Old Flour Mill - "La Minoterie"

Our neighbour has spent the last decade restoring our local flour mill, almost single-handedly, and he'll be opening it to the public once again on Sunday as part of the "Journées du Patrimoine" - or "heritage days" - in France.

It's a wonderful piece of industrial architecture and over the years I've taken on the role of default photographer, cataloguing Robert's renovations bit by bit and overcoming a growing sense of vertigo by climbing a rickety staircase to the third floor where most of the machinery still resides.

My eye has always been attracted to a pair of sabots lying discarded in a corner and today I pulled them out, cobwebs and all, to give them the honour they deserve. Can you imagine those mill workers clomping about in clogs on a wooden floor, with all the machinery clattering around them and flour dust flying everywhere...??

Doubtless I'll post some more pictures as work progresses.