We love living and working within the Broads National Park and we’re delighted to hear that the Broads has been nominated for a prestigious award from BBC Countryfile Magazine. Experts were asked to draw up a shortlist in several different Awards categories and Ellie Harrison from the popular Sunday evening TV programme commented “Wetlands will surprise you. The established Broads offers haven for marsh harriers, bitters and swallowtails (Britain’s biggest butterfly) among many others. The land also delivers long views between the horizons, interrupted by gems of working heritage”.
We’d certainly agree and our visitors regularly tell us how much they’ve enjoyed exploring the distinctive landscape, whether they’ve taken to the water, walked or cycled the miles of paths and country lanes and Nature Reserves or visited one of the many iconic attractions of the Broads.
Some facts you may not know about the Broads:
- The Broads are man-made and created by peat digging, thought to date back to the 12th
- The Broads is Britain’s largest protected wetland at 303 sq Km and
- More than 60 broads and 6 rivers cover 200 Km of navigable waterways making it the third largest inland waterway.
- The Broads is home to more than a quarter of the rarest plants and animals in the UK.
- There are more than 150 churches in the Broads.
- The iconic Mills of the Broads were mostly for drainage, pumping water off the marshes into the rivers and dykes and there were around 240 in the 1800s. More than 70 remain, many now derelict but others have been restored.
The other National parks shortlisted for this award are Cairngorms, Northumberland, Pembrokeshire Coast and New Forest. You can still vote for your favourite online or by post up until 31st January.
