Fritton

The Bell and the Former Decoy Tavern

At St Olaves, where the A143 crosses the River Waveney, the Bell Inn keeps its own moorings on the water and a garden that runs down to the river. It is a listed inn, timber-framed in its oldest part, with a close-studded jettied upper floor; it markets itself as Broadland's oldest recorded inn, though the building as it stands is late-16th-century. Inside there are four real ales, Adnams Southwold Bitter among the regulars, and a kitchen that has recently listed everything from a buttermilk chicken burger and beer-battered catch of the day to steak-and-ale pie, ham, egg and chips, and a Sunday roast — check the current menu before you go. Well-behaved dogs are welcome on leads, in and out.

The village once had a second pub, the Decoy Tavern, which gave its name to the bus stop that still carries it. The pub closed and the site has planning approval for new houses; in wartime it was heavily used by soldiers from the camp up the road.

Independent Food and the Angles Way

Food otherwise comes from small independent operations. Flour & Bean, an outpost of a family Norfolk bakery at Cherry Lane Garden Centre on Beccles Road, bakes its own breads, cakes and hot savouries daily and pours locally roasted coffee. Priory Farm in St Olaves has a restaurant doing a Sunday carvery and a Saturday breakfast club, with cider-braised belly pork and beer-battered haddock with hand-cut chips; a wood-fired pizza business works the same field from a converted horse box, beside rescued horses, when the season allows.

The Angles Way is the walking backbone. One 4.5-mile stretch runs in from Burgh Castle Roman Fort, whose late-Roman walls still stand close to full height above Breydon Water, and another 4.5 miles carries on to Somerleyton and its yew maze. Off New Road a bridleway opens onto reed ronds and a wide, flat prospect across the Yare and Waveney towards Reedham. Footpath 6 gives the shorter reward: St Edmund's church seen against its woodland.

Painted Walls at St Edmund's

The church repays the walk. Its round west tower and thatched roof stand over 12th-century wall paintings in the sanctuary — animals and figures in Norman pigment, with a 14th-century St Christopher and St John the Baptist added later, and one scene read as the martyrdom of St Edmund, Danish archers and the wolf from the legend included. There is a mid-14th-century chancel screen and an early-17th-century triple-decker pulpit. A recorded 19th-century account says the space above the chancel was used twice, in 1838 and 1848, to hide smuggled rum.

Peat, Water and Secret Tank Trials

The lake beside it began as a hole in the ground. Medieval peat-cutters worked so hard that the manorial accounts for 1317–18 put 67% of the estate's income down to peat and record about 1.2 million sods dug. The workings flooded to make Fritton Lake, and in April 1943 the lake was requisitioned to trial Duplex Drive tanks in secret before D-Day: more than 2,000 British, Canadian and American troops trained here between 1943 and 1945 on Duplex Drive tanks, Valentine and Sherman models, that floated on a canvas screen and drove through the water on rear propellers. The lake's pool, zipwire and paddleboarding today belong to members, cabin owners and holiday guests rather than day visitors.

Rescued Horses at Caldecott

For an afternoon that asks nothing, cross the A143 to Redwings Caldecott, where nearly a hundred rescued horses, ponies and donkeys are kept. Entry is free, dogs come on leads, and Oliver's Café is on site. Sampson the Shetland, Esther the donkey and Fox the Shire will be somewhere in the fields.