News | Enjoy the Broads

The Brand new EnjoytheBroads 2013 brochure is out!

Download your copy here

Broadcaster 2012 questionnaire

Many thanks to all those who replied to our questionnaire in Broadcaster 2012. The winner of the prize draw was Alison Macklin.

The winner of the Broads Authority’s Enjoy the Broads competition is enabling her father to live his dream.

Ron Burke, 63, went out on a day boat on the Broads during a caravan holiday to Norfolk  20 years ago and has wanted to return for a boating holiday ever since.So when his daughter, Eve Burke, won five days aboard a luxury motor cruiser in the online competition which attracted nearly 3,500 entries, fairy godmother Eve made his dream come true.

The year old 44 ft environmentally friendly cruiser, Fair Majesty, which has a Green Boat Mark, is being provided by Norfolk Broads Direct of Wroxham.

Ron, from Worcester Park in Surrey, said: “I’m very excited. I have been looking at the boats on the Broads for years and years and it has always been my ambition to come back. I have never stayed a night on a boat before so this is a dream come true.

“I love fishing so to go out on one of the broads, with no rush, and stop where we like is magic. It will be another thing that I have ticked off in life.”

Businesses put their hearts into supporting the Broads 

The Love the Broads campaign was launched on Wednesday 5th September. It has been set up by the Broads Authority with money from the European Regional Development Fund through the STEP project which promotes sustainable tourism in estuary parks. 

People who visit can give a donation which will raise money for projects that protect, preserve and enhance the Broads.

The first projects that are likely to benefit from the fund-raising include signage for Broads cycling routes and a scheme to stop the decline in the water vole population in the Broads.  

The Trust aims to raise around £5,000 in the first year.

To make a donation visit http://www.broadscharitabletrust.org.uk/enjoy-give-protect.html

Increase in Broads tourism   

Visitors to the Broads increased by 4.2% last year to 7.4 million with a 2% increase in spending and jobs in the tourism sector.

Bruce Hanson, Broads Authority’s tourism officer, said that the tourism figures had shown a steady rise year on year.

“This is a tribute to the extremely hard work of many people in the Broads holiday industry who have pulled together and paid particular attention to the need to continually improve the quality of the Broads tourism offer. The efforts of Broads businesses, working closely with the Broads Authority, have resulted in everyone becoming a winner—the businesses, the environment and the visitors.” 

Broads Explorer- New Issue out now!

The new issue of Broads Explorer is out now, so make sure that you download your copy. It's packed full of interesting stories and news from the Broads.  

Download your copy here

Students turn Broads film makers with former TV presenter

Students from the Gt Yarmouth area are turning film makers to capture the spirit of the Broads under the tuition of former BBC Look East presenter Ian Masters.

Fifteen teenagers from Gt Yarmouth and Gorleston High Schools are making five very different films to be screened at a mini film festival in September.

The students shot views of the rivers between Wroxham Broad and Thurne which will be set to music. They are also filming a love story in Victorian costume aboard the steam launch Falcon at interviewing Hugh Tusting, on his last sail as a wherry skipper aboard the Albion.

The Broad’s Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund has given a grant of £7,400 towards the project while the Broads Society donated £4,800.

New Bird Hide for Fairhaven

A new bird hide with access for wheelchair users has been opened at Fairhaven Woodland and Water Gardens

A grant for £9,000 was awarded by the Broads Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund for the hide at the end of a boardwalk overlooking South Walsham Inner Broad.

The hide features audio interpretation and wildlife cams which will relay activity in bird boxes to a television screen in the tea room.

The Broads are the nation's rare wildlife hotspot

The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads are the hotspot for the nation’s rarest wildlife –and that’s official.

A pioneering study commissioned by the Broads Authority and carried out by the University of East Anglia reveals that this small area, which makes up only 0.4% of the UK, is a haven for an incredible quarter of Britain’s rarest species.

The research project, conducted over 12 months with support from Natural England, pooled 1.5 million records collected by scientists and amateur enthusiasts since 1670.

In an 834 sq km area, the study identified 11,000 species, of which 66 are special to the Broads and 31 are rarely seen elsewhere in Britain. Find out more here.