Norfolk's largest Broad
Hickling
Reedbeds, grazing marsh and wide skies meet wildlife boat trips, village history and a waterside pub at Hickling.
- Best for
- Broadland wildlife, boat trips and village history
- Give it
- A half day for the reserve or a full day with the village
- Don't miss
- The reedbeds, hides and open-water views
The Fox verdict
Hickling puts the Broad first
Come for Norfolk Wildlife Trust's 600-hectare reserve, then add an electric boat trip, medieval church detail or a meal beside the staithe.
Hickling combines a flat, open landscape of water, reedbed, grazing marsh, fen and woodland with a village visit that has real range: wildlife watching, sailing, local recreation, two pubs and an unusually detailed parish church. Nearby Stalham, Horsey and Happisburgh extend the day without displacing the Broad itself.
Where to go
Places in Hickling
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesHickling Broad and Marshes
A 600-hectare reserve of reedbed, grazing marsh, woodland and open water, with boardwalk, grass and gravel paths, raised banks, hides and viewing points.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 2 hours
- Locality
- Hickling Broad
- Access
- Only assistance dogs are allowed in the reserve and visitor centre; dogs may use the public right of way and must be on leads on other permitted paths.
The Pleasure Boat Inn
A waterside village pub serving dishes including a Swannington beef burger, handmade steak and ale pie, beer-battered haddock and sticky toffee pudding.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Hickling Staithe
- Access
- Dogs are allowed in all areas, including while dining. Free customer moorings can be used for up to 48 hours.
Hickling Barn
Five acres of playing fields with a children’s playground and organised badminton, fitness, Pilates, football, snooker and short-mat bowls.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 1 hour
- Locality
- Hickling
- Access
- Access to organised activities should be checked rather than assumed.
Walks & outdoors
3 placesNWT Hickling Broad Visitor Centre
A nature-reserve shop and refreshment point selling binoculars, books, cards, toys, games and wildlife gifts, with hot drinks and light refreshments.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Hickling Broad reserve
- Access
- Only assistance dogs are allowed in the visitor centre.
Hickling Broad Wildlife Boat Trips
Guided trips on 12-seat electric boats reach parts of the reserve inaccessible on foot, including remote hides and a 60-foot tree tower.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow 2 hours
- Locality
- Hickling Broad reserve
- Access
- Departures require an approximately 1 km/20-minute walk from the visitor centre.
Horsey Windpump
A National Trust windpump with views across Horsey Mere and a three-mile route over grazing marsh and dunes to a sandy beach with grey seals.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Horsey
- Access
- The windpump has five floors and 61 steep steps.
History & heritage
3 placesSt Mary’s Church
A mainly late-14th-century flint church with a 90-foot flushwork tower, octagonal font, medieval coffin lid and a graffiti-scored chest tomb.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Hickling
Museum of the Broads
A museum about Broadland people, boats, wildlife and landscape, with trips on an accessible electric launch and a 130-year-old steam launch.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- The Poor’s Staithe, Stalham
Happisburgh Lighthouse
A red-and-white lighthouse built in 1790, described as East Anglia’s oldest working light and Great Britain’s only independently run lighthouse.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 1 hour
- Locality
- Happisburgh
Things to do
1 placeHickling Broad Sailing Club
A club welcoming families, holidaymakers and visiting watersports enthusiasts for sailing, powerboating, paddleboarding, canoeing, training and junior racing.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 2 hours
- Locality
- Hickling Broad
- Access
- Participation or equipment access may require booking or membership.
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Three ways to explore Hickling
Signature outings
Take the electric wildlife boat
Travel aboard Swallowtail or Damselfly to remote hides and a 60-foot tree tower in parts of the reserve inaccessible on foot.
Find centuries in St Mary’s
Look for the 90-foot flushwork tower, medieval coffin lid and the graffiti and Nine Men’s Morris board cut into the chest tomb.
See Horsey Mere from the windpump
Climb the windpump’s five floors for views across Horsey Mere, or follow the three-mile route over grazing marsh and dunes towards the seal beach.
