A cruise in the 1960's

Eagle eyed archivist Carol Gingell has found a colour film of a Broadland cruise dating from the early 1960's. The Ramsay family made the film while on holiday aboard CLOVER OF LIGHT; a smart Herbert Woods centre cockpit motor cruiser. Note the ingenious retracting 'gullotine' type wheelhouse ~ one of Broadland 's many innovative contributions to the marine sector.

Most of the film can be seen from the continuous perspective of just above deck level. Beginning near North Quay in Great Yarmouth, the family cruise up the Bure or North River past the village of Horning. At around 6 minutes, Horning Ferry Reach comes into view. Soon after, there is a fleeting glimpse of Heather, laying at Turner's Boatyard. The houseboat is seen nestled amongst sister craft. The regular appearance of neatly white washed quay capping and bollards mark the high standards during the era. A few seconds later, a row of cream houseboats at the old Chumley and Hawkes boatyard come into view. Weather boarded versions still serve as holiday accommodation here. It tails off at the former HT Percival's yacht station, further up river. The recent success of the first Horning Boat Show highlights the village as one of Broadland's great ports of call.

Suddenly the film cuts to show the once charming Broads Tours and the restaurant pavilion (now Riverside Park) at Hoveton St John. This long established tour boat company was mercilessly asset stripped, then completely pulled down in the late 1980's. Looking downstream to King's Staithe in the distance ~ Heather's occasional mooring base. Here the lofty industrial Barclay and Pallett flour mill can be seen. Today, the site is more hospitable and composes the Old Mill Restaurant building and a range of other shops. The footage ends on Breydon Water and the Lower River Waveney. Looking at the film, it is quite startling how over a half century, riverside properties have developed from rather muted, rusticated architecture to more intense urbanised structures. Whether people will record on camera these new additions for posterity, remains to be seen.

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1Y5I7E4qTKw

The photograph above, looking up to Wroxham Bridge was taken in 1963 by the Hooton family of Lower Brampton, Derbyshire. It captures a lost world of low key boathouses and grassed moorings. On the extreme left, J Loynes yard's famous pennant flag of a white star on a blue field can just be seen flying atop their gaff rigged flagstaff. The Barclay and Pallett owned mill and large black granary Store on the Staithe is seen right of centre. Courtesy of Maureen Hooton (nee Foster.)

Chris

Grateful thanks to Carol for embedding the film.

Ludham Bridge ~ a Broadland oasis

Spanning the River Ant, Ludham Bridge is located centrally on the popular northern rivers. On either side, the A 1062 road stretches out like a causeway across the fens. Next to the bridge is the family run Ludham Bridge Services and Boatyard. Working farms lay just beyond the cluster of traditional buildings and yards. It could be said that this area resembles the rural appearance of nearby Hoveton and Wroxham waterside of a hundred years ago.

Paths link two famous Broads landmarks. How Hill lies only 2 miles upstream. Crowned by a large Edwardian country house, lush gardens sweep down to the river and marshes. A short distance down river are the curious remains of the Abbey of St Benet's at Holme, sitting in beautiful isolation.

Beside the road is the well known black and white building of Bridge Stores and the Wayfarers Cafe. A general provisions and gift shop for holiday makers. The cafe serves hot and cold food. Further along is the artist Linda H Matthew's Broad Skies Gallery, with individual Norfolk made gifts and art. Next door is AJB Fishing Tackle stocks a broad range of gear and bait. Advice is freely available.

Tucked away, behind the Stores is Chandlers' Yard and a range of recently improved cabins. The Trading Post and Norfolk Dinghy Centre has a large selection of books, general goods and boat related items. Cycling hire and some gas is also available here. The Boathouse is run by Robert Paul, Marine Engineer and Boat Safety Examiner. Helpful advice, servicing and sales of outboard engines and boats is also available. Bridge Cave Curios is packed with something for all with preloved and new objects. Kay K Crafts completes the selection. Kay makes a range of handmade fabric and wooden items, including colourful lengths of bunting ~ perfect for your home, boat or special occasions. Boats and trailers for sale are on display and storage is available. There are few shopping outlets in Broadland located in such an attractive environment. A few steps lead up to the Staithe, where boats can moor to replenish with fresh water and hook up to the electricity point. (Please note no cards purchased anywhere else can be used.)

