The second-largest of the Norfolk Broads, a wide sheet of open water on the River Ant
Barton Broad is the second largest of the Norfolk Broads, a broad expanse of shallow open water on the River Ant north of Wroxham. Like all the broads it is not a natural lake but the flooded remains of medieval peat diggings, worked out and drowned centuries ago; the Ant flows in at one end and out at the other, so it lies directly on the navigable network of the Broads.
It is best known as the water on which Horatio Nelson is said to have learned to sail as a boy, and it remains a popular sailing broad, wide enough for dinghies and cruisers to work across the wind. By the late 20th century it had become badly silted and choked with algae, and between the mid-1990s and 2000 the Broads Authority ran a large restoration, Clear Water 2000, dredging out the accumulated mud to bring back clear water and open sailing.
The broad is a National Nature Reserve, part of the Ant Broads and Marshes, and is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. A boardwalk nature trail runs out from the hamlet of Barton Turf on the western shore, through wet woodland to a viewpoint over the water, and is free to walk; boat trips also cross the broad in season. It can be reached by boat from Wroxham and Stalham, or on foot from the surrounding lanes.
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