• Affordable high-quality sailing yachts

  • Luxury bedding and equipment

  • Showers and heating

  • Family owned and run business

  • Close to Hickling and Horsey Broads

  • Families welcome

  • An authentic Norfolk Broads sailing experience in style and comfort

  • Prices start from £455 per yacht -No hidden extras

  • Free car parking



 
 
sailing boat hire Norfolk Broads

“I’ve spent 19 years renting yachts, and yours is the most beautiful, best equipped and most fun to sail that i’ve ever chartered”

Jonathan, Lola, (11) Felix (9) and Astris (7)

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The Broads Sailing Experience


Overview of sail boat hire on the Norfolk Broads

  • Included in the cost of your sailboat hire is a 45-minute yacht familiarisation session and 45 minutes sailing with an instructor. The boat briefings are often cited as a standout feature, our guests appreciate the thoroughness of the briefing, the knowledgeable and patient instructors.

  • Our boats are located at the peaceful and beautiful hamlet of Martham Ferry, within easy reach of Hickling Broads and Horsey Mere, offering some of the best sailing on the broads.

  • We overlook the stunning National Trust's wildlife reserve of Heigham Holmes featured in the BBC1 TV series Secret Britain.

  • We are ideally situated for exploring the 120 miles of beautiful waterways, that make up the Broads National Park. The scenery and wildlife are spectacular and have remained unchanged for hundreds of years.

  • There are lots to entertain the whole family, on these safe, inland waters.

  • Check out our map to see all the villages and small towns to explore on your bareboat charter.

  • Most of the Norfolk Broads can only be reached by water and offer a slower pace of life so, put the clocks back, leave the 21st century behind, and enjoy a peaceful sailboat holiday on the Norfolk Broads.

  • Yacht Charter UK

Let your Norfolk sailing boat adventure start here!

Windy day in August 2020. Dreamtime - Norfolk Broads saling boat for hire, from Oliver’s Sailing holiday. photo creds Sue Hines

Windy day in August 2020. Dreamtime - Norfolk Broads saling boat for hire, from Oliver’s Sailing holiday. photo creds Sue Hines


A few of our sailing boat hire customer reviews.

A superb sailing boat and customer services.

We have just come back from another wonderful long weekend sailing Sea Breeze on the beautiful Norfolk Broads. The service provided by Nick and Alison and the team was exceptional as usual, and included a welcome bag of tea/coffee and assortments to refresh us, along with everything you need to live on board. The yacht was in lovely condition, clearly maintained to a very high standard, and it was a joy to spend 3 nights with her. As a bonus, the weather was absolutely perfect for October - we did not need to use the boat’s heater. A further bonus was a walk down to the beach to see the seals, which were not around in May, I’m already checking the diary to fit in another break with Oliver’s next year.
— Mark - Trip Advisor

Outstanding sailing on The Broads

The Walrus Cruise charity has been taking our teenagers for sail training on the Norfolk Broads for over 100 years. We have hired yachts from various boatyards and have to say that we now use those from Oliver’s as much as we can.
This is because they are brilliantly well-maintained and extremely cleverly thought out craft. The boatyard clearly takes great pride in what they offer and Nick and Alison are a pleasure to work with and really helpful/generous people.
— Trip Advisor

Lovely to sail and a silent electric motor

A fabulous week on the beautiful wooden sailing boat, Seabreeze. Oliver’s Sailing Holidays were very helpful at every stage - excellent instructions and tips on what to bring; a well-equipped boat with a nice pack of basics (milk, tea, etc); comprehensive briefing and clear reference instructions on sailing and living on the boat; very helpful with the occasional question later on by phone. The boat itself was lovely to sail, had a silent electric motor to glide along the river ways, and was so well designed - everything you needed, and chatting to other sailors, seemed to include features that other boats lacked. Highly recommended! (Their dayboats for half or full days also looked great.)
— Stephen - Google review

Oliver’s Sailing Holidays - Just fantastic.

The Broads has some of the most beautiful inland sailing available anywhere and Dreamtime is the sailing yacht to experience it on. The staff at the yard are lovely and very helpful and Lizzie gives a great intro to the boat with a couple of hours of sailing and instruction. It is needed as a gaff-rigged boat with a lowering mast is pretty different.
The boat comes fully equipped for a crew of 4 with comfortable bedding, a sea-going toilet, 2 basins, a shower area, cooker, fridge, central heating and loads of storage. The game little diesel engine gets you to destinations when the wind has different ideas. What a perfect way to explore this unique environment and wind down from the madness of everyday life.
— Google review

Broads sailing, lots of fun with children.

