I’ve always been more comfortable in the flat lands of East Anglia than in the more hilly or mountainous regions of the UK. Sure they’re pretty to look at and can be impressive but I couldn’t live among them unless I was on the coast – where things get flat again.

Once when looking at a hilly view a colleague commented upon how nice he thought it would be to live there. My response was along the lines that you couldn’t actually see anything unless you lived in top of the hill and that homes in the valley could only see the sides of the hills.

The flatter parts of Norfolk (not all of Norfolk is totally flat, in fact most of it is only flatish) have one feature that strikes the observer fully between the eyes. The sky. From horizon to horizon it arches over the viewer like a huge dome with a cloudscape painted on the inside. Norfolk skies, like anywhere that is flat, are enormous.

For a model railway to be put in a place the landscape is crucial. While buildings might convey some aspects of a location it is the topography, the rocks, the soil, the rivers, the hills, and the flora that will really ‘drop the pin;’ to coin a modern phrase.

Oby Staithe will be a Broadland scene. The modern Broads are far more wooded than they were in the past when reed beds and marshes predominated.  But one area that has hardly changed is Halvergate Marshes between Acle and Great Yarmouth. Travellers making their way along the straight road (on bend at Stracey Arms) between these two places see a landscape that has hardly changed. Cattle and sheep graze the lush meadows which are divided not by fences but by dykes (a Norfolk ditch). While some land has been drained for arable cultivation it isn’t very much and by and large the marshes are a timeless place where the call of waders, the flash of white indicating a swan or two, and the cold east winds have ruled for centuries.

I want Oby Staithe to capture the essence of this remote and, to some, bleak atmosphere so last week a colleague and I spent some time exploring the area around Halvergate and here are the photographs I took.