Wroxham Area Guide

Wroxham and Hoveton St. John are two connected villages, split by the River Bure. Most of the village facilities are actually in Hoveton, but are generally known as Wroxham - the capital of the Norfolk Broads.

Amenities

Boats of all kinds are for hire and there are also an abundance of hotels, pubs, restaurants, shops and a large department store. Most of the shopping is dominated around the Roys brand, which was founded in 1895 when brothers Alfred and Arnold Roy opened their first general store at Coltishall. In 1899, a second store was opened 3 miles away at Wroxham to meet the needs of the holiday makers visiting the Norfolk Broads. During the early years of the 20th century, the business expanded due to the increasing volumes of holiday traffic, and this helped Roy’s to win it’s accolade in a widely publicised competition as The World’s Largest Village Store– a title that has yet to receive serious challenge!! Roys is split into a number of stores including Roys Department Store, Roys Supermarket, Roys Garden Centre, Roys DIY and Roys Toy Shop. But there are plenty of other shops in Wroxham - including a small precinct, a Jewellery store, Gift shops, Newsagents, Butchers and one of the largest Boating Chandlery in the region. Wroxham contains many visitor attractions including a riverside park, Miniature Worlds indoor model museum, the Bure Valley steam railway and nearby Hoveton Hall gardens and Wroxham Barns working craft centre. A little way out of the village centre is Wroxham Broad, home to the Norfolk Broads Yacht Club. Large free car-parks can be found behind Roys department store. Hoveton Riverside Park is a great place to walk your dog, whilst kids can enjoy feeding the ducks at Granary Staithe or the Riverside Park. There is an ice-cream shop in the centre of Hoveton (near the bridge). The older part of the bridge dates back to 1619 and is a semi-circular road bridge with only an average high water headroom of 7 ft 3 in; making it one of the most difficult bridges to navigate on the Norfolk Broads; a bridge pilot is available for nervous skippers. A modern pedestrian bridge stands adjacent to the old bridge and gives walkers good views over the river. Even though the bridge technically divides Hoveton from Wroxham, they are collectively known as simply Wroxham. To help you remember which part is which, they do have their own village signs.

Food and drink

Wroxham offers plenty of places to eat and drink. There is a hotel, located near the bridge (Hotel Wroxham) that has a riverside bar and restaurant. Opposite is the Wherryman's restaurant, cafe and bar. Both offer good views of the river. Situated on the other side of the bridge is Wroxham's only pub - the Kings Head. This pub has a fabulous riverside beer garden and inside they have a restaurant, plus a bar screening live football. Also located near the bridge is 'The Bridge American Restaurant' or 'Liberty'. This fabulous structure, again overlooks the river and the family run American themed restaurant serving an all day menu (dogs allowed). Scattered around Wroxham are numerous cafe's and worthy of mention are the riverside 'Old Mill' Restaurant and Cafe Bar, plus Number 14 Cafe in the main street. There are also numerous take-away food outlets including Fish & Chips, Pizza, Kebab, Indian and Chinese.

Accessibility

Wroxham is one end of the Bure Valley Railway. Opened in 1990, the Bure Valley Railway offers an 18 mile round trip through picturesque countryside which is as varied, interesting and beautiful as any to be found on a railway journey in England. Norfolk's longest fifteen inch gauge line runs between the ancient market town of Aylsham and Wroxham. There are also intermediate stations at Brampton, Buxton and Coltishall. Visitors can walk or cycle the along the side of the entire line to Aylsham. For those wishing to travel by train, the line runs regular steam and diesel train services.

Schools

Local schools include St Johns Community Primary School and Broadland High Ormiston Academy.