It is a forgotten gem of the Norfolk Broads which was once a hive of industry.
Now, Little Switzerland, a remote spot on the banks of the Bure, could soon be the centre of activity again, after the Broads Authority announced plans to create a lagoon there to store sludge dredged up from the river.
The organisation wants to dig a pit, roughly the size of three football pitches, to store 20m litres of river sediment, which can later be used as fertiliser.
It would sit on a site called The Marl, off Granny Bard’s Lane, near Belaugh, between Wroxham and Coltishall.
The site forms part of an area called Little Switzerland.
In its heyday, it featured a network of canals, a large bridge called the High and Low, and a pub at its entrance off the Bure.
The area was named after the undulating landscape created by the chalk pits that were in operation there in the 18th and 19th centuries.
From the site, chalk was taken to other locations on the waterways to be turned into construction materials and fertiliser.
Large heaps of earth were piled up in mounds which, to local eyes, were reminiscent of Switzerland.
The latest plans will see the landscape changed once more.
Under the proposals, sediment will be dredged from the nearby river via a floating platform and pumped into the lagoon.
The structure would be temporary and made from an earth bund, storing 20,000m3 of wet river sediment – the equivalent of around 20m litres.
It will be left for around 12 months to dry.
After that, it will be spread on a nearby field - in an echo of the site's previous use supplying material for agriculture - and the earth bund scrapped back flat.
The Upper Bure has been identified by the Broads Authority as a priority for dredging, with a sediment build-up meaning areas no longer meet “waterways specifications”.
The work has been planned to commence during the winter of 2023 and finish in the summer of 2024.
It also follows a separate application from the Authority last year to create another lagoon just under a mile downstream at Wroxham, next to the cemetery at the Church of St Mary.
That scheme was ultimately withdrawn following a mass outcry by locals.
Residents said the scheme would have created a foul smell that would hang over the village – something the authority denied.
The Broads Authority initially pulled the plans from a planning meeting in July 2022, before scrapping the scheme entirely in September.
The nearest property to the new plan is more than 500m from the centre of the lagoon area.
A spokeswoman for the Broads Authority said the new site is located on private land, far away from residential areas and is surrounded by trees.
The authority has used similar temporary schemes over the last 15 years in locations such as Hickling, Coltishall and Ormesby.
River sediment largely comprises of topsoil and materials eroded from river banks
LITTLE SWITZERLAND'S LONG HISTORY
The area's unusual landscape and history is a result of the chalk that was found there.
Canals were dug from the Bure up the working faces so that wherries could take the chalk to limekilns elsewhere on the waterways, including at Acle Bridge and Limekiln Dyke, at Barton Turf.
Here, the chalk was transformed into building materials and fertiliser.
In the course of the chalk workings at Little Switzerland in the 1800s, an entire mastodon skeleton was found there.
The chalk pit closed in 1877 but as Broads tourism increased towards the end of the 19th century the area became a noted beauty spot, adorning the front of postcards.
Today, the canals remain but are largely filled in and the area is overgrown.
Also still remaining at the site is the High and Low Bridge, which is said to get its name as it had a high arch - to allow craft through - but a low approach on the road on either side.
While the bridge still stands, it is not visible from public land, as the entire Little Switzerland area is in private woodland.
One structure which no longer remains is the pub which once stood on the banks of the Bure at the entrance to Little Switzerland.
The Groves End, which served the passing wherry trade, was destroyed by fire in the 1940s.
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