Season over: the 2026 crossings ended on Sunday 11 October and the boat is laid up until next spring. Natural England notes that the Butley River has no crossing on land at all, so for half the year this four-seat rowing boat is the only way over it short of a long walk round by Chillesford.
2026 season, Saturday 4 April to Sunday 11 October 2026, as published by the Alde & Ore Association and read on 13 October 2026. Nothing has been announced yet for 2027. Alde & Ore Association — Butley Ferry, 2026 season and hours · 2026-10-13
South of Orford, the Suffolk Sandlings break into marsh and mudflat where the Butley River feeds the Alde and Ore. On the west bank lie Butley, Capel St Andrew and the Boyton marshes; on the east, the farmland of Gedgrave runs down to the creek and on to Orford. The river is narrow enough to shout across, yet the national trail has to go up past Chillesford to get round it, and a walker on one hard looking at the other faces the same long detour inland.
The rowing boat closes that gap for half the year. Volunteers of the Alde & Ore Association row it on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays between 11:00 and 16:00, from Easter Saturday until the second Sunday in October; in 2026 that meant 4 April to 11 October. Nobody books, there is no timetable — you simply arrive at the hard and a ferryman comes across.
The scale is tiny. East Suffolk Council registers the boat for four passengers, and Natural England's survey of the estuary notes that it carries either four walkers or two cyclists a trip.
Each fare covers one crossing. An adult pays £2.50, under-12s £1.50, a bicycle adds £1.50 and dogs ride for nothing. A couple wheeling bikes over and back on the Orford loop therefore spends £16.
The association does not say how it takes payment, so carrying the right change is the safe assumption on a boat with no ticket office.
| Adult | £ 2.50 |
| Child under 12 | £ 1.50 |
| Bicycle | £ 1.50 |
| Dog | Free |
| Minimum charge | £ 30 |
Single fares published for the 2026 season, read on 13 October 2026; the same figures appear as 2025 prices in the National Landscape leaflet Alde & Ore Association — Butley Ferry, single fares · 2026-10-13
The Butley is a side arm of the Alde and Ore, the long estuary held behind the shingle of Orford Ness. Natural England measures it at more than 700 metres between sea walls at its widest and about 178 metres near Butleyferry Farm, and neither the Butley nor the Ore has any crossing on land. The rowing distance moves with the tide: about 55 metres between the jetties at low water, as much as 300 metres when the saltings are flooded. The boat takes four people on foot or two with bicycles, which is exactly what East Suffolk Council's licence for 'Butley Ferry 2' allows.
The western landing is the end of the Bawdsey-side lanes and tracks, a short way south of Burrow Hill. Natural England gives it as grid reference TM 3917 4811, the point where one section of its coast path report ends and the next begins. The approach is over farmland, and the association's leaflet notes that cyclists use it by kind permission of the landowners. No council car park is marked here; the leaflet map shows parking in Rendlesham Forest and in Orford instead.
The eastern hard sits on the Gedgrave side of the river, on the farmland that lies between the creek and Orford. From here the leaflet's circular routes head south-east for Orford Quay and its castle, or north along the river towards Chillesford. The position shown is taken from Natural England's published coast path line, which breaks at this landing; no separate grid reference has been published for the east bank.
Strong wind is the one thing that has closed the ferry in the past decade. If Orford or Boyton is forecast 20 mph or more, phone 07913 672499 after 10:45 that morning; calls during the week about the weekend always get a yes.
Bicycles have travelled since the larger boat arrived in 2003, but only two at a time, so a group of cyclists crosses in relays.
The association's map shows a 10-mile walk from Orford via the ferry and Chillesford, an 11-mile cycle loop from Orford and a 14-mile one from the Rendlesham Forest car park.
Since 30 June 2026 the England Coast Path has been open here, but it goes round the head of the river rather than over it, with seasonal routes along both banks to protect wintering birds.
Parties can ask for a midweek crossing a week ahead. It is never guaranteed, because a volunteer has to be free, and the minimum charge is £30.
The crossing grew out of Butley Priory, the Augustinian house founded in the twelfth century whose canons walled and drained the marshes. According to the association's history, the ferry first worked from Boyton Dock and was moved to its present spot in 1383 for the priory's convenience; when the priory closed in 1538 its staff included men listed as boat-keepers. Later came farm tenants and ferry families — the Smiths kept it for nearly a century, and after George Smith was killed in 1897 his widow Maria rowed it herself, as Lydia Gunnell had done a hundred years before. Lorries and buses took the trade away, and in 1932 the boat was wrecked in the sluice and not replaced.
Two local boatmen, Bryan Rodgers and Graham Hussey, revived it in 1993, with the landowners on both banks helping to rebuild hards that had sunk two feet into the mud. A bigger boat in 2003 made room for bicycles, and the association now counts more than a thousand passengers and four hundred bikes a year. Suffolk has one other rowed crossing, the Walberswick ferry over the Blyth, and further south a motor launch does the same job at the mouth of the Deben between Felixstowe Ferry and Bawdsey. In Essex, a twelve-seat harbour boat out of Brightlingsea loops between three shores of the Colne from April to September.
Not on the public service. The 2026 season finished on Sunday 11 October. A group can ask for a crossing outside the season by phoning 07913 672499 a week ahead, but it depends on a volunteer and costs at least £30.
Dates for 2027 have not been published. The service traditionally opens on Easter Saturday, which in 2027 is 27 March, so check the Alde & Ore Association's page before planning that weekend.
The east bank. Gedgrave is the Orford side of the river; the west landing is on the Butley and Capel St Andrew side, below Burrow Hill. The two hards are about 55 metres apart at low water.
Four foot passengers, or two people with bicycles. Busy afternoons simply mean the ferryman makes more trips.
Usually. Strong wind is the only thing that has stopped the service in the last ten years, and the decision is made on the day. If 20 mph or more is forecast, ring 07913 672499 after 10:45.
No. Natural England judged the hours and four-seat boat too limited and routed the trail around the estuary instead. The ferry remains a handy shortcut for walkers while it is running.