Life beside the River Bure
Stokesby
A compact settlement gathered around a green and staithe, with a riverside inn, grazing-marsh walks and a thatched medieval church.
- Best for
- River views, marsh walking and village history
- Give it
- Three to four hours for the circular walk
- Don't miss
- The medieval carved benches in St Andrew's
The Fox verdict
A small Bure-side village with several stories to follow
Stokesby brings a riverside green, historic staithe, country inn, marsh circuit and medieval church into one compact settlement.
Start by the Bure for the green, staithe and Ferry Inn, then choose between the waymarked grazing-marsh circuit and the signed footpath to St Andrew's. The attached village shop and neighbouring Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens add two further, distinct stops.
Where to go
Places in Stokesby
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesSt Andrew's Church
A Grade II* thatched church with a 13th-century west tower, six medieval pierced-back benches and chancel-floor brasses including one dated 1488.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 45 minutes
- Locality
- just beyond the main village
- Access
- From the village on the Runham road, a signed path on the left leads through the churchyard.
Stokesby Staithe
The village landing place recalls the pre-road transport economy, when black-sailed wherries unloaded reeds, timber and other goods here.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 25 minutes
- Locality
- on the north bank of the River Bure
Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens
A family wildlife park in 250-year-old landscaped gardens, with snow leopards, red pandas, tigers, crocodiles, gibbons, elevated treetop walkways and an adventure play area.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 2 hours
- Locality
- in neighbouring Thrigby
Food & drink
2 placesThe Ferry Inn
A traditional Broadland inn with wooden settles, beams, coal fires, a south-facing riverside garden and moorings; its menu spans fish and chips, vegetarian dishes and Sunday roast.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 90 minutes
- Locality
- on the River Bure
- Access
- Dogs are welcome, and children's and vegetarian options are listed.
Stokesby Village Shop
A small store created after the standalone village shop closed, selling essentials, homemade cakes and locally sourced food to residents and people arriving by boat.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 20 minutes
- Locality
- attached to the Ferry Inn
Walks & outdoors
1 placeStokesby and Bure Valley Circular Walk
A 4.25-mile waymarked circuit through traditional farmland, grazing marshes and drained dykes, with cattle, seasonal dragonflies and damselflies, and old wind pumps along the route.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow 3–4 hours
- Locality
- starts at the riverside car park
- Access
- Dogs should be kept on leads around livestock.
Things to do
1 placeStokesby Village Green
A waterside village green with swings and slides, opening onto views across grazing marshes, drainage dykes and the low Broads landscape.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 35 minutes
- Locality
- by the water
- Access
- Free riverside parking is nearby, with limited free public moorings beside the car park and further charged moorings beyond the Ferry Inn.
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Three ways to explore Stokesby
Signature outings
The Ferry Inn
Take in the River Bure from a traditional inn with wooden settles, beams, a south-facing garden and its own moorings.
St Andrew's carvings
Inside the thatched church, six medieval pierced-back benches carry poppyheads, carved animals and a kneeling woman at prayer.
The riverside green
The green pairs swings and slides with open views across grazing marshes, drainage dykes and the low Broads landscape.
The village story
Stokesby Village Guide
Inn, marsh, church and staithe stories from a compact settlement on the River Bure.
The Ferry Inn by the Bure
The slipway beside the Ferry Inn is still there, the remains of a crossing that was once the only way over the River Bure to Acle. The pub stands on its site now, with wooden settles and beams inside, coal fires in winter, and a south-facing garden that runs down to its own moorings. It can feel isolated by road, but it sits on a busy route for Broads cruisers.
The menu is broader than the setting suggests. There is fish and chips with mushy peas, a chunky homemade fish-finger sandwich, sweet-chilli calamari, creamy garlic-and-Stilton mushrooms on toast, shell-on king prawns in garlic and chilli, Cajun chicken Alfredo, a red Thai vegetable curry, a vegan three-bean chilli, loaded fries, and a traditional Sunday roast. There is a children's section, and an area for them inside. Adnams Ghost Ship is the regular cask beer, with two others changing through the year, and dogs are welcome.
Shop, green and open marshes
In 2020, after the village's standalone shop had closed, then-licensee Alison Brewster turned an unused poolroom at the inn into a small store. It sells essentials, homemade cakes and locally sourced food, serving people arriving by boat as well as residents.
The green sits by the water with swings and a slide, free riverside parking, and a handful of free moorings by the car park. Stokesby is a compact settlement of cottages gathered around this green and its staithe on the north bank, and from the waterfront the view opens across grazing marshes and drainage dykes into the flat, wide Broads.
Walking to St Andrew's
A waymarked circular walk of about four and a quarter miles starts at the car park, a hundred metres from the pub. It crosses grazing marshes where cattle graze and dragonflies and damselflies work the dykes in season, passing old wind pumps that once drained the land and now stand retired in favour of electric ones. Keep dogs on leads around the livestock. A riverside path below the pub runs the other way towards Great Yarmouth, past a derelict mill, with St Andrew's visible back across the fields.
The church stands just beyond the village, reached by a signed footpath off the Runham road that leads through the churchyard. Its west tower is 13th century and the roof is thatched. Inside are six medieval benches with poppyheads carved into animals and a kneeling woman at prayer, and brasses set in the chancel floor for Edmund Clere and his wife Elizabeth, dated 1488. During the restoration of 1856 to 1858, workmen uncovered ancient wall paintings and then accidentally destroyed them.
Staithe, Domesday and mill
The staithe is a reminder of how the village worked before roads, when black-sailed wherries unloaded reeds and timber here. It was a substantial place long before that. Domesday recorded fifty-eight households, putting Stokesby among the largest fifth of English settlements, along with three salthouses and a hundred and eighty sheep. The surveyors valued it at £10 17s 2d, nearly double what it had been worth twenty years earlier.
Trett's Mill, a four-storey brick corn tower of 1826, still stands with its machinery inside. Its weatherboarded, corrugated-iron cap resembles a Nissen hut.
Connections and community
Acle, the nearest station, is a couple of miles off on the Wherry Line between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. A pre-book bus, the 72A, runs to Acle on weekdays if you arrange it the day before. Great Yarmouth is nine miles away, and nearer still, Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens keeps snow leopards, red pandas and tigers among landscaped gardens two and a half centuries old.
The village hall was the school until 1978, when it closed with fifteen pupils on the roll. More than a thousand children had passed through it across the century it taught, and when it shut the villagers bought the building rather than lose it.
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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.
- The Ferry Inn — stokesby.org.uk other published source
- Stokesby Village Shop — stokesby.org.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- St Andrew's Church — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Stokesby and Bure Valley Circular Walk — broadsnet.co.uk other published source
- Stokesby Village Green — stokesby.org.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Stokesby Staithe — stokesby.org.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens — thrigbyhall.com operator, sector body or destination organisation