that High craft were near to Sheerline and again tucked away off the river. The old Freedom yard on the river used to be Kingfisher I think, before becoming Freedom. The High craft yard is even further tucked away down Griffin Lane and even closer to the flyover. I don't think you'd ever get residential planning there. As for the greedy bit, probably, unrealistic most probably, unless your prepared to invest heavily in addition to buying the freehold and put the hours in.

Have you taken a look at the pictures on the auction website? I think most of the boats look ok to me, although mainly on the smaller side. There is also a market for affordable no frills moorings for the smaller boat. Not everyone wants electric and all the facilities. At the lower end of the market annual running costs can very quickly start to equal a significant proportion of the cost of the boat in the first place. However your right that with work and more capital higher mooring income could be achieved. So now your looking at £300k for the freehold investment, then possibly another £300k to make all the improvements you mention, repair / replace quay heading, install electric and have it all certified, new toilet / shower block etc. Suddenly your £55k return doesn't seem such a good return on investment, especially if you factor in the labour you would need to put in to supervise or complete the work yourself.

It's Bungalow Lane that leads down to Freedom's old yard and Griffin Lane that leads down to the boat yard that is for sale by auction. As commercial premises and boatyards getting planning for a residential development at either would be difficult, as it should be, we need working yards not posh houses. Re the location of the yard up for sale, it is not on the river front, but tucked around the back. It's been there for far longer than The Postwick flyover and plenty of people seem happy to have moorings at that yard and the others around it.

Assuming the yard sells for somewhere around the mid point, £300k then with the income from the moorings alone it is producing a return on investment of approx 5.3% with virtually no effort. In addition there is the prospect of building up the business by taking on marine servicing and repairs. You'd be hard pushed to find a bank willing to pay you 5.3% interest on your savings. As an investment to supplement income, or retirement income it just about works. If you were to invest £300k in a riverside apartment in Norwich and rent it out you'd probably expect to get around £1100 per month rental. For a younger energetic person looking to expand the business by adding to the mooring income with marine servicing and repairs, perhaps day boat rental, then it has the chance to sustain a full time employment and living.

There's some truth in the above!

Judging by the frosty response they sold them all to make space for the freezers!

Certainly the best tat in Potter! Think you might find a much bigger selection of tat in Grot Yarmouth!

I wasn't being negative, just realistic! I also added the pictures to help people out, so no negativity here thank you!

I can just see the advertising slogan now! Mums go to Iceland, Boaters go to Tatland! Given the size of the freezer compartment on most boats I should be able to fill mine for 99p I can just hear the conversation now, Mum "What do you want kids. Chicken nuggets or chips?" Kids "Both" Mum "Well you can't, I've only space in the freezer for one or the other" I'm not sure the investment in new freezers and the expansion of the frozen food section is really aimed at or much use to boaters. Might need to take a chainsaw to the pizzas to fit them in my boat freezer compartment!

There is nothing wrong with BBQs, even disposable ones, just the people that use them irresponsibly. If I use a disposable BBQ when boating it gets placed on a couple of bits of wood on top of an aluminum fold up picnic table. When the whole lot has gone cold it gets placed in a bag and put back on the boat and the table folded up again.

My first fill up just after buying my boat was 31.5p per litre. Seemed like it was going to be such a cheap hobby.

Yes it definitely sounds like a different boat, which means there are at least two in that area that need to be spoken to by the rangers. They are entitled to their fun in the appropriate zones and whilst keeping a proper look out for other craft, but the incident I reported happened in a 5mph area with two moorings in close proximity, both comprising pontoon moorings and a canoe landing mooring.

I was moored in Oulton Dyke last night and sitting at the helm reading a book when I heard and then saw a ski boat come from the Oulton Broad direction on the plane. The wash was very severe. Luckily my phone was to hand so I stood up to take a picture, which caused them to slow down. However they still went past moored boats way too fast and their wash carried on for some considerable time. I managed to get 6 good quality pictures which identify the boat and most of its occupants. This morning they have been sent to Broads Control. For obvious reasons I won't post the pictures here, but hopefully a word will be had. I have also raised my concerns about the lack of clear large reg numbers as required by the regs for water skiing. The boat I saw had only a short visit toll, but I still got a picture of it. I later saw a second boat going at a sensible speed and creating virtually no wash, but again there was a lack of any clear reg numbers which would have been an issue if an incident had occurred in a water ski zone, or for that matter anywhere on the river.

I've never really understood why that stretch of road is a 50mph limit. I know the road is fairly straight and with good visibility, but you have a number of busy junctions onto the road and the one by Tesco's in particular is a 20mph zone straight out onto a 50 mph road. Then you have the pedestrian island where you can cross from Stalham staithe into the town centre. There are no barriers around the island and you can end up standing there with traffic going past in each direction at 50mph. I'm sure there's a case for dropping the limit to 40mph from Stepping Stone Lane to somewhere past the Richardsons turn, with a pelican crossing installed to cross the road from the staithe.

A bit like hose reels unless there banned as well!

Is this not the NBNF? Norfolk Broads Network Forum?

And even if there was, it wouldn't affect you filling your boat!

Not just trucks and cars. I believe you can now get them on some hire boats! At least they can see how hard they reverse into you.