Letheringsett Watermill, more adventures in home bread making
Sourdough bread making has become a little bit of an obsession since my course. I check on my 'mother' daily, giving her a little poke and sniff before deciding if she needs a feed or not. Quite frankly, I find it fascinating that a simple mixture of flour and water can come so alive, so quickly. Who knew that all this natural fermentation could be so addictive? On a recent trip back up to North Norfolk to recharge my batteries after endless dark weeks of commuting I managed to squeeze in a visit to Letheringsett Watermill, long on my list of places to see and also a fine opportunity to stock up on proper stoneground English flour for further bread making adventures.
There has been a watermill at Letheringsett since the Domesday book when 580 mills where listed in Norfolk but today, it is the only working watermill producing flour left in the county. The current mill on the site was built in the early 1800s and sits hidden down a small turning in the pretty postcard village of Letheringsett, near Holt. It is splendidly foreboding, a striking many floored building, with slightly bulging industrial windows and a resident black cat (presumably a working girl to keep the mice down). The miller in his dusty apron could have walked straight out of the Canterbury Tales and happily let us have a wander around the mill for a small fee.
This is a working mill rather than a museum and it was fascinating to walk amongst the flour sacks and machinery. All sorts of flours are milled here and are available to buy in the small shop on the ground floor but their speciality is spelt, an ancient form of wheat that is a particular favourite of mine. All the flours are stoneground at the mill and are organic, perfect for my new passion.
Despite it being a rather cold and miserable March day, there were many visitors popping in to stock up on flour and pink footed geese grazed on the lawns at the rear leaving webbed foot prints in the banks of the river Glaven. On a sunny day this would be a perfect place for a picnic, just make sure that you bring some proper bread.
There has been a watermill at Letheringsett since the Domesday book when 580 mills where listed in Norfolk but today, it is the only working watermill producing flour left in the county. The current mill on the site was built in the early 1800s and sits hidden down a small turning in the pretty postcard village of Letheringsett, near Holt. It is splendidly foreboding, a striking many floored building, with slightly bulging industrial windows and a resident black cat (presumably a working girl to keep the mice down). The miller in his dusty apron could have walked straight out of the Canterbury Tales and happily let us have a wander around the mill for a small fee.
This is a working mill rather than a museum and it was fascinating to walk amongst the flour sacks and machinery. All sorts of flours are milled here and are available to buy in the small shop on the ground floor but their speciality is spelt, an ancient form of wheat that is a particular favourite of mine. All the flours are stoneground at the mill and are organic, perfect for my new passion.
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