4 of the Best Views of the Broads National Park

Views of the Broads National Park reveal a landscape home to 25% of the UK’s rarest wildlife. The Broads are celebrated in one of David Bowie’s biggest hits (“From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads” – Life on Mars). And they have been the subject of plenty of nature themed documentaries:

• BBC Two’s Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
• Channel 5’s Susan Calman’s Grand Day Out
• BBC Four’s The Flying Archaeologist
• Channel 4’s Great Canal Journeys

This manmade wonder has existed across Norfolk and Suffolk since the Middle Ages, with a great history of visitors since the Victorian era of train travel and the Great British staycation.

Only in the 1950s was it researched and proved by Dr Joyce Lambert that the Broads were manmade. Excavated for peat in medieval times, which was sold as fuel, including 320,000 tonnes a year to Norwich Cathedral, the pits were subsequently flooded.

As of today, the Broads is the 3rd-largest navigable waterway in the UK, extending 125 miles.

1. Breydon Water

One of the largest estuaries across the Broads, Breydon Water is where the sea meets the Broads in Great Yarmouth, and is also the site of RSPB Berney Marshes and Breydon Water Nature Reserve.

“Experience the spectacle of the tens of thousands of wintering ducks, geese and swans that visit the estuary and surrounding grazing marshes. In spring the marshes are filled with the atmospheric calls of lapwings and redshanks, all breeding on one of the UK’s largest expanses of wet grassland” – RSPB

Just down the road from Breydon Water, you can find our parks Caldecott Hall Country Park and Waveney River Centre, both offering the opportunity to enjoy the Broads whenever you want with a UK holiday home.

2. Ranworth

A quaint little village that looks over Malthouse Broad, Ranworth features beautiful thatched cottages, Ranworth Broad Nature Reserve and St Helen’s Church.

The church is nicknamed the Cathedral of the Broads, as if you climb the ladders to the top of the tower, you can see five different Norfolk Broads. The church also contains a medieval rood screen, magnificent stained glass windows and the Ranworth Antiphoner, a medieval book dating from the 1400s featuring psalms and incredible paintings onto animal skin.

3. Wroxham

Wroxham and Hoveton are often classed as Wroxham.

Nicknamed “the Capital of the Broads”, Wroxham was the first centre for boating holidays and excursions on the Broads after the introduction of the East Norfolk Railway in the late 19th century.

John Loynes started the first boat hire firm on the Broads here after moving his business from Norwich in 1878. Faircraft – Loynes boatyard is still there to this day.

4. Oulton Broad

Oulton Broad is the southernmost area of open water in the Broads, located just south of Lowestoft town centre.

Oulton Broad is a popular site for tourists and hosts a variety of watersports all year round.

Residential areas, pubs and cafes surround the water here, alongside footpaths through Nicholas Everitt Park, which contains Lowestoft Museum, opened by Queen Elizabeth II. And, look out for Nearly Festival hosted in Nicholas Everitt Park in the summer.

There’s nowhere better for a summertime walk than the waters edge of Oulton Broad, with footpaths that can take you through Broadlands Park & Marina and onto Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve.

Next to Nicholas Everitt Park is Tingdene Broadlands Park & Marina, a bustling holiday park and marina offering caravan, villa and lodge holiday homes, as well as moorings.