On the immediate downstream side is Bridge Boatyard. Full services are available here, including pumpout. Smart day and picnic cruisers are available for hire. There are comprehensive repair facilities. The central and scenic location of this boatyard in the Broads district is almost exceptional. Various moorings are available on both sides of the bridge.

Find out information about Broadland, including the Museum of the Broads and more at the yards.
Individual cabins may not be open everyday of the week.

www.facebook.com/pages/Ludham-Bridge

60th Anniversary of Heather in hire

Easter is generally held as the launch of the Broads season. A time when newly refurbished craft are made ready for use. In Heather's case this usually takes place much later; sometimes in a more haphazard fashion, rather than 'Bristol fashion.'

2013 looks to be a year of commemorations of one kind or another. It is special for Heather, in 1953 began service as a stationary hire boat. Dennis and Peggy George took over the reigns of Turner's Boatyard, based at a sylvan corner of Horning, close to the famous Ferry Inn. The houseboat became part of their fleet, all named after flowers. She remained at the mooring basin for some thirty years, a few paces away from the River Bure ~ one of the chief rivers of Norfolk. Although Turner's has long since closed, boating continues to be the precious lifeblood of the Broads. Without the motor cruisers, yachts, houseboats, dinghies and a medley of other craft, the area would be quite literally dead in the water.

We will be exploring the mysterious history of this quirky vessel, visiting new places and looking at sustaining her future on the Broadland waterways. Everyone is welcome to join us at events and open days around the northern rivers this season.

Chris

Visit to Stowmarket and the Museum of East Anglian Life

We made a trip to the Suffolk country town of Stowmarket on Saturday. Close to the market place virtually hidden from view can be found the 'big house' of Stow (as the the locals invariably call the town.) Abbot's Hall is a very graceful Queen Anne style house, sitting in attractive parkland. A museum has been newly opened inside the hall. The displays reflect the lives of former inhabitants and the wider, largely rural East Anglian community. The region is often called 'the bread basket of England.' A small but powerful display looked at the lives of travelling Gypsies. Attached to house is a wonderfully restored glass house~conservatory. It was built by the illustrious engineers and manufacturers Boulton and Paul of Norwich.

At the front of the house is a duck pond. Although this is slight compared to the ornamental lake, found on a higher plateau behind the house. There is even an island complete with a square red brick summerhouse. You can almost imagine graceful ladies during the age of enlightenment taking tea on the island, while the gentlemen punt on the lake (or maybe the reverse.) To the side of the house are a range of spaced out buildings housing a wealth of vehicles, farming implements and animals. A collection of brightly decorated gypsy vardo and showmans' caravans stand out ~ everything has a place in the countryside! Some buildings have been relocated to the site. These formed one of the first open air museums in the country. We enjoyed afternoon tea with homemade scones in The Osier, a cafe attached to farm buildings, next door. If you have time to visit the museum, it is a must see.

Chris

Heather's black box

In preparation for the winter months, most of the boat's inventory has been wrapped up and stowed away to prevent damp and mould. We have decided to remove the old Rippingilles cooking stove in the kitchen in the foscle for good. The portable stove was made with Victorian ingenuity and runs on paraffin oil. It has been good for cooking and a source of back ground heat. Made of black japanned tin, it features two hobs, complete with lids and has an oven underneath. There are two decorative embossed brass vents, which double as a patriotic badge for Rippingilles. A pair of reservoirs at the base hold paraffin and long cotton wicks. This is one of many oil appliances manufactured by Frank Rippingille's Albion Lamp Co factory in Birmingham. They also produced a set of tin pans, kettle and toast hanger at extra cost. The range of stoves and accompaniments were sold at ironmongers and outdoor shops ~ even Harrods stocked them. It does take a while to heat up however, boiling a pint of water in about 20 minutes. This slow method may have been fine for the Edwardian outdoor folk, but not for 21st century needs of guests!

