How Hill moorings open for the season
Smart new moorings incorporating safety features at picturesque How Hill on the River Ant open on schedule for the start of the new season on Saturday 1 April.
The 300 m moorings feature a raised, easy access footpath, 100 new mooring posts and safety ladders installed at 50 m intervals.
The moorings have been raised to prevent flooding, repiled in steel and bordered by two strips of wood fendering to soften the impact when mooring boats.
The steel piling has been undertaken by BESL (Broadland Environmental Services Ltd) as part of the Environment Agency’s flood defence work throughout the Broads.
Additionally, the staithe area around Toad Hole Cottage museum will soon be accessible to people in wheelchairs. The Broads Authority’s projects team and Edmund Nuttall have repiled the staithe quay-heading and dredged out a mooring reserved for day boats designed for people with disabilities. They are also regrading slopes, surfacing pathways to Toad Hole Cottage, and building a new bridge across the dyke in front of the cottage, using a contribution provided by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). Part of the area has been turfed and benches provided.
Broads Authority Waterways Manager Trudi Wakelin said: “The new moorings will provide a greatly enhanced amenity at this popular beauty spot. How Hill is one of the most well used areas of the Broads and the moorings give access to important land-based activities for boaters such as the How Hill Nature Reserve, Toad Hole Cottage museum and information centre, and Buttle Marsh, a reed-bed developed for bitterns. It is also an attractive spot for ramblers to visit the river and watch passing boats.”
31/03/2006
