Brandon is a key town in the Brecks with a fascinating history and wonderful opportunities for recreation including the river. Events planned for 11-20 September 2026 will literally put it on the map and show off its heritage and lovely spaces.
Heritage Open Days (HODS) is an annual free festival across the country, where towns and buildings open up and invite people to explore. Brandon is joining in for the first time this year! Spearheaded by Brandon Town Council and supported by the Brecks Landscape Partnership, a wide variety of community groups and organisations are coming together to put on lots of events, starting with a launch on Saturday 12 September in Market Hill, and running through to Sunday 20 September afternoon when our walk and exhibition will highlight the river that runs through the town and was so key to its development.
Lighters downstream of Brandon Bridge, early C20th;Looking downstream from Brandon Bridge today
OSBrecks is running several walks throughout the period. On launch day, 12 September, we will be doing walks around Brandon Heritage Trail, looking at the High Street, the river and the Avenue. Other walks will explore the site of the gasworks and historic pubs, Town Street and the old village centre, and Brandon Country Park. We will discover the history of flintknapping, fur processing and other Brandon industries, and find out what it was like for the workers in earlier days. And there will be two chances to do a walk exploring Brandon’s riot! This will all be complemented by an exhibition by Brandon and District Local History Society in the town hall and on market day, and much more. Booking info will be added once available. The Brandon Heritage Trail and additional loops, along with points of interest, are on this Google map.
On Sunday 20 September we will look at the river history with a walk and exhibition by OSBrecks and the Brandon and District Local History Society, exploring navigation, fishing for eels, historic riverside inns and industry, and how people enjoyed themselves swimming, fishing, boating and regattas. There’ll also be a chance to enjoy tea on the lawn of the Bridge Hotel, and to find out more about modern boating and recreation on the river at Brandon Staunch.
Boating upstream of Brandon Bridge, early C20th; Downstream of the Brandon Bridge today
Brandon is a fantastic place to visit – arriving by train at the Railway Station, by coming up the river on a boat – canoe, kayak, paddleboard or other small boat, as in this Flickr album of photos taken on a trip in April 2026. Currently, although larger motorboats can get up river (though EA advise against) they can’t get to the jetty and wouldn’t be able to turn at Brandon, but smaller ones can, probably those up to 25 feet long. There is a vibrant campaign to make it more accessible by boat. Or by bicycle through the forest, by bus or by car. The town has a wonderful welcoming Leisure Centre and Health Hub, which not only provides opportunities for sports but acts as a community and well-being centre, with walks setting off every Monday at 930 (and one of our heritage walks will be done jointly with the well-being group). Don’t miss a visit to the beautiful Orchard and a walk along Victoria Avenue.
Victoria Avenue: c1930s; with lanterns in 2023
Longer walks and cycles go from the town into the forest, along the river, on off-road tracks and paths. Enjoy a walk marking the town boundaries, the Nine Stiles Way (which doesn’t have any stiles), or explore any of three long-distance paths – the Via Beata, Hereward Way and St Edmunds Way.
Brandon is full of heritage – interesting historic buildings, Victoria Avenue, the site of very important archaeological discovery, and much more. A mural celebrating key features of Brandon and the Brecks has recently been added to the outside wall of Brandon Heritage Centre. The centre is free, open weekends, and full of fascinating information – find up-to-date info on their Facebook page.
New mural on Brandon Heritage Centre exterior wall; The Orchard with display sign
The leisure centre is in Brandon Remembrance Playing Fields, and nearby is the Social Club which is open to all, and also a fishing lake, bowls club and football. Anyone can visit and enjoy this wonderful green space, with free parking by the leisure centre and by the river, where there is a free slipway. There’s also a slipway next to Brandon Bridge, no parking but drop off is possible, and boat hire from the Bridge Hotel.
Outdoor swimming in the river is a delight at any time of year, though especially popular in summer, and has a long history. There’s easy entry on the slipway near Brandon Staunch where water is mostly shallow with some deeper areas, especially downstream, or find deeper water from the slipway by the bridge or from the Bridge Hotel.
We’ve held several ‘intro to outdoor swimming’ events and swim walks and cycles in the town (for example in the Brecks Outdoor Festival 2025), and when tested a couple of years ago in the project the water was of excellent quality for swimming. Swimmers from the local informal swim groups on Facebook, Outdoor Swimming in Breckland group and Wild Suffolk Swimmers, can often be seen here at any time of year.
Brandon Staunch, early C20th; Brandon Staunch and jetty in 2021
Find out more about the history of navigation and recreation on the river Little Ouse including Brandon: extract (downloads PDF 15 pages 5.3 MB) – taken from one of many talks illustrating the Brecks rivers done in the Tales from the River project, more detail in Project Updates. Find out more about Brecks river history talks, walks and oral history interviews on this website, with even more to be added soon.
So visit Brandon any time to enjoy its heritage and recreation – especially the river! And watch out for more about September’s events soon!
Flintknappers Arms, mid C20th; Brandon’s town sign, town hall and Market Hill