Shalford Mill

With our weekend visitors wending their way home, I spent the afternoon revisiting Shalford Mill that I had visited with grandson George last year.

This 18th Century watermill now belongs to the National Trust and is an attractive four floored timber building with a tile hung exterior typical of Surrey and Sussex. It might well have been demolished in the 1930s were it not for a colourful band of preservationists known as Ferguson's Gang. This group of women was formed in the late 1920s and they held their clandestine meetings in Shalford Mill. They bought the mill and gave it to the National Trust and went on to save many other buildings and places for the country.

Inside there is the constant rumble of the water flowing underneath the building and a delicious smell of old timber. Part of the mill was long ago turned into a home and there is a lovely view of the atmospheric building from the garden.