Houghton, Great Ouse

With good weather, on Sunday we had a day investigating a National Trust Property not too far from home (just over an hour by car). It was Houghton Watermill or described in the NT Handbook Houghton Mill and Waterclose Meadows.

Houghton Mill

(Note the outflow from the waterwheel to the right of the building)

The 18th century water mill is not far from Huntingdon and lies on the Great Ouse. Although we spent some time with Albert on the River Ouse we haven't ventured this far upstream. The mill is a substantial building with a long history. It once housed a number of waterwheels. The remnants of some of the original machinery still exists inside the building but The Trust have installed a working wheel outside driving a single millstone. When multiple wheels were in operation it would have been a noisy, busy and dusty place.

Every Sunday during the season the watermill is in operation grinding small quantities of flour as you will see in the video I took below.

Houghton Mill in operation

We enjoyed lunch at the NT Tearooms, visited the mill, crossed the lock and then went for an extended walk across the meadows to Hemmingford Abbots and Hemmingford Grey, both delightful and picturesque villages with some substantial properties that must be worth a fortune.

Houghton Mill Lock

Old School House Hemmingford Abbot

More thatched properties Hemmingford Abbot

Village Library in a phone box!

A Sea Otter moored up above Hemmingford Grey Lock

I notice that No Problem passed through this way on Tuesday. I was on the look out for them on Sunday just in case they had made rapid progress. It turned out that they were not far away in  St Ives. If we get around to boating this way I will make sure we stop overnight at Houghton.