What a fabulous end to the summer holidays! Bright Spark was fun to sail and a comfortable and beautiful boat inside and out-everyone seemed to want us in their photos! Lots of fun with three children- even on the one rainy afternoon, playing cards around the cabin table. Fabulous!
— Marcus, Nora, Gustau, Louisa and Elena

Elated and spoilt on a Norfolk Sailing Holiday.

Just back from a few days on the beautiful Bright Spark, feeling elated with the sailing, and spoilt by Nick and Alison at the boatyard. The yacht was spotlessly clean, thoughtfully equipped, cleverly set out, and beautifully maintained. The luxurious hamper of local essentials was a nice touch and helped make up a fab first breakfast fry-up on Barton Broad. Best yacht we’ve ever hired on the Broads, and friendliest family boatyard we’ve come across. We’ll be back!
— Dan

Top quality sailing holidays Norfolk Broads

We had a wonderful week on Bright Spark. The service from Nick and Alison was top quality, and the yacht was in immaculate condition. The topsail ensures Bright Spark ghosts along in light breezes and races along when the wind is blowing. She is a delight to sail and is probably the fastest cruiser on the Broads. Bright Spark was Nick and Alison’s personal boat prior to being put into charter, and a number of personal touches that they have made ensure you are getting a vessel of a far higher standard than usual. The welcome pack was much appreciated, and the luxurious bedding a brilliant touch. If you want the best of sailing on the Norfolk Broads Bright Spark is the boat to choose.
— Gordon - Google

Highly recommended sailing holiday

Fantastic experience for all the family from The moment of arrival - warmly welcomed by Alison and shown around the boat which was beautiful, and a lovely welcome pack was provided too! Both skippers, Nick and Guy, were very experienced and patient with us all, especially with my younger son who has Aspergers, and the boys loved being involved and given various tasks to do throughout keeping them occupied, and interested to learn more. Both mooring sites were beautiful and close to pubs for food and drink which was ideal. The Norfolk broads sail boat was very well equipped and in great condition and complimented by various members of the public. All of us learned loads and loved our time on the water, and would love to do it again! Cannot praise this family company and holiday experience highly enough!
— Trip Advisor

Simply the best sailboat hire on the Norfolk Broads

Want a brilliant service? Want to hire a fantastic traditional broads yacht? Want to turn heads wherever you go on the broads? Want to have a fabulous experience on the water?
Then look no further than Oliver’s Sailing Holidays.
I’ve been sailing yachts from all different boatyards across the Norfolk Broads for the last 30+ years and I have to say that I have never hired anything better than ‘Bright Spark’. It handles in all winds incredibly well and the integral top sail bought a whole new pleasure to the tree-lined sections of the broads.
Beautifully balanced and extremely well maintained we booked for the next year before we left the boatyard and can’t wait for another week. Myself, wife and two kids (4&7) had a great time living on board with a well designed and thought out interior with lots of really great touches to make life onboard a pleasure.
On top of all that is a wonderful service provided by the team who clearly have customers at heart when managing their business. It is this as much as the amazing boat that made it such a pleasure to be their customers.
My only word of warning is you mustn’t be camera shy, I have never been on so many photos in my life, I am used to the odd snap when sailing across the broads but nothing like we experienced on Bright Spark.
Just don’t tell everyone otherwise I’ll need to book 2 years in advance!
— Steve

Swallows and Amazons feeling was exquisite!

I just wanted to let you know how much we all enjoyed last weekend. Despite the weather and mechanical issues on Friday, the experience was fantastic. You were both so welcoming. The briefing prior to taking the yacht out was very thorough and so informative and useful. My wife, who is very nervous on the water has said that she’d do another holiday on the broads. I’ve been sailing since I was 13, dinghy sailing and now offshore yacht racing but this last weekend was just like nothing else I have ever been exposed to. The Swallows and Amazons feeling was exquisite and my friends on board felt the same. So looking forward to coming back in May next year with a couple of mates who are also non sailors to treat them to the thrill of sailing and exploring the broads. Many thanks and best wishes to you.
— Email