Norfolk Broads tea towel

'The breathing space for the cure of souls.' This is how the naturalist Ted Ellis described the Norfolk Broads, the network of shallow freshwater lakes on the east coast of Norfolk. For many years, it was thought that the Broads were a natural part of the landscape, and it was only in the 1960s that scientists proved they were manmade: medieval peat workings flooded by rising tides.

The floods may have scuppered the peat digs, but they created something invaluable: a haven for wildlife. These lakes, marshes, and meandering rivers are home to countless birds. Ducks, coots, moorhens, geese, herons, kestrels, sparrow hawks - the list goes on and on! No wonder this is Britain's largest protected wetland, drawing thousands of birders every year.

This design shows a typical Broads landscape: reedbeds, shallow lakes and a wide open sky. There's also one of many drainage mills, built during the 18th and 19th centuries to control the water levels on the marshes. And overhead, a silhouetted flock of flying geese. It's surely scenes like this that Ellis was talking about: 'The breathing space for the cure of souls.'