Anyone planning a Land based Holiday on the Broads in the comming weeks?

[Julz]

With the high season just about upon us, and some people prefaring to stay in land based accomodation to enjoy their Broadland break,and some planning to use a dayboat for their river cruising, im wondering who will be out and about over the comming next few weeks?

It would be nice to share any Hints and tips on this thread, and write up any holiday tales of how you enjoyed your land based Holiday in Norfolk, including your accomodation, places and pubs you visited, or even things like campsites you stayed at, facilites on them and if you found them to be good value and well kept, and would be happy to return again.

I will be heading down to Norfolk for most of August, spending the first week up on the north Norfolk coast staying at a Caravan Club site with my Elddis Avante Tourer, then we will be moving down to the Broads for the rest of August, hiring a dayboat for a few days, generally enjoying the area and all it has to offer, and spending some time with family who live just south of Beccles.

What are your plans?

Julz

[Hockham Admiral]

Sounds like a good idea, Julz and we hope that you have a brilliant holiday!   

 

Unfortunately we're booked up elsewhere for most of August and won't be able to meet up.  

[ExMemberBobdog]

I shall be in north Norfolk throughout August.  And September, October, November, December, January ...

[Julz]

We enjoy the north as a good stopover point on our journey down to the Broads Bob, it sure is a nice place to live. We normally stop off at one of the Sandringham sites for a few days, good for spotting wildlife around the estates woodlands, and also nice to visit some of the pretty little villages and markets around the area, and on occasions we have spotted members of the Royal family out and about around the estate.

 

Fakenham market is a good one, but getting a parking space on the day is another matter! It has to be a very early start to get there before the crowds start to arrive, but well worth it if you enjoy collectables like my husband Bill does, with his old woodworking and stone masonry tools, silver Coins and the odd gold sovreign. There are a few stalls selling new stuff, but it is more secondhand stalls on the whole.

 

Anyone Know of anyother markets worth a visit in the area?

 

Julz

[Julz]

 

Sounds like a good idea, Julz and we hope that you have a brilliant holiday!   

 

Unfortunately we're booked up elsewhere for most of August and won't be able to meet up.  

 

I hope you have a lovely time John, are you off to somewhere nice or just soaking up the sun with family and friends?

Julz

[Hockham Admiral]

Julz, we're celebrating our Silver with three weeks cruising in Friesland... was our favourite place when we had a sea-going boat!

[ExMemberBobdog]

I'm based further east Julz ... near Holt and Sheringham ... ideal location midway between lovely places on the north coast such as Holkham and Cley, and our boat's mooring at Barton Turf.

[Julz]

Congratulations to both of you John, I hope you have a lovely time, so lucky to be going to Friesland, Bill and I had our Honeymoon there, and toured by coach at the time, but fell in love with the place, and visited several times since, mostly based at the Hotel Spaander on the banks of the ZeiderZee at Volendam.

 

The Hotel is a real gem for history lovers, its full of old paintings done by the students of the great master artists, the story goes that if they could not sell their works, and were unable to pay their tab for board and lodgings, the kind innkeeper would take a painting in lieu, and these are the paintings that still hang around the walls of the place today, some of them dating back to the 1600s when the place was first established

.

The old bar, although now unused and kept as a museum piece, is another gem from the past, although sadly now the main hotel is run by a chain, Great Western hotels, as a three star, and has deteriorated as far as food and main bar are concerned, compared to what it used to be like when we first visited 27 years ago, when all staff in the restaurant wore full dutch costume, and the cuisine was pure Dutch, and we still smile today about their take on Fish and Chips, which turned out to be Kippers and deep fried small whole potatoes! 

 

Julz

[Julz]

Hi Bobdog, I must admit that is an area of Norfolk that I have yet to explore properly, I have been upto Cromer a couple of times, but seem to take the coast road and miss out on some of the smaller inland villages inbetween.

I must admit we only discovered Fakenham purely by chance when a leak in our old caravans Bathroom ment a trip to the nearest Argos store to buy a dehumidifyer urgently, to help dry it out!

We are planning to take a dayboat out at some point during our next trip, and being Ludham based, we often cruise up the Ant and onto the Barton area, but experiance has learned us not to try this in high winds, as the dayboats with canopys up soon turn into a Sailey, and we did once get pinned to the bank at the northern end of the broad!

Julz

[ExMemberBobdog]

If you get up to Barton look out for us - small (20 foot) Broads sailing yacht with a small cabin - sail number 9.  Give us a wave ... or we may be in our kayaks!

[ranworthbreeze]

Hello Julia,

Have you and Bill ever pitched on the Fakenham Race Course site?

We went over to meet friends a couple of years ago. You can only pitch there when there is no racing on, but it looked a good site.

Regards

Alan

[Julz]

Bobdog, l will look out for you when we venture up that way, under the right conditions we sometimes do a dawn till dusk cruise, one of the advantages of having a block booking for a dayboat for a few days, you get to keep the keys overnight with some boatyards. When we do this, we tend to explore the quieter upper reaches of the rivers, and this includes above Weyford bridge, with a stop off for lunch at the Weyford bridge Hotel.

Alan, we have yet to try the Fakenham racecourse site, mainly because Sandringham is a bit more convenient to the A47 if we are enroute to or from the Broads. The racecourse sites are very nice in good weather, but can become muddy and difficult to manouver on after heavy rain. We have been to the club site at Warwick racecourse and most of that is on hardstanding, some of it trackside.

Julz