emma / August 7, 2014

Waltham Windmill, preserving the bread basket of Lincolnshire

£1.50. There isn’t much you can buy with £1.50 these days. A loaf of bread, a few pints of milk, or a bottle of coke in a ridiculously overpriced corner shop, but I think the best £1.50 I’ve spent in many years was at Waltham Windmill, dominating the local skyline of a local village 5 miles from Grimsby, a large town in the North-Eastern shires of England.

On a fresh summer morning full of sunshine, verve and beautifully home cooked breakfast we found ourselves with a couple of hours to fill, whilst on a family visit to Mr Kiwi’s hometown.

Instead of rushing straight around to generally disturb the late-sleepers, we decided a wander was in order to clear our lungs of London pollution. Whilst rambling the pavements, we stumbled upon a building that was rather unexpected in the idyllic tranquillity. A working windmill that we could explore. How could we say no?

The first mill on this site was built in 1666, sadly blowing down twice before the current building was erected in 1878. Now a local icon, the windmill is open all sorts of times during the year, run by passionate volunteers.

Waltham Windmill is a six-sailed windmill located in the village of Waltham, five miles from Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, England. It is renowned in the area for having all six sails still in full working capacity, being one of the very few windmills like this in the United Kingdom.

Once you conquer the tight steep staircases (nb: don’t do it in an ankle length skirt) the view from the top is gorgeous farm pastures, heaving with late summer crops.

Coming back down we stopped to admire the beautifully kept internal mechanics, informative boards and whitewashed interiors.

Once at the bottom again, a bag of ground flour and jar of preservation society strawberry preserve leapt into my bag. I was powerless to resist the siren call of the home-ground produce, and support a grass-roots charity in the most delicious way possible.