A brighter Berney Arms

Thursday 10th August 2023

I last did the Wherryman Way walk between Great Yarmouth and Berney Arms in 2020 and with a lovely sunny day forecast a few weeks back decided to do a repeat visit, this time with my brother Jonathan.

It’s a five mile walk along the banks of the River Yare and whereas Berney Arms sees five departures in both directions on Sundays giving many options for walk timings, the weekday and Saturday timetable only offers two (08:01 and 12:02 to Great Yarmouth and 15:24 and 17:54 to Norwich).

Leaving Liverpool Street on the 09:30 you’re scheduled to arrive into Norwich at 11:22 which conveniently connects with the 11:35 Norwich to Great Yarmouth train which, although it stops at Berney Arms (12:02) and you could walk to Great Yarmouth, I find it’s best to travel through to Great Yarmouth arriving at 12:11 for the walk back to Berney Arms and catch the 15:24 train from there to Norwich. It allows a very comfortable three hours plus for the walk and lunch break and worked perfectly back in September 2020.

But it didn’t this time. Unfortunately the train from Liverpool Street got delayed due to moving at a snail’s pace through a section of suspect track near Diss so we missed the connection in Norwich and had to catch the following train to Great Yarmouth at 12:34, arriving 13:06.

This still gave two hours and 18 minutes for the five mile walk which is fine, although doesn’t allow for too many breaks to enjoy the serenity and silence and I also noticed a lot of the walk for the first mile or so had become overgrown and was quite heavy going.

The longer interlude in Norwich enabled us to go for a walk along the River Wensum in the city centre until the next departure to Great Yarmouth was due to leave.

Three years on, Great Yarmouth station is still displaying the rather nice sand montage of a Class 755 train – but I’m not sure “It’s happening” has the newsworthy ring to it it had when the trains were first introduced – lovely trains though they are.

As we headed off to the start of the walk around the back of Asda, it was noticeable how the station is looking rather dilapidated with the salt brought in from the sea doing its stuff no doubt.

The first part of the walk is along the side of the railway line and it’s always interesting to see what rolling stock is stored in the sidings just outside Great Yarmouth station.

I don’t know who owns the motley collection of coaches but there was a big variety of former front line traction this time.

I blogged more about the walk back in September 2020 so won’t repeat that here, so we’ll cut to the chase of what the latest developments are at Berney Arms itself and the station which is of more interest on a bus and train blogging website.

Although the views are very pleasant.

Berney Arms itself closed as a pub in 2015 and in 2020 an application was submitted to the Broads Authority for a licensed café which would have hosted occasional events outside for those passing by on their boats but it was turned down at a fascinating meeting of the Licensing & Regulatory Committee.

Since then there’s been talk of converting the building into four “town houses” together with a licensed bistro in a separate building but nothing seems to have come of that except in March this year the Broads Authority Planning Committee issued an Enforcement Notice against two caravans and a wooden outbuilding on the site being used for residential purposes without permission. During the discussion on this item the meeting was informed “there was a separate building to the south which was previously operated as a shop and café and was now registered as a bistro, although it serves only cold drinks and packaged snacks and there was no provision for potable water or toilets.”

We didn’t spot the bistro on our walk so that’s something to look out for next time.

The Grade 1 listed Berney Arms Drainage Mill is still there of course, looking as resplendent as ever …

… as are the buildings of Ashtree Farm, now owned by the RSPB.

We headed on to the station and found an amazing transformation since my last visit.

Greater Anglia has certainly pushed the boat out …..

The totem sign has had a magnificent makeover.

September 2020:

June 2023:

As has the directional sign telling you which way the trains go:

September 2020:

June 2023:

The smaller platform station sign by the help point has been updated to delete reference to Norfolk County Council and insert the Broads Authority.

September 2020:

June 2023:

The three noticeboards now include a timetable.

September 2020:

June 2023:

And thank goodness that dilapidated notice board on the platform itself has now gone.

Flashback: September 2020

Now, there’s even a solar powered real time departure sign …

… with other facilities including three bench seats …

… two cycle racks, although goodness knows why as you can’t cycle there, although I suppose you could leave your bike there and go for a walk having used it to get to your origin station…

.. and thank goodness the original station sign is still there.

It’s a lovely walk and a lovely station.

Well worth a visit.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS and Su DRT extras.

