Sweet Briar Marshes – a community-focused approach

Aside from its superb biodiversity, the urban location of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust Sweet Briar Marshes provides new and exciting opportunities to connect more people with the natural world.

The Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) asked local communities including Inclusive Norwich what they wanted from Norwich’s newest nature reserve to help create a shared vision.

Images shows campaigners for greater accessibility at Sweet Briar Marshes, including the Inclusive Norwich Chair: Dave Shraga

We shared our desire that the area should be kept as natural as possible, with facilities to

enable everyone to connect with nature.

Inclusive Norwich met with Norfolk Wildlife Trust to consult and feedback about the physical accessibility of the new nature reserve site, which opened to the public in May 2024.

We advised on -

• Wheelchair friendly surfaces for routes

• Pathway edges that give sight impaired long cane users a physical edge to follow

• The reserve cycling and pet dog policies (which help to keep all visitors safe, but especially Assistance Dog owners)

• Entrance gate design

And much more.

The images shows a wide gravel pathway. Hard surfaces can now be found across the reserve

Inclusive Norwich gave NWT advice and support to help ensure Sweet Briar Marshes would be accessible for all. The previousVice Chair, Rachael Andrews, who is sight impaired and has a guide dog, and Chairperson Dave Shraga who uses a wheelchair, advised on vital aspects such as the type of accessible path to install.

“Sweet Briar Marshes can be wild and accessible at the same time, and that’s really important.”

• Rachael Andrews, Inclusive Norwich

Inclusive Norwich will continue to help NWT with their ongoing designs to make Sweet Briar Marshes as accessible as possible.

The image shows our Chairperson, Dave, a wheelchair user wearing a dark hoodie, wheeling away from us along a grey gravel hard packed path through a lush green landscape.

Location

Sweet Briar Marshes is in the northwest of Norwich in the Mile Cross and Wensum wards, around two miles from the city centre. It can be access from Marriott's Way between Sloughbottom Park and Hellesdon Road.

BBC News

Read the article featured by BBC Local News Norfolk here.

Know before you go

Entry Fee = Free

Parking Information = There is no dedicated parking for the reserve. The nearest car parks are Sloughbottom Park car park (NR3 2ES), Hellesdon Road Riverside Walk car park (NR6 5EG), Hellesdon Mill carpark (NR5 0DA)

Trails = There is an accessible path through the reserve connecting the east and west main entrances and connecting to Marriott's Way. Several mown paths provide additional walks – all mown paths connect to the accessible path.

Further information can be found on the Norfolk Wildlife Trust website here.