Meeting 13/2/25 We had a meeting to discuss several topics. We decided to start work on our fallen river wall soon, see the article and the work party below. When the wall is repaired we'll clear the soil heap at the back of the site and plant memorial trees there for Frank and Barry.
We plan to build a bird hide at the fishing lake and we need public feedback on this, so we’d be grateful if you would read about the project and give feedback on our form.
We'll celebrate the 10th anniversary of restoring the mill at all of our open days this year with pictures of the work. We'll also have the bone mill workers research on display.
December 2025 is the end of the HLF grant period, so we are no longer bound by the terms of the grant, but we decided to continue volunteering at the mill and holding open days, we’ll also keep the website going, so it’s a case of Carry On Regardless!
Thursday 20/2/25 I brought a tube of caulk which we used to fill a broken area of wood on Beryl’s bench which we started to repair last week. Eddie brought a tub of stain which he tested on some areas, when it dries we’ll see what it looks like and if successful we’ll treat the whole bench with it.
At our meeting we discussed turning our fallen wall into a sloping river bank to match the surrounding banks. There is a Carrstone wall beside the fallen wall, we think it runs behind the fallen wall, so I got the ladder and dug into the exposed soil to try and find it, but there was only brick rubble. We will keep as much of the Carrstone wall on show as possible, see the simulated picture.
It was a mild day, we didn’t have the fire alight but we crossed our bridge to cut up more of the fallen trees for fire wood. Eddie cut Ivy off the large pieces which I logged up, I also cut up the smaller tree. The bowsaw came apart and the blade holder disappeared so Eddie got the metal detector, but the part could not be found, so Eddie replaced it with a small nut and bolt. While on the footpath Eddie noticed the cards on our notice board needed replacing so he topped them up and took pictures of the Snowdrops.
I took the Gator truck round and we loaded it up with the wood, I saw a Cygnet, Little Egret and Great White Egret near the farm bridge on my journey. We’ve seen a lot of Herons and Egrets recently so I’ve added the latest pictures to the wildlife pages. We brought the wood back and tipped it out near the log store.
Ralph and Lynn from London walked down to visit us, I showed them round and they watched the slideshow of our meadow in flower and a video of the water wheel turning, they enjoyed seeing our indoor and outdoor exhibits. Our last job before coming back was filling the bird food.
Thursday 27/2/25 The Great White Egret was beside the fishing lake again on our way to the mill, and we saw the Little Egret in the river, then we saw it fly off over the mill and land in the next field.
We looked at Beryl’s bench seat which Eddie tested some fence stain on last time, the filler has set and the stain has dried to a good finish so Eddie rubbed down and stained the front part of it and left it to dry in the sun.
There is a hollow dip at the far end of the wildflower meadow which we can’t use as it slopes too much, so I got a barrow of rubble from nearby and put it in the bottom, then got sand and soil from the compost bay area to fill in the dip and give a level area. Eddie got several barrows of molehill soil to spread on top. This will be ideal for re-seeding the meadow as seeds are best sown into bare soil, not grass.
Emma walked down and noticed a small tree had fallen across the footpath on the other side of the river near the mill, so we put the bridge over and Emma cut the tree away with loppers and bow saw. There were two thick branches which I cut off with the chainsaw. Emma brought a large barrow of branches back for the woodburner stove.
Beryl gave us a tub of mixed bird food including premium fat balls and mealworms, so I put some in the feeding tray. Eddie filled the other feeders and we saw Long Tailed Tits eating peanuts again and a Chaffinch in the tree nearby.
We had lunch in the wagon and in the afternoon Emma cut up the branches she brought back with the bow saw and I cut the logs Eddie and I brought back last week with the chainsaw. I used the 12 Volt socket I fitted two weeks ago to charge two flat chainsaw batteries together. Eddie helped cut the logs and put them in the log store.
On our way back we stopped to show Emma the Owl boxes that Jonathan fitted in trees and to take pictures of Red Kites and Cormorants flying overhead. Emma also got some rubbish out of the river with the long rake near the fishing lake.
Graham Bartlett
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