A Rippingilles stove appeared in one of the finest yachting stories ever ~ The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers, written in 1903.  ''At the Stores I asked for a No. 3 Rippingille stove, and was confronted with a formidable and hideous piece of ironmongery, which burned petroleum in two capacious tanks, horribly prophetic of a smell of warm oil. I paid for this miserably, convinced of its grim efficiency, but speculating as to the domestic conditions which caused it to be sent for as an afterthought by telegram.'' The book and later film is a thrilling yarn of Edwardian intrigue and daring do set across the grey North Sea (once called the German Ocean) in the Low Countries. There are several key connections with the East Anglian coast. Erskine Childers was a fascinating character in his own right, with complex, duel loyalties to the Irish republicanism movement and Britain. He was sadly executed for his involvement in the troubles.

Before gas became commonplace in the 1950's, oil or solid fuel were moreoften the only option for heat and cooking. Some examples of these incongruous oil stoves were used on both hire and private boats on the Broads up until recent decades. Nigel Royall said there was a Rippingilles stove in the galley of the slender Pleasure Wherry SOLACE. Similar oil stoves are still used daily in what are patronisingly called 'undeveloped countries' or the 'third world' in places like Africa. Our interest in such quaint practices and boating traditions has sometimes conflicted with authorities views.

For further information about oil stoves, lanterns and spare parts please visit: www.base-camp.co.uk

Chris

The Importance of being Ernest

The site of the Ernest L Wood's boat building premises (pictured) on Lower Street, Horning. This is accessible at the end of a dog legged shaped dyke, off the River Bure. Here, Heather is believed to have been converted from a dumb (unmechanised) flat barge in an earlier wooden boat house. The buildings were some of the first developments on the wild marshland around the old Ferry Inn. A few minutes walk from the main village, the area was referred to as 'the wilderness' in Arthur Ransome's Broadland stories, Coot Club and the Big Six.

Next door to Ernest's premises was Turner's Boatyard. The adjoining Ferry Boatyard survives both Turner's and Wood's. Heather joined a fleet of classic boats at the first public rallies of the Vintage Wooden Boat Association, staged at the Ferry in the 1990's. Quarter of a century has passed since the association was formed. Looking forward, we have ambitious new plans for Heather within the next eighteen months.

Chris

Illuminating Christmas

A brass oil lantern has been hung in the saloon in time for Christmas. The elegant lantern was made by the famous lamp manufacturers Sherwood's in Birmingham ~ then known as the 'workshop of the world,' probably in first part of the twentieth century. The harp frame which holds the burner has Art Nouveau styling. It's simple decoration compliments the saloon and provides some much needed lighting.

Heather is not altogether a museum or a preservation project. The integrity of her original build and adaptations will be respected; her atmospheric style and features will be conserved and enhanced. At the same time, Heather is a floating home, which must have up to date functions and facilities. We plan to improve the heating, lighting and power sources next year.

Finding fuel for the lamps and stove on board isn't straight forward. Curiously, paraffin oil is not easy to obtain, even in a large rural county like Norfolk. Paraffin is a thin, clear fluid which is distilled from petrol. We managed to find a wonderful ironmongers shop, Chris Roach Trade and Retail Plastics on Magdalen Road in New Catton, Norwich, where it is still sold on tap! The friendly shop keeper, Chris filled our can of high grade paraffin, which is specially dyed green. Customers come from all over Norfolk to pick up fuel. Chris said that some people in isolated places, having no electricity, run their houses solely on paraffin. www.chrisroachtradeandretailplastics.com

Andrew