Standing seemingly miles from anywhere, some of the few man-made features in a wild countryside of marshes and water, there's something iconically beautiful about the mills of the Broads. And without these old workhorses, the Broads wouldn't be the same.
They were used to pump out water, mainly in the winter, to stop the marshes flooding. Water was lifted from the main drainage dykes and put in rivers, so protecting the grazing lands of the marshes. Without them the marshes would have been underwater throughout winters and wet summers with hundreds of acres of grazing land ruined.
Alison Yardy, Norfolk County Council Historic Environment Officer (Landscapes), says the Broads has the highest concentration of mills in Britain.
While the fens once had as many as 1500 drainage mills, only a couple remain. The Broads still has over 70 recognisable mill sites, with several restored and in good repair. It makes the Broads as fascinating to mill enthusiasts as Holland, says Alison.
The last one in Norfolk stopped working in 1953, unable to compete with the electricity powered pumps which still drain the marshes today. That final mill to cease working, at Ashtree Farm, by the Acle straight, can still be seen today.
'They survived the introduction of steam and to some extent diesel but electricity took over,' says Alison.
She's fascinated by the Broads and its mills, valuing the derelict mills as much as the restored ones: 'To me it is really a beautiful landscape. I love the marshes and the mills are such a key part of that landscape,' she says.
Intrigued by the technology and the way it developed over time, she loves the sounds when the mills are working. Alison says building the mills can't have been easy.
'Some of the timbers are very large; some of the mills cannot be reached by road so it must have been quite a job,' she says, explaining that boats were probably used to transport the materials and the millwrights who designed, built and maintained them.
Once in place, the mills were run by millmen or marshmen, who usually lived in a cottage beside the mill. They were responsible for the mills, and maintaining the network of drainage dykes.
Many also took on casual work to make ends meet.
'It was a really hard life, working out in the middle of nowhere with no real amenities,' says Alison.
Marshmen might have taken on farm work, fruit picking or other jobs in the Broads, explains Hazel Nudd, whose husband's family can trace back their ties with Stubb Mill at Hickling in the Broads over about 200 years.
Her husband Harry was born in the cottage next to Stubb Mill, which even well into the 1980s still had a bucket type toilet and no running water.
'There was a Rayburn, and that always had a pan of water on it as that was the only way to get hot water,' she says.
'The cottages came with a bit of land too and my father-in-law, Billy, used to grow currants,' she recalls, adding that he had 16 miles of dykes to keep clear as part of his marshman work.
It was a job handed down by his grandfather, and Billy had been a staithe warden in Hickling, near Stalham, too, collecting launching fees and helping people launch and recover their sailing boats.
Harry took this over when his father died in 1993 and only decided to retire last summer. He's keeping family traditions going as he is still pump attendant at Stubb Mill.
Hazel will be leading tours around Stubb Mill on Sunday, May 12, the second day on National Mills Weekend during the Broads Outdoors Festival.
'I don't want to do both days as we want to go and visit some of the other mills that are having special openings on the Saturday.
'I love showing people round; they are really interested in the social history. How people lived there and what they did is so interesting,' says Hazel.
Alison Yardy adds: 'Although it would be difficult to imagine the Broads without the mills, it is very difficult for them to earn their upkeep. They really need our support so hopefully people will consider visiting one over Mills Weekend during the Outdoors Festival.'
She and Amanda Rix, of the Norfolk Windmills Trust, will be showing visitors around Polkey's Mill and engine house, near Reedham, on Saturday, May 11.
So next time you are lining up that mill as a focal point of a beautiful sunset or mist-rising photograph, spare a thought for the marshmen whose livelihoods depended on them and make the most of the chance to visit during the Broads Outdoors Festival.
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