education pack

2011

Calbourne Water MillThe Water Mill, Calbourne, Isle of Wight, PO30 4JN Tel. 01983 531227Email: thewatermill@hotmail.co.uk

Welcome to Calbourne Water Mill.

The Water Mill provides excellent facilities for both Educational and Recreational visits.

The Mill offers a unique experience for visitors of all ages being one of the few working water mills left in the country and the best working example, showing milling

from ancient to modern techniques.

The Water Mill provides a variety of learning experiences that engages the children’s minds and provides an environment that plays a key role in supporting and

extending children’s development and learning.

Visits can be tailored to suit the requirements of individual school’s needs and age groups covering the

full range of curricula studies.

With this in mind we have produced this pack to demonstrate how a school visit to the mill can be a valuable way of fulfilling curriculum requirements at

different key stages whilst providing an enjoyable and memorable experience.

The mill has an excellent on site café and gift shop. The café can provide hot and cold meals, sandwiches and snacks, schoole packed lunches available to order. We stock a selection of hot and cold drinks, homemade cakes and biscuits, ice cream, lollies and sweets. Please contact us if your party requires lunch or tea or if you have any other special requirements. Parties may also picnic in the grounds.

We would kindly ask that children are supervised in groups whilst using the café and gift shop.

There are also toilets available on site including facilities for the disabled. All adults on educational visit will receive a complimentary tea of coffee.

The large landscaped grounds offer space for your group to picnic and unwind. The children can purchase fish and bird food to feed the roaming peacocks, doves, ducks and other poultry.

If you are lucky you may spot an eel in the stream behind the café or a red squirrel for which the Island has become a well-known stronghold.

Calbourne Water Mill is the Island’s only remaining working water Mill. First mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, for much of its history it has supplied flour and animal feeds to the people of the parish and wider Island. It has also operated as a Malthouse and a Bakery. The present Water Mill buildings were erected in 1664 and the brick Roller Mill extension in 1893, an industrial milling advancement

During your visit to the Water Mill your group will be escorted through the Mill and have an in depth talk on each floor, the granary, the stone floor, the ground floor and the cog pit.

If you choose Option 1 you will have a demonstration and talk of the milling process using the water wheel and one of the two sets of millstones. The millers are very happy to answer questions, on leaving you are presented with complimentary bags of flour to take away to complete the process.

Before Mills wheat was ground using quern stones and there is an opportunity for the pupils to be hands on and have a go at grinding some flour using quern stones, which they operate by hand, we will provide the grain.

The War Museum contains local memorabilia from the second and first world wars watched over by a statue of Winston Churchill. Grandma’s Kitchen contains a large collection of domestic items from the 19th and 20th centuries including cookers, laundry and dairy equipment. The old Bakery houses old ovens and equipment which were used until the 1890s. Also in the yard is a fire station, engine house and even part of the Black Knight rocket.

Situated in the grounds is the smallest working Water Mill in the country. The wagon shed which houses a collection of old farm vehicles and engines. There is also a Taskers Portable Steam engine, like the original engine that powered the Roller Mill.

The straw bale building was constructed by our own staff using eco-friendly techniques and houses a collection of books and literature.

In addition the mill

itself the site houses

museums and a collection

of agricultural vehicles and

bygones.

Calbourne Water MillThe Water Mill, Calbourne, Isle of Wight, PO30 4JN Tel. 01983 531227Email: thewatermill@hotmail.co.uk