At the heart of the bustling leisure focussed Potter Heigham is a magnificent Scheduled Ancient Monument.  The Potter Heigham bridge, still a crucial crossing, in this vibrant settlement.  This busy boating and leisure settlement contrasts with the remote wilderness of the upper Thurne area.

For much of the nineteenth century and earlier, the medieval bridge was the focus of waterborne trade with its staithes, or landing places, where grain, coal and marsh products such as reed or sedge could be loaded or unloaded. The arrival of the railway to Potter Heigham in the late 1870s brought development focused around the bridge. Enterprising individuals hired out fishing and pleasure boats and a cluster of boatsheds appeared around the bridge. The Waterman’s Arms inn was rebuilt on a much larger scale in the 1880s to form the Bridge Hotel (now lost to fire).

By the 1930s the busy scene was well established, the ambitious boatyard and marina ‘Broads Haven’ was created by Herbert Woods in 1930-1, its disguised former water tower block still dominates the local scene.  Author Arthur Ransome was an early customer. In Spring 1931 he hired small sailing cruiser Welcome. The Bridge area was later to appear as a location in Coot Club, his 1934 novel in the Swallows and Amazons series.

Stretching out to either side of the bridge are smaller boatyards and the colourful community of riverside timber Bungalows which spread in large numbers between the Wars and now form a distinctive feature of the area. Some remain privately owned while others are hired for holidays.

Now sited amongst the bungalows is High’s Mill, a former brick tower drainage windmill that was originally established as part of the Parliamentary enclosure of Potter Heigham marshes in 1806. It is named after the family that operated the site from the 1920. It’s accompanying former marsh house sits alongside, once a smallholding providing eggs and butter to yachtsmen, as well as overseeing the drainage function.

Some of the grazing marshes formerly drained by the mill  have recently been converted to reed beds, connecting with the landscape of Hickling Broad and Marshes, a National Nature Reserve with its reed beds, carr woodland and abundant wildlife.

The River Thurne connects to Hickling Broad via Candle or Kendal Dyke, a remote spot with one well preserved early timber bungalow and an eel catcher’s hut, occupying an ancient site although currently disused. The upper Thurne area remains a fisherman’s and naturalist’s paradise.