The Broads are a man-made wonder that look natural - in fact people had no idea that they were made by man until 50 years ago.

In 1952 Dr Lambert discovered that these wetlands were created by peat digging in the Middle Ages.

Peat was dug as a source of fuel on a large scale but the pits eventually began to fill with water.

This made it more difficult to extract the turves of peat with the result that the peat diggings were abandoned.

Eventually they flooded, creating the man-made landscape that we know today.

The Broadland landscape is characterised by fens, marshes, shallow lakes, rivers and waterlogged woodland.

The Broads vary in size from small pools to large expanses of water such as Hickling Broad.

This huge wetland boasts a diversity of wildlife including some of the rarest plants and animals in the UK.

Boats are an important part of life on the Broads with 125 miles of boating on lock-free tidal rivers.

The Broads is also renowned for its numerous restored windmills, symbols of an earlier agricultural age when they were used for drainage.