Dog-friendly Potter Heigham

Five miles in two and a half hours, entirely flat, along the Thurne to the quiet reed-fringed water of Martham Broad and back through Repps with Bastwick on lane and field edge. It starts at the free parking beside Potter Heigham old bridge and follows the river wall east; the ground is grass and can be genuinely wet underfoot from November to March, so boots rather than trainers. Dogs are fine under effective control on the public rights of way, the Broads Authority asks for leads all year near farm animals and a short lead on open access land from 1 March to 31 July, and the river banks are unfenced with a strong tidal flow.

Six and a quarter miles and three hours on the Weavers' Way, a stretch of green lane and the raised grass bank above the Hickling marshes, with reed cutters' dykes and marsh harriers most of the way. Start at the free public parking beside the old bridge at Potter Heigham, behind the chandlery, which is the recognised trailhead and rarely full outside August; the village has no other sensible parking. Norfolk Wildlife Trust allows assistance dogs only on the Hickling Broad reserve and in its visitor centre, but dogs may use the public right of way through it and must be on a lead on all the other paths, and the dykes are deep with steep sides.

A ninety-year-old boatyard on the Thurne at Potter Heigham hiring cruisers, day boats and picnic boats, plus riverside cottages and apartments. Dog-friendly boats are a stated part of the fleet and there is a pet-friendly boating holiday option. The medieval bridge just downstream is the reason so many boats stop short here.