‘The place is special’ – Essex couple return to Norfolk Broads for 50th summer holiday

Steve and Christine Roth celebrate their 50th year holidaying on the Norfolk Broads with Barnes Brinkcraft. Pictured receiving gifts from Daniel Thwaites from Barnes Brinkcraft. Picture: ANTONY KELLY

We all have a favourite holiday destination – a chocolate-box rented cottage, a picture-perfect beach or a favourite spot we can go back to again and again.

But one man has taken this to the extreme as he returns for his 50th holiday on the Norfolk Broads.

Steve Roth, 68, from Essex, first started holidaying in the park as a teenager after a relative moved to Lammas, near Buxton.

Since that first trip with a friend in a wooden boat, rented from Southgate’s in Lower Street, he continued to return, first with friends and family then with his wife Christine, 63, who has been holidaying in the Broads almost as long, since 1974.

The couple are beginning their latest Broads holiday this week with Barnes Brinkcraft in Hoveton – the boatyard from which Mr Roth has embarked on almost all his trips.

Waveney Yachts at Oulton Broad regatta, August 20 1968. Photo: Archant Library

As a thank you to the couple for their years of loyalty the company has gifted them this year’s holiday, with a presentation made on their arrival on Tuesday.

Mr Roth said he had loved the Broads since his first trip five decades ago.

“The place is special. It is never the same two years running or even two days running, it is a new experience every time you wake up,” he said.

The couple, who live in South Woodham Ferrers near Chelmsford, honeymooned on the Broads after their wedding in 1989 and continued to come after having their son Alexander – who took his first trip on the Broads at 10 months old.

Oulton Broad Queen of the Broads steamer, August 23 1968. Photo: Archant Library

They used to take their trips in September to avoid the school holiday rush, but once Alex was of school age they switched to August, and have carried on this new tradition to fit in with Mrs Roth’s job in a school.

As well as returning to the same boatyard each year they are loyal to their rented craft as well, often holidaying on the same boat for up to 10 years.

On their trips from Hoveton, usual stops include Salhouse – “the prettiest broad” according to Mr Roth – and St Benet’s Abbey, taking in a few wild moorings along the way.

Mr Roth said: “We tend not to moor up anywhere where there are pubs and things. I am a fisherman and my wife does a bit of fishing too. We generally find somewhere nice and quite.”

Wroxham Broads, June 2 1968. Photo: Archant Library

So will the couple continue holidaying in the Broads? “Unless something happens to stop us,” Mr Roth said.

Story by Bethany Whymark for the  Eastern Daily Press