Wildlife lake and holiday cabins among plans submitted in West Norfolk
A family-run business is hoping to add to the area's tourist appeal
Last updated 25th Jan 2022
A new wildlife lake, eight holiday cabins and 20 new jobs could all be created at a Norfolk garden suppliers, if plans are approved by the local council.
Family-run Oakland Gardens in Pentney have applied for permission to West Norfolk Borough Council to build the cabins, lake and nature reserve, along with new warehousing, business units and a home for the family to live in.
In a rationale submitted to the council, the family said their proposals would offer “an additional asset to the already well-established tourist industry in the area”.
The lake would be dug in a location that floods every year, with water level sluice controls used to relieve flooding and drought patterns, and would directly connect to a relief ditch which leads out of the village and onto the Wash.
“We want to improve the area ecologically – we’re so blessed to work in a place like this,” said Lee Ward, who runs the business with his father, Kerry, and other family members.
He added that the lake and cabins had been “a dream for a long time”.
Each of the cabins would have two bedrooms, and one of the cabins would be reserved exclusively for the use of charities, families in financial difficulties and those with disabled members.
Mr Ward said: “Fifteen years ago, we were unemployed and our son, aged five, had cancer and was in hospital for a long time.
“He had chemotherapy and we were very poor and understand how those strains of an illness, or disability, in the family can strain a family.”
Following the successful treatment, Macmillan Cancer Support sent Lee, his partner Emma, and son Kyle on a holiday to Scotland.
Mr Ward said the trip allowed the family to have “a moment out of reality”.
“We will never forget this family lifeline, which is why we want to give back to the community within this project by using one cabin solely for free of charge for charity use.”
New warehousing would allow the existing garden business to grow, which the family say would create “20 additional jobs for local people in both professional and unskilled jobs”.
The Wards currently live in Whaplode, Lincolnshire, and say they could save 1.8 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year by moving to the site they’ve been running since 2007.
If approved, the plan would also see 10 business units and 20 offices built and would be available for internet-based firms that are either services based, or mail-order.
The council is due to make a decision on whether to grant the plan permission in principle by April 20.
Pentney… the tourism hotspot
Pentney – located off the A47 between Swaffham and King’s Lynn – is already popular with visitors, with a number of tourism businesses linked to the area’s wetlands.
Tourists to Pentney’s existing lakes can enjoy waterskiing and the hospitality of several holiday lodges, while the village’s two spa resorts attract people looking to unwind in rural Norfolk.
And under another plan awaiting approval from West Norfolk council, Pentney Woods could soon host 38 new eco lodges.
Pentney Priory, now known as Pentney Abbey, was an Augustinian priory.
Its ruins mostly comprise a flint-built grade-I listed gatehouse and can be booked for weddings.
Nearby Narborough, just east of Pentney, offers trout and coarse fishing, as well as caravanning, at its own lakes.
Narborough Bone Mill on the river Nar, just south of Pentney, is the only surviving Norfolk bone mill of which substantial workings remain.
The mill was used to render down bones from local slaughterhouses and from the whaling industry into agricultural fertiliser, with bones transported up the River Nar by barge from a blubber-processing factory at South Lynn.
The mill’s 16-foot diameter (4.9m) waterwheel and the foundations of the main mill building can be viewed today by walkers on the Nar Valley Way.