Monday, July 28, 2014

Norfolk Broads - England

As I already mentioned other times, besides postcards I also like letters and I'm a member of the Penpalling & Letters Group in FB. Postcards are dear to many of group's members and this month someone decided to organize a postcard exchange. I've sent a card to a girl in Germany and I got this one from England, sent by Catherine. I really like it. 

The Norfolk Broads is the UK's largest and finest wetland landscape. This unique patchwork of rivers and lakes is not, as was first thought, a natural landscape, but a result of intensive digging of peat in the Middle Ages to provide fuel. The empty pits were soon filled by rising water levels and now form a network of over 125 miles of navigable waterways providing leisure interest for many. The Norfolk Broads landscape is one of beauty and peace, of water, marsh, woodland and wide skies - with views of church towers and windmills. - in: http://www.tournorfolk.co.uk/norfolkbroads.html

Printed and Published by J. Salmon Ltd. 
One of those windmills is the Horsey Windmill, a five storey windpump built in 1912 to pump water out from the surrounding land so that it could be used for agriculture. It was operational until 1943, when it was hit by lightning. The National trust took ownership of Horsey Windpump in 1948 and restored it. It is now open to visitors on certain days in season. You can climb the floors of the pump and see the workings, with steep steps taking you up to the top for a great view back over Horsey! 
Windmills are a feature of the Norfolk Broads landscape as they were an efficient method of draining the landscape. Nowadays they have all been replaced by electric pumps. - in: http://www.tournorfolk.co.uk/windmills.html

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