Down By The Old Mill Stream

Having just received our new National Trust membership cards, we thought we’d make use of them today and visit Acorn Bank near Temple Sowerby.
As NT properties go, it’s not one of the most dramatic houses but the gardens were quite impressive and we had an enjoyable walk through the woodland by the river, ending up at the old water mill. This is now run by a separate trust as the National Trust did not want to reopen it after Covid. So a new team of volunteers now lease it from the NT and not only have it running and grinding flour, but are even planning on reinstating the second wheel - though this won’t actually be attached to any grindstones as most of the internal gears have long since disappeared. Sadly, the wheel was not turning today (this only happens at weekends) but one of the volunteers showed us around and explained how everything worked. Most interesting and informative.
Of course, being in the Penrith area, it would have been churlish not to have called into Cranstons Food Hall on the way home. We actually received a discount on our NT subs this year, thanks to our advanced years and length of membership, so we used what we’d saved to treat ourselves to some goodies for tea!