We had good weather for our open days on 20 & 21 September. Our water wheel was turning both days and our model mill was on display in the visitor centre where we also had finds from digging the site on display.

We celebrated 10 years of working at the mill with Before and After pictures of site features and early finds on display in our gazebo. As usual we had slideshows in our visitor centre of the early work repairing the water wheel and brick walls in 2015.

New for this event were visitor map guides which were Emma’s idea, I did the artwork using aerial pictures of the site. These were handed to visitors to show where all the features of the mill are located, visitors handed them back when leaving the site and we had good feedback about them and saw many people using them.

Bone mill employee research was on display on a notice board in our gazebo along with finds related to the workers occupations such as bones, machinery parts and coprolite. We had very positive comments from visitors about this information.

Our railway wagon kitchen was serving hot and cold drinks with tables outside for cakes made by Emma, Anne Marie and Debra, including 10 year anniversary cakes. There was also shortbread and sausage rolls which were all very popular. The catering team worked hard making drinks and putting out cakes, many people gave donations which we really appreciate.

Ryan brought his 1955 tractor which attracted a lot of interest, several children were excited to be able to sit on it and visitors of all ages were asking Ryan about it.

We put our swinging footbridge across so visitors could walk from Pentney and Marham along the Nar Valley Way to join us. We recently cut the grass on the footpath opposite the mill, many visitors crossed the bridge to take pictures from the path which gives a good view of the water wheel.

We had a steady stream of visitors both days and our trailer with seats was busy transporting people between our car park and the mill. Our riverside signs were put out with nature related information and waymarkers to let visitors know their progress on their walk to the mill.

We enjoyed talking to all our visitors and showing them our work. Our next open days will be 9 & 10 May 2026. Walkers can cross our bridge and join us on Thursdays to look around. We are also looking for volunteers, see the volunteering article and contact us if interested. If you attended our open days and would like to give feedback about your experience, please fill in the Visitor Survey on the Heritage Open Days website.

Graham Bartlett

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