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
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