How Hill
Ludham NR29 5PG
Just north of the village of Ludham, the impressive Arts and Crafts-style mansion of How Hill is home to the How Hill Trust, which runs residential art and wildlife courses pertaining to Broadland and also oversees the extensive gardens and grounds beyond, which you can explore on various marked paths, including a new one around Buttle Marsh, which is being conserved to attract very shy (and very rare) bitterns. It’s also home to Toad Hole Cottage, a marshman’s cottage near the river that was beautifully and authentically restored in the 1908s in the style of the marshfolk who occupied it until the turn of the century, with tools for reed-cutting, eel-catching and rabbit-foraging – the picture on the living room wall is of the last person to occupy the house, who lived here until his death in 1910. Toad Hole Cottage also has a shop and a Broads Authority visitor centre that sells tickets for trips on board the nearby Electric Eel, maybe the best of the Broads Authority-run boat trips you can take, cutting silently through narrow channels fringed by high reeds. On the far side of the river you get out to walk (or sometimes wade) to nearby Reedham Water, where you can spot birds from a hide, and the guide provides binoculars and lots of background on the wildlife and unique vegetation you can see.
