Victorian visitors to the Broads National Park would have seen over 300 boats skimming the shallow waters, with sails black as raven wings. Nicknamed ‘black sailed traders’ they sound like pirate ships but were traditional working vessels, specially designed for transporting cargo around the heartland of the Broads before roads took the trade away. Experience the wherries’ heyday by chartering the ‘Albion’ with a skipper and mate, named by BBC Countryfile Magazine as one of the Top 10 Boat Trips in the UK.

In past summers, Edwardian skippers scrubbed out the boats’ pungent holds to make a few bob taking genteel tourists on pleasure trips. However, as the sails were black due to being weatherproofed with tar and fish oil it wouldn’t be surprising if smelling salts were occasionally required!

The sails were vast enough to catch the wind in most conditions, but when breezes didn’t suit the wherryman had to walk his boat along using a long quant pole for pushing off the river bed or bank. Losing your grip was poor form. No-one wanted to leave a ‘stick in the mud’.

The small Broadland village of Reedham was a centre for wherry building. The ‘Maud’, launched in 1899, is the last remaining wherry built by the renowned Halls Yard. Together with the ‘Albion’ they’re the only two commercial wherries left. Reedham also showcases two unique river crossing points; the country’s last working railway swing bridges and for cars crossing the Yare, Norfolk’s only operating chain ferry.