Hardley Staithe

Wind and water on the marsh

At Hardley Mill, the restored sails turn when the wind allows. Visitors can climb to the cap-level balcony for a view across the marsh, and the turbine pump inside can be demonstrated when conditions suit. The 1874 windpump opens to visitors when its sails are turning.

The mill stands on grazing marsh between the River Yare and the River Chet, which is more or less the whole character of the place: drainage dykes, reedbed, floodbanks, a shallow lagoon, and distant woodland on slightly higher ground. A Ludham millwright named Daniel England built it to drain this land. It worked until about 1950, when damage led to an electric pump taking over, and volunteers began restoring it in 1992, finishing the cap and sails in 2009.

From the staithe to the cross

Hardley Staithe itself is a mooring and a starting point. Don't expect a pub, a shop or a bakery here. What there is instead is the Wherryman's Way, the long-distance path named after the black-sailed cargo wherries that once worked these rivers. From Hardley Dyke it links the mill with the riverside cross.

That cross sits at the junction of the Yare and the Chet, marking the old boundary between the jurisdictions of Norwich and Great Yarmouth. A marker has stood there since the 1400s, and the present one has been repaired in 1820, 1884, 1899 and 1990. Six boat moorings lie nearby. You reach it by following the riverbank towards Chedgrave.

Flood, birds and medieval stone

Hardley Flood is a shallow lagoon and reedbed. Soft mud exposed at low tide attracts wading birds in spring and autumn, while the reedbeds support nationally important breeding populations of shoveler, pochard and gadwall. From behind All Saints’, Chedgrave, an access-tested path leads to Chedgrave Staithe and back in about 1.5 miles.

The Church of St Margaret stands a little inland, mainly fourteenth and fifteenth century, with twelfth-century work in the base of the round west tower. Inside there is a large medieval wall painting of St Christopher, a fifteenth-century octagonal font carved with lions and angels, box pews set around older poppyhead benches, and a chalice engraved "Hardla" that is still in use. In the churchyard, a wheel-head Celtic cross unveiled in 1920 serves as the war memorial, and near it a stone remembers Samuel Warman, Frederick James Fish and Major William Lutkin, aged twenty-two, eighteen and seventeen, who drowned in the Yare on 11 August 1914. Its closing words are "A tragic accident." The church is listed Grade I, its condition is very bad, and it sits on the Heritage at Risk register.

Food beyond Hardley Staithe

For food and supplies, head to Loddon and Chedgrave on the A146, where there are butchers, farm shops and pubs. The Loddon Swan on Church Plain, run by Andy Freeland with Jack in the kitchen, pairs seasonal Norfolk and Suffolk produce with Woodforde’s and Wolf ales and has a courtyard. The White Horse in Chedgrave prepares food fresh and changes its menu daily. Across the Yare at Reedham, reached by the chain ferry whose crossing dates to the seventeenth century or by a longer road detour, the Reedham Ferry Inn offers a Sunday roast with a choice of meats and welcomes well-behaved dogs in its bar and conservatory.

Planning the approach

The nearest railway station is Cantley on the far bank of the Yare, with two parking spaces and no connecting bus to Hardley Staithe. Minor lanes reach the staithe from south of the river, while regional buses serve Loddon and Chedgrave on the A146.