Wroxham Broad is an area of open water alongside the

River Bure The River Bure is a river in the county of Norfolk, England, most of it in the Broads.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map OL40 - The Broads''. . The Bure rises near Melton Constable, upstream of Aylsham, which was the original head of ...

near the village of

Wroxham Wroxham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Wroxham has an area of 6.21 square kilometres, and in 2001, had a population of 1,532 in 666 households. A reduced population of 1,502 in 653 households ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England within

The Broads National Park The Broads (known for marketing purposes as The Broads National Park) is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the terms "Norfolk Broads" and "Suffolk Broads" are correctly use ...

. The Norfolk Broads were formed by the flooding of ancient peat workings. Wroxham Broad has an area of 34.4 hectares (85 acres) and a mean depth of 1.3 metres. It lies to the west of the Bure, with two navigable openings between river and broad. The village and broad lie in an area of fairly intensive agriculture, with areas of wet woodland adjoining the broad and river. Since 1937, under lease from the Trafford estate, the broad has been home to the

Norfolk Broads Yacht Club Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

. Visiting boats are not allowed to land, but navigation is allowed. Between 2000 and 2005 the island between the two channels linking Wroxham Broad to the Bure underwent restoration to stop erosion and improve the island's ecology, which had become degraded. The project was a joint initiative involving the

Broads Authority The Broads Authority is the agency which has statutory responsibility for the Broads in England. Originally, the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England), pressed for a special authority to manage the Broads which had been neglected for a ...

, Norfolk Broads Yacht Club and the local landowner, Trafford Estates. Scrub was cleared and a stretch of piling installed, allowing sedge, reed and rush to grow back. By 2005 it was reported that more birds, including kingfishers, were nesting on the island and the rare Cetti's warbler was often spotted. Greater numbers of ducks, including pochard and tufted ducks, now wintered nearby and there was a greater profusion of wild flowers and marsh flora including orchids. During the course of the work, in 2004, volunteers came across an unexploded Second World War hand grenade in the dredgings, which was exploded by an army bomb disposal team.Wroxham Broad island restored in innovative partnership project - Broads Authority
/ref> Close to Wroxham Broad stands the early 18th century Broad House, a Queen Anne style

estate house An estate is a large parcel of land under single ownership, which would historically generate income for its owner. British context In the UK, historically an estate comprises the houses, outbuildings, supporting farmland, and woods that s ...

and formerly the seat of the local land-owning Trafford family. In 2006, it became a well-regarded 'boutique' hotel which closed in late 2010. There are proposals that it be reclassified as a single dwelling. Alfred John Norman Chamberlin (1822-1883), and his wife Betsy, owned the Broad House property and most of the Wroxham Broad, before the Traffords acquired it after Alfred's death about 1885. People flocked to their property to watch the Wroxham Regatta. (See painting "Wroxham Regatta -1868" by Claude Nursey.) Alfred had inherited the 300 acre property about 1858 from his unmarried cousin, Elizabeth Foulsham (1774-1857). She had inherited it from her unmarried half-brother, William Buckle (1765-1840) who had inherited it from his maternal grandfather, John Howse (d. 1817). Howse's forebears had owned the property since 1735. Prior owners have been recorded back to 1593. There is a locomotive at the

Bure Valley Railway The Bure Valley Railway is a minimum gauge visitors' attraction in Norfolk, England, Norfolk, England. It was created on the original disused full-gauge bed of a defunct passenger service to incorporate a new, adjacent pedestrian footpath. The ...

in Norfolk which is named after Wroxham Broad. Wroxham Regatta

In literature

The Broad features in ''

Coot Club ''Coot Club'' is the fifth book of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, published in 1934. The book sees Dick and Dorothea Callum visiting the Norfolk Broads during the Easter holidays, eager to learn to sail and ...

'' and ''

The Big Six ''The Big Six'' is the ninth book of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, published in 1940. The book returns Dick and Dorothea Callum, known as the Ds, to the Norfolk Broads where they renew their friendship with ...

'', two books by

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

set in the Norfolk Broads.

References

Norfolk Broads {{Norfolk-geo-stub