How Hill

Educational film illustrating the traditional skills, industries and wildlife of the Norfolk Broads.

Made for the Norfolk County Council Education Department, this film presents the traditional skills and industries of the Norfolk Broads, and highlights the region's abundance of wildlife. The film opens with a brief history of How Hill, a large former holiday home near Ludham in the heart of the Broads, which now provides educational programmes. Traditional marshland skills demonstrated include eel catching and dart fishing; sedge cutting and dyke maintenance; reed cutting for thatching, basket weaving and hurdle making. Presented as the ideal place to explore traditional crafts, How Hill also provides a unique glimpse into the world of nature. Children set out on a nature trail, learning about reeds, sedges, rushes, wild flowers, bank erosion, marsh gas, soil types and fresh water biology. Back in the classroom, the children examine their collection of small creatures and plants. On a boat trip, they visit the remains of St Benet's Abbey, the Church of St Michael in Irstead and Barton Broad. Also provided are views of the gardens at How Hill, flourishing wild mushrooms and a wide range of bird-life on the Broads, from Common Terns and Herons, to Black-headed Gulls and Great Crested Grebes, as well as young Reed Warblers and Snipes and a variety of swans, ducks and geese. A mix of native and introduced animals are also shown including Coypu, Rabbits, Hedgehogs and Chinese Water Deer. The film concludes with insect life on the Broads, from the Damselfly to the entire life cycle of the Swallowtail, from larvae to caterpillar and the final metamorphasis in a unique habitat that requires conservation and protection.

Featured Buildings

How Hill House; St Benets Abbey; Toad Hole, marshman’s house; St Michael’s church, Irstead

Keywords

Biology; Birds; Conservation; Ecology; Edward Boardman; Eel catcher; Insects; Marshman; Nature reserves; Reed cutting; River Ant; Science; Thatching; Wild Birds; Wildlife

Other Places

How Hill, Ludham