Dunster Water Mill

Dunster Water Mill is a working restoration — on milling days you can watch the double waterwheels drive the machinery and buy stone-ground wholemeal flour produced on site. The mill sits close to the old Gallox packhorse bridge on the River Avill, in the lowest part of the village, and is managed by the National Trust alongside the castle.

The interior has three floors of traditional milling machinery in working order, and the millers are happy to explain the process. It is a more interesting place than it might sound: the combination of running water, turning wheels, and the smell of fresh-ground grain gives a tangible sense of how medieval England fed itself. Even on non-milling days the exterior and mill pond are worth the short walk from the high street.

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A story
A mill is recorded on this site in the Domesday Book of 1086, making it one of the longest continuously milled sites in England. The current building dates from the 18th century and retains its double overshot waterwheels, fed by a leat from the River Avill that still runs through the castle grounds.