This weekend is national mills weekend, organised by the SPAB Mills Section, where watermills and windmills around all of the IHBC regions will be hosting special events or opening doors to usually hidden sites, with an art and photography competition as well as the start of ‘real bread week’ where the products of many of the mills may take their next steps!
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) writes:
National Mills Weekend will take place across the UK over the weekend of Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 May when more than 300 windmills and watermills will be opening their doors to visitors. The annual weekend is co-coordinated by the Mills Section of Britain’s oldest heritage charity SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings).
Following the success of last year’s Mills in Art theme, the SPAB Mills Section is, once again, inviting artists of all ages to visit a mill during the weekend to seek creative inspiration. Over the two days, many mills will be running arts-inspired events, including exhibitions and drop-in ‘draw-ins’. Visitors are warmly encouraged to enter their creative responses to SPAB Mills Section’s 2015 Mills in Art competition. There are three categories (fine art, photography and children). Adult winners will have their work featured on the Section’s 2015 Christmas cards, with other prizes including free membership of the SPAB Mills Section and books on windmills and watermills.
The windmill has been an icon of our domestic landscape painting for many years and mills of all types appear in works by some of the country’s best-loved painters. Flatford Watermill in Suffolk, for example, is the subject of several of Constable’s paintings and a windmill features prominently in Turner’s view of Arundel Castle. In fact, the UK’s national collection of oil paintings alone, searchable through the BBC’s ‘Your Paintings’ website, includes more than 1,000 paintings of windmills and watermills. Last year’s National Mills Weekend Art Competition proved that these buildings continue to inspire. Jonathan Cook, Chairman of the SPAB Mills Section and owner of Fosters Mill in Cambridgeshire, says: ‘We were delighted to receive so many excellent entries in all categories and hope it will prove equally difficult to choose our winners in 2015.’ More details on how to enter the competition on the National Mills Weekend website. Entries and cover forms should be received by May 24.
The event isn’t just for arty types! Importantly the weekend offers the opportunity for everyone to get inside their local windmill or watermill and explore industrial history on their patch. Some buildings taking part are not normally open to the public. For mill owners it’s a chance to share their enthusiasm and passion for these distinctive working buildings and for millers it’s a way to raise the profile of traditional flour milling and introduce people to their products. In many places mills will be offering special events and family-friendly activities.
Jonathan Cook explains: ’National Mills Weekend is a fantastic annual event and its popularity grows. Last year 320 mills took part, with an estimated total of 40,000 visits over the weekend. For millers like me who run a flour mill, it’s wonderful to showcase how mills work and to share our passion for quality organic stoneground flour. Mills offer something for people with many different interests, from those who are interested in our heritage, those who like machines, those who are interested in food and kids who love clambering about!’
National Mills Weekend also marks the start of Real Bread Week, run by the Real Bread Campaign, which encourages people to bake or buy traditionally made bread. Chris Young, Real Bread Campaign Coordinator, says: ‘Flour is the starting point for Real Bread and we support this annual celebration of the people who mill theirs traditionally with integrity, preserving flavour and nutritional value, as well as buildings that are assets to the culture and economies of local communities around Britain.’ An increasing number of mills are being returned to production, and the weekend is a chance to find out more about the process, from wheat to bread, with milling and baking demonstrations at many mills around the country.
Visit the National Mills weekend website and search for mills near you
Find out more about SPAB Mills
Search for tweets on #nationalmillsweekend
Follow SPAB Mills on Twitter @UKMills
View information about Real Bread Week and events
