Hickling Broad (credit: Jimmy King)
Wilder Hickling: A haven for nature, heritage and people
With its wide open skies, reedbeds, woodland and unspoilt landscape, Hickling Broad and Marshes lies at the heart of the Broads National Park.
We have ambitions for a future in which Hickling’s habitats are protected, wildlife is thriving, and people are learning, exploring and enjoying the many benefits of being in nature.
Our plans focus on creating new spaces for wildlife and offering new ways for people to connect with the Broads and its evocative landscape. We aim to help protect and celebrate Hickling's natural heritage whilst supporting a sustainable future for our communities.
Our vision is critical in delivering our mission to create more space for nature to thrive and to inspire more people to act for nature. It is being shaped with the help of local experts, landscape architects, specialist ecological advice and in consultation with visitors and residents.
The Hickling Vision will focus on four key areas:
- Ecological resilience: we will safeguard the habitats of the Broad and surrounding area to enable wildlife and people in the Upper Thurne area to thrive, including being better able to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
- Social impact: we will improve access to Hickling Broad and Marshes, helping a wider diversity of people to enjoy, understand and support the area’s special wildlife and wild spaces.
- Economic sustainability: we will help people better recognise how nature thriving in the Broads supports local livelihoods. The Trust will work to sustain these benefits and develop new ways to contribute to the local economy.
- Heritage enhancement: we will develop new and meaningful ways to bring Hickling Broad and Marshes’ amazing natural and social heritage to life for visitors.
David Tipling
Phase 1: Development and delivery until 2031
Enabling access, supporting visitors to enjoy the area’s unique natural and social heritage and helping the area’s wildlife and people adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Future phases: planning and delivery until 2040
Over the following years, further phases of work will bring our Wilder Hickling: A haven for nature, heritage and people vision to life. We will continue to help the wildlife and habitats of the Broad and marshes to thrive and create new ways for visitors and the local community to connect with, be inspired by and support Norfolk’s wildlife and wild spaces.
Frequently asked questions
What led to the creation of a new vision for Hickling Broad and Marshes?
A national public appeal in 2017 allowed Norfolk Wildlife Trust to purchase Hickling Broad and Marshes in its entirety. As the principal landowner for the nature reserve, NWT embarked on designing a vision for the site. Like so many projects, work was put on hold during the pandemic only to resume in 2023 when NWT purchased a plot of land at Hickling staithe, which included the Pleasure Boat Inn pub, adjacent buildings and a large car park, together with associated moorings.
Following the renovation and re-opening of the pub in 2024, NWT updated the vision for Hickling, created with the help of consultant landscape architects and specialist ecological advice.
How will you balance the needs of people and wildlife?
In implementing our vision for Hickling, we recognise the challenge of balancing the desire to improve accessibility and to enable more people to engage with nature and wildlife in the area, whilst also protecting the valued feeling of wildness and the unspoilt nature of the Broad and marshes.
Maintaining this balance is at the heart of this project. We will be guided by commitments which safeguard the landscape character of the area, ensuring building work is in keeping with the local area, ensure biodiversity considerations are fully incorporated with no loss of biodiversity value, and apply the principles of sustainable development.
The Pleasure Boat Inn from above (credit: Shaun Whitmore)
The Pleasure Boat pub
Norfolk Wildlife Trust purchased the Pleasure Boat pub and surrounding land in 2023, helping to create new ways to introduce people to the nature, landscape and wildlife of Hickling.