Herbert Woods Reviews 

Booking easy, boat ready and available on time, clean and well appointed. Driving etc well explained. One cabin rather clostrophobic as under the rear deck but OK for youngsters.

A big thank you to Herbert Woods for an amazing holiday. Our boat, the Royale Light was a floating hotel. Fabulous! It was luxurious, well equipped and spacious. Easy to drive and smooth. It was very well cleaned when we arrived and we had a helpful man to show us how everything worked so felt confident from the start. Staff on reception were very helpful. The boatyard was clean and looked lovely. Everything went well and we really enjoyed our time on the broads. We did have to call out when the television had no reception, they came immediately with another aerial, it seems the old technology , ie the manual aerial works better than the new one ! Arriving back all the staff were ready to work, what a good operation. Thank you for making our holiday seamless.

This was our first time on the norfolk broads and it won't be the last. We hired supreme light, and couldn't fault it. If I were to change anything at all it would be a simple improvement of placing a mirror to enable me to see when hair drying, the only eye level mirrors were in the bathroom. The weather was very kind to us therefore enabled us to steer from top deck, catching the rays and getting better views.... Dual steering...highly recommended.
We travelled as far as beccles a lovely place, another favourite was ranworth, free mooring, with all amenities and lovely walks. It was great having the choice to moor up in a commercial mooring, pubs,shops etc or mooring up in the wilderness, no hassle were ever we chose. What struck us: was just how friendly other people were towards helping mooring if needed telling us great places to visit etc.
However we did comment to each other that we wouldn't of liked being on supreme light with others, although it accommodates 6 people we found that two of us made our boat and holiday more comfortable. We we always hire a boat with ample space.
Herbert Woods were very kind and informative so no worries there, a highly recommended holiday thank you

We have just returned from a boating holiday on the Broads and can honestly say that the organisation at Herbert Woods was extremely efficient due to the professionalism of the friendly staff.From the initial check in , pre-departure briefing , demonstration to our return and check-out , our needs were perfectly addressed and we recommend this company to first-timers and seasoned boaters alike.

Right from our arrival the staff were very friendly and helpful and our cottage was amazing with all mod-cons! There was lots of information inside for things to do and local walks etc., The cottage was right on the riverside and very peaceful, we hired a day-boat and went to several places on the river, it was great and very relaxing, just what we needed - thank you Herbert Woods!

My wife booked a week on the broads for my 60th birthday which was a lot of money. She booked for 1st Feb i know we did realise it would be cold but did not expect what we got. The staff were great they were very very helpful and could not do enough for you. The weather we had was very very cold and whatever we did we could not keep warm. The problem was that you could not drive the boat from the inside as the windows were steamed up all the time. It would have been good if there was some form of heater to keep the windscreen clear. So the boat had to be driven from on top and in sub zero temperatures with rain,hail,snow and high winds thats not the best place to be. The heater was a waste of time it never got the boat even anywhere near warm it made so much noise that you could not sleep with it on and if you left it running all night which you needed to it would run the batteries flat. The other thing was that the heater used the diesel from the tank and it used as much fuel as it did to drive the boat about. I have a large caravan with a gas heater with under floor hot air pipes this only costs a fraction of the boat heater. When you had the heater on at night the boat reeked of fuel and there was so much condensation it would drip from everywhere so you had to sleep under the covers and by the morning everything was soaking wet. We had one warm day out of five we had booked for the week but we were so cold that we went home two days early. I got home and went to bed i was very ill because of the cold it was four days before i felt well enough to get up. I had a problem with my kidneys going to the loo all the time and through the night which i have not had a problem before the trip. It is now june and i am still having problems and have been to the hospital several times for tests. I know everyone told us it was going to be cold but the least you expect is that you would be able to drive the boat in the warm if you need to. Its no good saying you should have gone in the summer as my birthday is in February.We thought it would be a great adventure but there is a lot more i could write but you don't need me to waffle on too much more. We did contact the boat yard about the holiday but nobody seemed to bothered they said you knew it would be cold. They did offer us a 5% discount off another holiday but this one has put me off boats forever.

Great friendly service, would heartily recommend.

We had 2 boats for a long weekend and shared with our family,it was to celebrate our 50th anniversary,we were able to take it in turns leading and we had a wonderful time.
We did have problems with both boats,ours had a blockage in the shower tray,and the other boat were having trouble getting the roof up and down,we called the yard and arranged for the mechanics to meet us,and they managed to sought everything out we were delayed for about 2 hours and it did not spoil the holiday.
It was lovely having our own toilet and bathroom on the boat as there were 3 in total as the were both big boats.

It was great and we were able to introduce our friend visiting from NZ to some of the wonders of our lovely natural world in Norfolk where we live. Some of the strange attitudes of other boat users - speeding along with little or no regard for safeguarding nature, conservation or indeed fellow human beings, sadly this was a downside but no fault of the company.

