The Norfolk Broads, it's not all about boats.

We have just come back from an extended family holiday on the Norfolk Broads.

Here are some of my family, the ones who love sailing,

including the teenagers in their own tiny dinghy (on the right).

You sail, sleep & eat on those boats,

a bit like caravanning on water.

To ensure we had enough crew for three yatchs and a dinghy,

combined with my slightly irrational fear of sailing,

we hired a cruiser.

A beautiful vintage wooden 1950s cruiser.

I don't love sailing (too much leaning) but I do love museums.

So we had to,

we went,

to the Museum of the Broads.

 I really did try and get a thing for the boats.

As impressive as they are

they are just not my thing,

either in water or on dry land.

Boats might not be my thing

but I do love textiles and a bit of 'crafts'.

 And as I discovered there's a lot more to the Norfolk Broads.

Many traditional crafts.

Such as Rushwork

It is beautiful.

East Anglia's oldest recorded industry dating back to Anglo Saxon times.

This was all made by Dorothy Baker.

To help preserve the art of rushwork,

Dorothy Baker travelled around Norfolk in the late 1930s

demonstating how to work with rushes.

It requires working with 3ply or 9ply braids, using a sail makers needle.

Not for delicate hands. 

Dorothy Baker was obviously very proficient.

The Women's Institute awarded her an A grade,

95 out of 100,

in July 1938.

More crafts,

(of a sort)

Knots.

Knots with names,

shapes,

patterns,

for different uses.

You could have a go for yourself.

As someone not impartial to working with yarn,

I did.

Knotting is a skill.

Up high in one of the old boat sheds,

I spotted these cross-stitch pictures.

Intrigued,

I asked a volunteer about them.

"They're done by one of our old boys,

he's had both hips replaced."

said a volunteer who had just turned eighty the Saturday before.

The beautiful craftsmanship of an eighty-four year old.

Shame he can't join the Women's Institute,

he deserves a certificate for proficiency in 'Home Crafts'.

As for me,

I did manage a spot of sailing

in a very gentle wind,

then straight back to the crochet and rum.

Here's our cruiser, Judith 5

with a nephew,

moored at Horsey.

 And just prove I was really there...

That's me driving!

Visit Museum of the Broads

Stalham Staithe, Norfolk.

Details on their website.

I might not have taken to sailing

but the Broads have surely captured my heart.