Plan your trip on the Wherry Line Norwich-Lowestoft
Norwich
Norwich is the county capital of Norfolk, the best-preserved medieval city in the country, with cobbled streets, historic churches, Norman castle and cathedral, and the biggest permanent covered market in northern Europe.
Norwich is a great city for the arts – take in a show at Norwich Theatre Royal, Maddermarket or The Playhouse.
As well as the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, discover the city’s history at Stranger’s Hall, Museum of Norwich at The Bridewell and American Library.
There’s great independent shopping in The Lanes, as well as High Street names in Chantry Place.
Take a tour of the city with Paul Dickson.
Looking for something a little left field? Try Go Quest Adventures or City Greens Golf.
Outside the city centre, nature lovers will enjoy NWT Sweet Briars and culture lovers will enjoy the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia. And Eaton Park is a popular outdoor space in the city, with its own Crazy Golf and Putting Course.
Where to stay: The Georgian Townhouse, The Assembly House, Maids Head Hotel.
Brundall Gardens and Brundall
Two separate stations a short distance apart but both good stopping off points for boatyards on the River Yare. In fact, Brundall Gardens was built specifically to cater for the growing popularity of boating holidays in the Broads National Park.
Where to stay: Norfolk Holiday Lodges are by the River Yare.
Buckenham
The village of Buckenham is a good stopping off point for RSPB Buckenham Marshes, a mosaic of marshland, reedbed and valley habitats that make the reserve a haven for wildlife of all kinds.
Cantley
Built in 1912, Cantley Sugar Beet factory was the first sugar beet factory in the UK. Today it is operated by British Sugar. Cloe to the village by the River Yare is RSPB Cantley Marshes.
Scenes for the movie Yesterday were filmed at the village’s Reedcutter pub with the hero Jack playing a gig.
Reedham
Picturesque Reedham, which means ‘reedy village or homestead’ or ‘reedy hemmed-in land’, is on the River Yare with riverside pubs and a small marina. Reedham chain ferry is the only way to cross the River Yare by car between Great Yarmouth and Norwich.
The Norwich-Lowestoft Wherry Line goes across the Reedham Swing Bridge over the River Yare.
In Roman times, Reedham was a coastal village with a Roman lighthouse. King Edmund of East Anglia, the original Patron Saint of England, is said to have lived here and the Fastolf family, whose most celebrated member was Sir John Fastolf, are recorded here from the 13th century. Sir John built the castle nearby Caister and was the basis of the character Falstaff who appeared in three Shakespeare plays.
Nearby is Pettitts Animal Adventure Park.
Cruisers at St Olaves on the River Waveney, Broads National Park
Haddiscsoe
From Reedham to Haddiscoe the Wherry Line runs parallel to the Haddiscoe Cut, also known as the New Cut. This man-made 2.5m-long canal was opened in 1833 as a new direct route from Norwich to the North Sea, via the River Waveney to Oulton Broad, Lake Lothing and Lowestoft harbour. It was designed to cut out Great Yarmouth which was a far more prosperous port.
Haddiscoe's name is of Viking origin and derives from the Old Norse for Haddr's wood.
Nearby is the village of St Olaves with a nice riverside pub and the remains of St Olave’s Priory, managed by English Heritage.
Somerleyton
Somerleyton on the River Waveney is a good stopping off point to visit Somerleyton Hall, which was recently used as the single location of the film ‘The Lady’ starring Sian Clifford, standing in as the fictional Ravenhyde Hall.
Somerleyton village was rebuilt as a model village in the 19th century by Samuel Morton Peto.
In Somerleyton village is a memorial to Christopher Cockerell, who designed and tested the first hovercraft in the 1950s at Cockerell’s boatyard in Somerleyton.
Nearby is the village of Herringfleet, named not for a fleet of herring fishing boats but meaning ‘the stream of Herala’s people’.
Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve
Oulton Broad North
Oulton Broad is the most easterly point of the Broads National Park, with waterside Nicholas Everitt Park, Lowestoft Museum and marinas, restaurants and bars. The Broad is connected to the sea by a lock at Lake Lothing.
Get out on the water with Waveney River Tours and Day Boats.
A short walk away is the delightful Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve, 1,000 acres of wilderness in the Broads National Park, with floodplain marsh and lowland fen which is home to a large number of rare and endangered wildlife.
Lowestoft
You arrive at the seaside at the final stop on the line, Lowestoft. There’s traditional seaside fun here, with Victorian seafront and promenade, two piers, East Point Pavilion and Marina Theatre.
The most easterly point in the British Isles, Lowestoft is host to the annual First Light Festival.
For adrenaline junkies, head out to sea with Jet Adventures.
Where to stay: Suffolk Coastal Escapes, Lodge Farm Cottages, Azure Seas Holiday Village, Kessingland Beach.
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