The boat was fine and on our last morning our engine battery failed but as the sun shone and we were moored in an idyllic split it was no hardship and the company response was excellent.

What could have been improved ? Only two things probably - the pre holiday info about the boat seemed minimal (e.g. need to pre book microwave and need for low voltage hairdryer). The pre departure handover/instruction was a bit minimal too and we needed to check several things before signing agreeing to it all on a list. No rope skills shared and more emphasis should be given to the quality of info in 'skipper's handbook.

We would go again with this company.

The accommodation was comfortable, clean, spacious and fully equipped for 9 people. Despite being located in a busy boatyard it was peaceful and private with a lovely view over the marsh. We were well located for attractions roundabout but could easily spend the day 'at home' if we chose.
Whilst I looked for somewhere decent my main criteria was to find somewhere with walk in shower and ground floor accommodation as I am partially disabled. This site delivered in spades and also had ramp access rather than steps.
The local shop and Lathams had everything between them and the members of staff we met were friendly and helpful.
If circumstances permit we would come again and would recommend it to friends.
Also, full marks to the Bridge Inn at Acle - excellent food, plenty of it and all served up by very friendly, helpful staff.
Our nitpicks were:
Poor lighting and pillows in the bedrooms - not possible to read in bed.
No washing machine provided nor was there a laundry on site. We were only there for a week but any longer and it would have been appreciated.
My brother and brother-in-law took one look inside the pub at the entrance to the site and immediately went elsewhere for a pint! It did not do the site any favours.

I took my 95 year old mother in April 2013. The cottage was perfect for a person with disabilities, ie ramped access, spacious one-level accommodation and en-suite facilities. We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday, very relaxing and ideal location for exploring other Broads villages.

The Staff was very friendly the boat was clean would use again

The reception and handover at the boatyard was excellent and the boat was clean and ready to go at the appointed time (2pm for the"Elite" boats). Mechanically the boat was faultless and didn't use a drop of oil over the week. All the electrical equipment worked properly and even the tv reception was mostly good.
This boat is of the sliding roof type, having a large moveable panel on each side. Our week was pretty windy and we found the draught around these panels so bad that we had to stuff the gaps with towels to let the heat build up in the saloon. The gap between the panel and the draught proofing was, in some places wider than my adult male thumb, so it just appears to have been badly fitted. I should say that once we stopped the draughts the warm air heating was very effective. Over the week, including use of quite a lot of heating, we used 56 litres of diesel cruising about 6-7 hours most days.Seems ok to me, but I did think a charge of £ 1.40 per litre is a bit steep for red diesel which I understand has much lower tax than road diesel.

All in all, a very pleasant experience with Herbert Woods.

I would recomend this holiday to anyone who likes water but in a peaceful friendly setting. Herbert Woods did us proud no fuss no worries just one of the best holidays I have ever had

We found all staff helpfull and were a credit to the company as my husband has a serious lung condition your staff were very considerate and made sure all equipment was working and helped me to load the boat from and to the car l cannot thank them enough they made our holiday most enjoyable and we will certainly recommend herbert woods to friends and family also we found the boat clean and well equipt

This was our first encounter of boating on the Broads and we had a ball! This was our present to aunty and uncle for their 50th wedding anniversary and we could not of given a better present for them to remember.
The only downside was we felt the cruiser was a little tired, we would have liked something more up to date. When we go again, which we certainly will, we will look carefully at all boats available for comfort and especially the heating system necessary for the cold evenings and nights.

First time for us so nothing to compare. The boat was good but would not like to be on board if the weather was not good.
Thought the broads would have more pubs and stuff along the water ways.

We picked up our boat in a cold spell, but we werent worried as we have a motor home and we have camped in mid winter many times. But unlike our old camper the boat dident have have double glazing! The heater in the boat was not very efficent, was also very noisy, and could not be used at night!
The main cabin had holes big enough to put my fingers through, all along where the canopy was meant to fix to the windscreen, Another window fitted so badly the wind rattled the glass for the whole time we were on the boat (which wasen't long)
After the first night, we returned to the boat yard and I drove home (we live in Norfolk) and got extra duvetts pillows etc as we had only been issued with one duvett.! Spent the rest of the second day stuffing newspaper into as many of the gaps/holes as we could but were just as cold the second night .
We decided to cut our losses and go home ,when packing , my husband left a clock on the boat, he rang the boat yard, on two consecutive days to see if they had found it . Eventully was forced to drive to the boat yard and retrieved it himself.
The lesson we learnt from this was don't holiday with Herbert Woods

Lovely clean boat, competitively priced. Reception staff very good, young gentleman with glasses, very polite and helpful. Could have done with one more member of staff doing the boat demos, but it was low season so can't complain. Will defo be booking though herbert again!

We were complete novices to boating, they showed us everything and explained everything in simple language. Very welcoming and very helpful. We would definitely use Herbert Woods again!