Calbourne Water Mill

Apr 23rd, 2023

The staff were very friendly and helpful. Mill was not working fully when I visited due to a fault. This cannot be helped so I have no issue with this. I felt that more information was needed on the mill, how it ran, and what the components did. There are several different buildings with small exhibits inside. It was nice to walk around with my parents and listen to them reminisce about some of the old machinery, and even I can remember having to use some myself (manglers!) I would not recommend these areas for children. However, for the children, is a small crazy golf course, with large areas to run around and a small play fort (I do not know if this is currently open). As a negative, and this is not a criticism, it is very sad to see so many of the artefacts uncared for. I felt that this is more due to a lack of money and outside assistance, rather than because of the staff. Walkability: Not suitable for people with walking difficulties and is not wheelchair friendly.
Apr 21st, 2023

Apr 11th, 2023

Calborne Mill was a little bit disappointing, sadly. It holds a lot of promise but lets itself down in too many ways. First, we paid full price to get in even though the mill was broken. Now this would have been fine, we knew the score, if only it hadn't also been deserted. Because it was not operating there was no-one there to explain all the complex and no doubt interesting machinery as there would have been if it had been working, the video presentation wasn't operating, and the sparse labels were wholly insufficient. I've paid for this, no excuse not to keep the guided tour. There are also several buildings housing collections from the past; military, TVs, general bric a brac from the olde worlde days, and an old fire station. Interesting, but basically presented as if someone just bunged a lot of old stuff from people's attics on shelves. You have to pay extra if you want to play the crazy golf, which wouldn't have been so bad if they'd bothered to brush it down in the last year, and removed the leaves from the course. Looked neglected. All very pretty and has potential, but feels thrown together, amateurish and lackadaisical. Might be worth it when the mill is working again.
Apr 11th, 2023

Dec 4th, 2022