Green Boat Show is festival finale

Salhouse Broad will become a mecca for green boating on Sunday (May 19th) when some of the Broads’ most historic sailing boats take to the water alongside silent electric and man-powered boats to bring the two week Broads Outdoors Festival to a grand finale.                                                                                          

The Broads Green Boat and Tourism Show will feature more than 30 exhibitors  showcasing how you can have fun on  the water without damaging the environment  and promoting how they are making an effort to ‘green up’.

Visitors can arrive in style aboard an electric powered water taxi from Granary Staithe in Hoveton for £8 return including the entrance fee. They then have the chance to get out on the broad in a variety of eco friendly boats for free.

They can try their hand at canoeing, enjoy a skippered sail aboard a 1930’s heritage yacht, step aboard a 101 year old wherry or take a trip in an electric boat. They can even sail into Salhouse Broad aboard the wherry Norada from How Hill on Saturday for £25, and sail back to Wherry Yacht  Charter’s base at Wroxham  after the show on Sunday for £15.

The Broads Authority’s Edwardian style electric launch ‘Liana’, which runs from Hoveton during the summer, will be giving free trips round Salhouse Broad. While on board visitors will be able to view the Authority’s innovative work to re-build a lost reed bed and strengthen a spit of land popular for mooring by re-using dredged sediment.  The work has been short-listed for the innovation category of the Water Renaissance Awards. Visit the Broads Authority’s gazebo to find out more from the project manager, William Coulet.

There will be plenty to keep the younger members of the family occupied.
They will have the chance to visit an Alien Spaceship and win prizes by hunting down the ‘killer shrimp’, which has invaded the Broads. They can also follow a treasure trail to identify alien invaders and create their own alien from clay and other natural materials.

Meanwhile the Broads Authority’s Wetland Biosecurity Officer, Will Burchnall, will be explaining to people how to stop the spread of invasive species with the Check, Clean, Dry campaign.

Children will love to pat the Burnt Fen Alpacas and watch the Nutmeg Puppet Show, “Windy Old Weather”, with its own eco-friendly message. Salhouse school pupils will also be presenting an exhibition on what being green means to them.

The Little Blue Boat, star of an enchanting new children’s book about the Broads, will feature at the show where author Phil Johnson will be signing copies of his book “The Little Blue Boat and the Secret of the Broads!” which is packed with green, safety messages. Norfolk Broads Concert Band will be entertaining at set times.

Trips from How Hill and back to Wroxham on the Wherry Norada can be booked on 01692 630674

Green Boat Show exhibitors include the Electric Boat Association, Norfolk Broads Direct, showing how it has achieved the Green Boat Mark for all its hire fleet, Ecover cleaning products, a smoothie bike, local potter Pat Southwood, Dereham & District RNLI, Broadland Cycle Hire, Wherry Yacht Charter CharitableTrust, Hunter Fleet, RSPB, The North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust, The Broads Canoe Hire Association, Free Spirit Canoe Tours, Fairhaven Woodland and Water Gardens, Broadland District Council’s energy van, Green Home Energy Solutions, Broads Spirituality, Starfish Installations, several boat builders and Hoseasons.

Hot food, drinks, beer from a local micro brewery and home-made cakes will be available throughout the day.  The show is open from 10.00am to 4.00pm. Entrance is £1.50 per person if arriving on foot, by bike or public transport or £7.00 per car. Under 12s are free.

Moorings will be £7 for the day to include entrance to the show.

The postcode for Salhouse Broad is NR13 6RX. For more information visit www.greenboatandtourismshow.co.uk