The village story
Hickling Village Guide
A waterside village shaped by Norfolk’s largest Broad, with reedbeds, boats, pubs and centuries of local history.
The Pleasure Boat at the staithe
The waterside pub sits beside Hickling Staithe, with customer moorings outside. The kitchen runs to prawn and crayfish cocktail, a Swannington beef burger, handmade steak and ale pie, Pell & Co beer-battered haddock and sticky toffee pudding, with chicken and beef roasts on Sundays. One recent visitor, Mike S, called it "rustic, rather than posh," which is about the size of it. The Norfolk Wildlife Trust owns the building and leases it to Rick and Felicity Malt, who reopened it in August 2024 after the pub had stood closed for nearly two years.
Dogs are allowed everywhere here, including at the table while you eat, and the staff will bring a bowl and a treat. The free customer moorings are good for up to 48 hours if you have arrived by water.
The village’s other stops
The village's other pub, the Greyhound, stands on The Green in the centre, a more traditional room with a log fire. It does Cromer crab in season and Sunday roasts, and it welcomes dogs and has a garden.
The old village shop has closed. There is a Post Office at the Methodist Chapel on Heath Road, and the Wildlife Trust visitor centre sells binoculars, books, cards and wildlife gifts alongside hot drinks and light refreshments.
Across the Broad
What brings most people to Hickling is the Broad, the largest of all the Broads. The reserve runs to 600 hectares of reedbed, grazing marsh, fen and woodland, laced with boardwalk and grass paths, raised banks and hides looking out over open water. This is swallowtail country, along with Norfolk hawker dragonflies, bitterns, marsh harriers and, in recent years, common cranes; reed cutting still goes on both for thatch and for the birds. Only assistance dogs are permitted on the reserve itself, so the family spaniel stays with the pub.
The Trust runs guided trips aboard two twelve-seat electric boats, Swallowtail and Damselfly, on a two-hour route into parts of the reserve you cannot reach on foot, taking in remote hides and a sixty-foot tree tower. On land, Weavers' Way heads off towards Potter Heigham, a 5.8-mile walk that crosses grazing marsh and a flood bank beside the Broad before following the River Thurne past High's Drainage Mill to the medieval bridge.
Stone, bells and storms
St Mary's church is worth a walk inland from the water. Flint with ashlar dressings, a ninety-foot tower dressed in flushwork, a fourteenth-century octagonal font, and a medieval coffin lid for a woman named Rosa, whose heart alone was buried beneath it. A chest tomb attributed to Sir William Wodehouse carries three centuries of graffiti, including a "Roundehead 1645" and a scratched Nine Men's Morris board. Its five bells are among the heaviest rings of five in the country.
Hickling has been settled a long time. An Augustinian priory was founded here in 1185, and in December 1287 a storm flood rose more than a foot above its high altar. The tower mill of 1818 climbed eight storeys, with thirteen of its upper windows built false so the real ones did not weaken the tower.
Connections and Mate Nudd
Worstead is the nearest railway station; the Sanders 34 bus calls at the Methodist Church on its way between Stalham and North Walsham. Horsey and its grey seals, the Museum of the Broads at Stalham and the red-and-white lighthouse at Happisburgh are all nearby by car.
For years a man called Alfred Nudd, known as Mate, lived blind in a hut beside the Broad and drank at the Pleasure Boat for three-quarters of a century. On his eighty-sixth birthday the regulars gave him whisky, a radio and a cake.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Hickling Broad and Marshes — norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk national body or asset manager
- NWT Hickling Broad Visitor Centre — norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk national body or asset manager
- Hickling Broad Wildlife Boat Trips — norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk national body or asset manager
- The Pleasure Boat Inn — norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk national body or asset manager
- St Mary’s Church — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Hickling Barn — hicklingbarn.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Hickling Broad Sailing Club — hicklingbroad.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Museum of the Broads — museumofthebroads.org.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Horsey Windpump — nationaltrust.org.uk national body or asset manager
- Happisburgh Lighthouse — happisburgh.org.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation