The Painswick stream pond above Kings Mill

I had a short period of time free early this afternoon after going to pick up a registered parcel from the post office sorting office. To get there I had to go a short way up the Painswick valley, so once I had collected it I decided to carry on up the valley to explore. I turned off the main road on to a small lane which I hadn't driven down before, and when I reached a small bridge over the Painswick stream I parked and walked along a footpath dow stream.

I was glad to be out in the countryside walking through long grass in a field with the stream meandering beside me. Although the stream has quite a small flow of water, I was surprised to find a large pond had been recently cleared of weeds and it seemed that it was being used for messing about in boats. As I proceeded further I began to hear the sound of rushing water again and guessed that it was caused by the outflow of a mill pond. I walked through some trees past a few cottages and came upon this series of sluices. Water was cascading down about twenty feet over various remnants of old walls which must have been where the original mill race had been.

The footpath lead to a gate onto a drive beside Kings Mill house, which turned out to have been a series of buildings comprising a fifteenth century mill, a large house and assorted warehouse spaces. It is a fine building although a bit sombre in its present form. I have checked its history and it has transformed over time into various types of mill such as a a corn - or tuck-mill, until 1650, then ac loth mill until 1780. It returned to cloth production and was rebuilt in 1818 to house all processes of cloth-making except weaving until 1853, specialising in scarlet and billiardcloth manufacture. From then it became a pin mill until just after the first World War. Finally, after many alterations and uses, the remaining buildings were used as houses and as show-rooms for an antique furniture business. until recently when it became a private house.

All along this valley the various mill buildings have similar tales to tell, but I think this mill was the finest of the lot. A lot of money has been spent recently in renovating the water flow systems, in repairing the drainage channels of the water supplies and upgrading the gardens into a rather expensive and manicured Cotswold estate.

Helena's brother Ben, and his wife Nicky, have now arrived to stay overnight. They are on their holiday in England and Scotland for a few weeks and I haven't seen them for many years.