We had our Heritage Open Days weekend on 18 & 19 September which was well attended. The HOD theme this year was Edible England, and Emma created a quiz based on this theme which was popular with visitors.
This year we were able to serve tea and coffee from our Railway Wagon kitchen and there were home made cakes and shortbread as well as sausage rolls and soft drinks. Dogs were also catered for with water bowls and dog biscuits.
We had the water wheel turning all weekend using our pump which Fred repaired and serviced. On Sunday the water wheel was making a vibrating sound and slowing down at one point but I oiled the wheel bearings again and that silenced it.
The model of the mill made by David Turner was on display in our visitor centre, this shows all the original mill buildings and some of the workings.
We had pictures of the mill in its working days and photos of the restoration on display along with many of the finds discovered during digging of the site. Debra made photo albums with the story of the mill and restoration which many visitors were interested in.
Our donation box with a revolving water wheel had a lot of use, we would like to thank everyone who gave a donation, the money has been banked and will be used for essential supplies so we can keep the mill open. We also had some lovely comments in the visitors book.
Several visitors asked about our wildflower garden project which we plan to start soon, as we had put up notices about this. We got lots of positive feedback and we are looking forward to starting work on it soon.
The next planned open days will be Mills Weekend in May 2022, which had to be cancelled the last two years due to Covid, but we hope they will go ahead next time.
Graham Bartlett Interactive Plan Volunteer HOD 2020 Blog 17/9/21
Blog 17/9/21