Last week I shared how we spent a night in Cambridge before heading off to the Norfolk Broads. So, we are going to pick up where we left off and start with Day 1 on the Broads.
This year was my third year on the Broads, it’s kind of become an annual thing to get away with my parents on a boat. I just find it so relaxing! It was also Marysia’s first time coming with us.
I had hired a separate boat for Marysia and I fromRichardson’s which is predominantly aimed at families called The Jollie Richie.I mean I was the one to book it and I am basically an adult child so what doyou expect! My parents had their own boat which was a little less obvious whentravelling through the Broads.
We left the hotel we stayed at in Cambridge to meet up withmy parents as we had arranged to follow them to the marina in Stalham. Thejourney didn’t take too long and we even had time for a little pitstop forlunch before we arrived at Richardson’s Marina in Stalham. We arrived a fewhours earlier than our boats were due to be ready, luckily when we went tospeak to the people in the reception area our boats were already ready for us.
We went and collected our buoyancy aids and paperwork we went around to our boat. Now I knew from the photos on the website and the glimpse I caught of The Jollie Richie on the Broads previously that it stuck out but I don’t think Marysia was quite prepared for how ‘out there’ it was! We were given a little tour of the boat and explanations of how everything worked by one of the guys from Richardson’s. They then took us out for a little drive down the river so I could learn how to control the boat and do the basic manoeuvres we were going to be doing throughout the week.
Once we got back to the marina Marysia and I jumped into my parent’scar and went to Tesco’s to pick up a little bit of shopping for the week ahead.I think we may have gone a little bit overboard as by the end of the week wehad barely touched half of the snacks we had!
Once we got back to the Marina we got on to our boats and set off. As this was the first time I was ‘captain’ it was a little bit scary trying to navigate out of the marina, stay on the right side of the river, stay at the right speed and keep my parents in sight. I have never been very good at juggling! I managed to get settled into it and enjoy taking in the scenery as we plodded along down the river. Over the past few years we have stopped at How Hill for our first night and it made sense for us to stop there this time around as it was a little way down the river and then we could get off the boat and explore a little bit.
Mooring up for our first night was a little bit tricky, but we managed it! Once we got off the boat Marysia and I headed towards the How Hill estate which was the family home of Christopher Boardman who won gold in Sailing during the 1936 Summer Olympics. Following this he was presented with an oak sapling which he planted at How Hill this was later killed by honey fungus. In 2017 the stump was then carved into a sailing boat ad Olympic rings.
We also had a little walk through the Secret Gardens. I had never been to this part of the grounds before and was a little bit taken a back with how pretty it was.
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Once we finished our walk around the estate Marysia and I went and had a drink with my parents to complete the first day of our holiday!
Stacey Lipowski 
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