16 thoughts on “A brighter Berney Arms”

  3. It’s sounds as if the station really has improved since I was last there (in the 1970s) when on a boating holiday. Two of our group wanted to spend an afternoon at Yarmouth races, and we discovered that they could get the last train to Berney Arms, where the rest of us, having dropped them in Yarmouth, would tie up and await them. From the boat we watched the diesel railcars pass the station, slowing down but not stopping, and I thought it might be a good idea to go and meet that last train. So I took a torch, and wound my way along the unlit, muddy path, between dark-looking ditches, to the platform, and looked hopefully eastwards. Imagine my horror – in the distance were the lights not of a tiny DMU, but a massive class 37 with a long train behind it! I waved my torch frantically, and the train slowed down. The driver put his head out of the window and said “We’ve got a couple of your friends” – thankfully the guard had put them in the front coach. So, a happy ending …

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  4. Sounds like a Grand Day Out! Great that the station survives (pity about the pub though). Suggest you report the overgrown/indistinct footpath to the local authority’s footpaths officer. And though the station sign is in period style, I’m pretty sure it’s a recent replica. Lovely, atmospheric spot though. A friend was once doing that section of line on Remembrance Day; the train was due to stop there at 11 00 so the crew paused there to observe the two minutes silence, which was given added poignancy by the surroundings.

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  5. With “staycations” ever more popular (we are told), I cannot imagine why the Berney Arms was refused operation as a licensed cafe, although trade would be rather seasonal. I would have thought that as a request stop only, more trains could be scheduled to stop as required.

    It is interesting to observe that when we talk of railway costs, track, rolling stock and obviously staff wages, little mention is ever made of the enormous costs involved in maintaining station buildings. Not all stations are London St. Pancras, with many of nineteenth century vintage, and obviously constantly requiring work to stop them crumbling. I wonder if HM Treasurer takes this into account when seeking to reduce railway running costs?

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    1. You can only stop more trains at Berney Arms if you divert them away from the other route to Great Yarmouth. It is not your average intermediate stop!

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      1. Five trains a day in one direction, six in the other, pass each way on a weekday. But only one each way currently stops.

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  6. A shame about the old pub. Think I read there had been a fire there too.

    As to the station, well it used to have a shelter, so I don’t consider it an improvement that it appears to have been removed!

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  7. Those old carriages look like Mk3 stock and a mixture of Gt Anglia,Nat Express East Anglia (although I suppose that they could be Nat Express East Coast Mk 4’s assuming that livery survived on any which I don’t think it did?As Branson had his paint brush straight out when the goverment gave him the virtual monopoly on London to Scotland services),Scot Rail and unknown grey ones.

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  8. The “former front-line traction” is actually “former front-line rolling stock” – no locomotives or power cars there, just coaches.

    It’s a shame that perfectly serviceable Mk.3 coaches are dumped in sidings rather than being used when parts of the country are still running two-carriage trains with full-and-standing loads even during the off-peak hours, but since the decision makers only care about Inter-City and London & South East I suppose us provincials should be grateful that we’ve finally got rid of Pacers, even if it is for dodgy CAF products.

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  9. Great to see some TLC has been given to Berney Arms station and I’m glad that the white-letters-on-black-background sign is still intact, even if it may not be original, as Graham Larkbey suggests.

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  12. The original station sign as seen here in 1992 -https://www.flickr.com/photos/tarkaman/5452142880/ was stolen in 1994. As the then Railways Officer for Norfolk County Council, I was able to use funding available for transport infrastructure to replace the sign in 2002. It was made from Indonesian Hardwood with gunmetal letters all made by a local shipbuilding firm in nearby Limpenhoe. This is the one that is currently in place, it has been designed to be theft-proof as it is welded to 2 x 6-metre lengths of bullhead rail sunk into the marsh. The station even boasted a shelter from 2005 to 2007 when it was blown away during a gale-it was built by apprentices at Crown Point Railway depot in Norwich – https://www.flickr.com/photos/tarkaman/53169530202/ The issue around the former pub is one of planning consent by the Broads Authority as they want to retain it as a community facility and not a Bistro-cum-nightclub which is what the most recent application was for. The building itself is in a very poor state and would need a considerable sum spent on it with no prospect of a return on investment- the whole area floods from the end of October to end of February each year so access at those times can be impossible.

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