Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Tuesday 27 May 2014

New Hall Mill Open Day

D and I went along to a New Hall Mill Open Day at Walmley, Sutton Coldfield, on Bank Holiday Monday. A place we've never visited before and I am so glad we made the effort even though the weather was poor with rain at times.

Lovely to see a "field of gold" as we arrived.




This mill is one of only two surviving water mills in the Birmingham area - the other is Sarehole Mill which I also visited recently. The present mill, which is a Grade 2 listed building, dates from the eighteenth century although a mill has been on the site since the sixteenth century.



The mill was restored to full working order in the 1970's. It is privately owned and managed by the New Hall Water Mill Preservation Trust.


Organ Grinder


The Mill and Millpool - we saw a pair of Grey Wagtails around the pool.



We had a look round the Miller's Garden which included a vegetable and cottage garden.










Chive flowers were attracting bumble bees -


Early Bumble Bee (male)




We had a look round the inside of the mill - the mill machinery has been fully restored and operates on Open Days to produce stone ground whole meal flour (and yes, I bought home a bag!)

The Ground/Machinery/Meal Floor




1st Floor - the Stone Floor


Garner Floor

Miller's Workshop




There was a lovely model of the Mill in an Exhibition area




The grounds of the Mill include a Tree Trail and Wildflower meadow - a great place to visit with children





Yellow Rattle




Ox-eye Daisy


Small Tortoiseshell


I would have liked to have taken more photos of the tree trail and wildflowers but the camera card was nearly full. I do have another card but I'd left it at home :(



I bought a postcard showing a photo of the mill in 1904 - one of these days I will learn to keep my horizontals level!!!


We finished off in the tearoom - tea and cake. In my case Carrot cake and it was as delicious as it looked.



I also bought a couple of plants - Persicaria and Borage - both great plants for attracting bees and pollinators.


If you live anywhere near the mill it is well worth a visit - details of Open Days can be found on their website at www.newhallmill.org.uk.


Thanks to Graham for tipping me off on what a great place it is to visit (especially the cake information) :)


10 comments:

Rohrerbot said...

Carrot cake is MY favorite cake of all time. No lie. That looks so delicious. What a beautiful walk around the mill......and that display with the birds to be seen has my interest:) These mills you visit are things from a story book. Wonderful!

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

Hi RR What a wonderful day you had last Monday and it looks like a lovely and interesting place to visit. Love all the wild flowers and butterfly and I would love to have a bite of that Carrot cake, well really the whole slice. I bought a card that is 32 Kb so I never run out of space on my card.

Anonymous said...

Lovely old buildings and I love the tree trail- what a great idea. And as for that carrot cake at the end..... :-)

Dartford Warbler said...

What an interesting old mill and such lovely gardens.
The carrot cake looks worth a return visit too!

Ragged Robin said...

Chris Rohrer - Thanks so much Chris - yes I think carrot cake is my favourite too :) I'm so glad you enjoyed the mill and walk!

Margaret Adamson - Thanks Margaret. I'm so glad you enjoyed the post :) Gosh that is a massive card!! my biggest is 4GB and I need to check all the photos on there are backed on external hard drive before I delete all the photos - a time consuming job I keep putting off!

Countryside Tales - Thanks so much :) A great place to take children so much to learn and enjoy with the mill, history, trees etc. :)

Dartford Warbler - Many thanks :) Yes, we'll return as E was working and B decorating so it would be nice for us all to visit on a future Open Day.

Amanda Peters said...

Looks like a great place to visit, I love going to anything like this, must take a lot of work to keep it looking good.
Amanda x

Ragged Robin said...

Amanda Peters - Thanks Amanda :) I think they rely on volunteers too to keep it looking good.

Graham High said...

Thank you for the thanks Caroline. Glad you enjoyed it. The place always makes me feel better after a visit :o)

All the best

Graham.

The Quacks of Life said...

looks an interesting place! cake ? tut tut :)

Ragged Robin said...

Graham High Thanks Graham :) So pleased we went - I wouldn't have missed it for the world and will certainly go again. There's a lot to look at there and full credit to the volunteers :) Best wishes Caroline

Pete Duxon - Thanks Pete :) Thought you'd appreciate the cake :) lol!!