Thursday 15/8/24  On our way to the mill Eddie and I stopped to cut brambles which were overhanging the track, there are still lots of Blackberries on them. There were four of us today, Emma strimmed the top bank between the walls, and weeded around the water wheel and hammer mill. I put the ladder down the river bank so Anne Marie could weed the bank and pull up nettles, Anne Marie also watered all the gardens and the small Oak tree.

Eddie and I repaired the bench seat on the footpath with two pieces of wood I found at home, which were the right width with chamfered edges, so we cut them to length to replace the broken pieces we removed last week. We fitted the slats to the frame with new bolts and screwed the middle of the slats to the central support bar. Eddie removed loose paint from the bench and repainted it all over. We'll paint the side tables soon. I posted on Narborough Facebook pages so walkers know we have repaired the bench.

We all had lunch outside at our table, in the afternoon Eddie filled the bird feeders. Wildlife seen today were the Swan family just downstream from the mill, a Yellow Brimstone and Meadow Brown butterfly in the wildflower meadow, and when we got back to The Maltings we saw a Coot in the river.

Thursday 22/8/24  On our way to the mill the Swans, which still have seven Cygnets, were on the track and reluctantly got out of our way to let us past. Our first job was removing and cleaning the glass panel over the brick floor and weeding under it.

We put our bridge across and Eddie painted the side tables on the bench seat on the footpath, as we didn’t paint them last week. I cut brambles from around our bridge with the pole pruner, as the bridge was getting difficult to swing across.

Debra and Hector the Labrador joined us, Debra went across the bridge and cut the grass around the bench, by the gate frame arch, around the bridge and under our sign. Debra also mowed the grass in front of the railway wagon. Hector went straight into the river and we threw logs and his football for him.

Eddie and I fitted three notice boards together on a wooden frame, ready for the open days, which are only three weeks away on 14 & 15 September. I brought laminated displays about the Routes, Networks and Connections of the mill, as this is the Heritage Open Days theme this year. The notice boards will be in our gazebo with items on display, including the human skull bone found on site.

While we were working, a Partridge appeared and was walking about in front of the visitor centre, then it went into our shed and was looking around in there. Eddie filled all the bird feeders around the site.

Graham Bartlett  

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