The number of birds, also attracted birders, who in 1954 built Bradford Bird Observatory next to the cottage and the marshes are now a national nature reserve.

Even without Walter, they are in danger from the peregrine and merlin that feast off this land. There can be up to 20,000 waders here and you also get a multitude of reed bunting, meadow pipit, yellow wagtail and linnets, no relation apparently 😉 The waders fly in with the tide and make a huge din as they rise up off the marsh. This peaceful spot seems to be a paradise for birds, as long as you don’t have Walter gunning you down for his tea. Many of us now have a less harmonious relationship to nature but there’s still one island in Scotland where seabirds are taken every year for food by the locals. This is living off and in harmony with the land. He also collected cockles, picked marsh samphire and did the odd job guiding other wildfowlers. Much of Walter’s bag was sold in Leadenhall Market in the City of London. Often this was done by laying low in a broad flat-bottomed boat, called a punt. He also fathered eight children in this two and a half room home! Wildfowling is the capturing of geese, ducks and other waterfowl for eating. From 1871 those labourers were the Linnett family and from his birth in 1878 to his death in 1958 Walter Linnett, King of the Wildfowlers. This was back in the day when accommodation was provided and farms had more workers. The navy left in 1815 and turned the hut back to the owner of the surrounding flatlands who used it to house farm labourers. Each combination denoted a number that corresponded to a phrase in a signal book. The hut chain stretched from the Thames to Great Yarmouth and communicated using flags, pendants and coloured canvas balls, all mounted on a flagpole. The huts were put together like your Ikea flatpack wardrobe but this last remaining example is now Grade II listed so hopefully it will last a bit longer. It was lived in by a lieutenant, a midshipman and two ordinary seamen. The hut itself was built in 1798, as part of a coastal chain of 20, protecting the UK from a French invasion that never came. This is lonely country where the wind rattles your bones but these places get a hold of some people and they keep returning. There’s one of the oldest churches in the UK, built in 654AD and the massive brooding bulk of Bradwell Nuclear Power Station completed in 1962.

Please call if you'd like further advice.Up on the Dengie Marshes by the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, there’s a small wooden hut, nestling in a copse of elm trees. There are good rail services to Kings Lynn, Norwich and Sheringham but onward connections by bus and taxi are less convenient. Typical journey time from London or the Midlands is around 3 hours, depending on the traffic. please turn into the drive and park in front of the house. Holly Lodge's gated entrance is shortly on your left just after the village green with its sign and phonebox. You will pass the car park for the Thursford Collection on your right. Take the second turning on the left, sign-posted Thursford Green and Thursford Collection, into the village. After about five miles, you will pass a junction on your right signposted B1354 Melton Constable stay on the A148 and take the next left just before the Crawfish public house. Once at the Hillside roundabout on the outskirts of Fakenham, take the A148 sign-posted Cromer. At the Mildenhall roundabout, take the A1065 sign-posted Swaffham and follow this to Fakenham.įrom the North or Midlands, take the A47 or A17 to Kings Lynn, follow the A149 coast road briefly at Lynn then turn right onto the A148 at the Knights Hill roundabout, signposted Fakenham and Cromer. From London and the South, take the M11 to junction 9, then turn onto the A11/A14, sign-posted to Newmarket and and Norwich.

Phonebox hut