Ranworth Broad

Ranworth Broad
The broad from the NWT visitor center in April 2011
Location	The Broads, Norfolk
Coordinates	52°41′6″N 1°28′53″E / 52.68500°N 1.48139°E / 52.68500; 1.48139Coordinates: 52°41′6″N 1°28′53″E / 52.68500°N 1.48139°E / 52.68500; 1.48139
Lake type	broad
Basin countries	United Kingdom

Ranworth Broad is an expanse of water lying in the valley of the River Bure in Norfolk, England. Like other broads, it is believed to have been formed by the flooding of mediaeval peat workings. Joined to neighbouring Malthouse Broad by a narrow channel,^[1] it is one of the nature reserves in the care of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.^[2]

The reserve consists of three hectares of open water, wet grassland, alder carr (wet woodland) and scrub; it has a floating visitor centre, a boardwalk and a bird observation hide. The broad is a short distance from the village of Ranworth and is overlooked by the tower of the parish church of St. Helen. A traditional reed lighter (a vessel used to transport reeds, harvested for use as thatch) called the 'Helen' now ferries visitors between Ranworth Broad and Malthouse Broad.

The poet and critic Edward Thomas spent a holiday on a houseboat on Ranworth Broad with his son and a group of friends in the summer of 1913 at the invitation of the poet and writer Eleanor Farjeon, while Thomas's wife Helen was in Switzerland.^[3]

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