The narrowest of the Broads rivers, winding down from Dilham through Barton Broad to join the Bure
The Ant is the narrowest of the navigable rivers of the Norfolk Broads, a tributary of the River Bure that it joins near St Benet’s Abbey. It rises at Antingham in the north of the county and is boatable from Dilham down to the Bure, threading through reed and wet woodland for much of its short length in Norfolk.
Its centrepiece is Barton Broad, the second-largest of the Broads and the water where Nelson is said to have learned to sail as a boy. Above the broad the river reaches the staithes at Stalham and Sutton and, at Wayford Bridge, the start of the North Walsham & Dilham Canal; below it, the Ant passes the marshes and windmills of How Hill, one of the best-kept corners of the Broads, before the low arch of Ludham Bridge and the run down to its mouth.
The river is shallow and tight, with a 4mph limit and bridges that keep the larger cruisers out, so it carries smaller boats and is a favourite with canoeists. The North Walsham & Dilham Canal, opened in 1826 above Dilham, was the only true canal built in the Broads; it is being restored in stages and is open to unpowered craft only. The boatyards at Wroxham and Horning, on the Bure, are the nearest bases for reaching the Ant by hire boat.
