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Watermill revives traditional flour production

National Trust/Paul Harris A woman in a white coat puts flour into brown paper bags inside Houghton Mill.National Trust/Paul Harris
Flour milled using a traditional milling process is bagged at Houghton Mill

A watermill has begun producing flour using methods dating back hundreds of years.

Houghton Mill, which dates to the 18th Century, is the last working watermill on the River Great Ouse near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.

It will use wheat grown at the Wimpole Estate 19 miles (30km) away.

However, the methods are not entirely traditional. When water levels are too low to power the waterwheel, a set of hydro-electrically powered millstones will be used.

National Trust/Mike Selby An external shot of Houghton Mill, a stone building on a river with the watermill to the right.National Trust/Mike Selby
Houghton Mill is the last working watermill on the River Great Ouse

Ayse Lambert, visitor experience officer at the mill, said: "The milling process is environmentally friendly. A traditional waterwheel enables the mill to produce stoneground flour."

Visitors to Houghton Mill can watch the flour being milled each Sunday, until 3 November.

National Trust said during the 18th Century there was a rapid development in mill technology and this marked the start of a very prosperous period for Houghton Mill.

Along this 70-mile (113km) stretch of the River Great Ouse there would potentially have been about 120 watermills.

National Trust/Mike Selby A red combine harvester at work in a field of grain on the Wimpole Estate. A tractor and trailer is in the background.National Trust/Mike Selby
About 200 tonnes (441,000lb) of grain are grown at the Wimpole Estate each year

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