Skip to content

Things to do at Cotehele Mill

Wheelwrights workshop at Cotehele Mill, Cornwall
Wheelwrights workshop at Cotehele Mill, Cornwall | © Mel Peters

A fifteen-minute walk from Cotehele Quay car park, under a canopy of ancient woodland and along the Morden Stream, is Cotehele Mill. While it's believed that mills have existed in the Morden Valley since medieval times, this watermill dates to the 19th century and still grinds flour today. There are also baking demonstrations – with samples – as well as reconstructed workshops, Victorian farming equipment and flowers to explore.

Cotehele Mill’s waterwheel

Around the back of the mill is a close-up view of the waterwheel. The wheel, which has 56 buckets each able to hold up to 41 litres of water, rotates at four revolutions per minute. This means it can produce a maximum of 6.5 kilowatts (or 8.7 horsepower).

Visitor update

The waterwheel is currently not able to turn due to recent storm damage to the weir. The team is working hard to restore the weir and get the wheel turning once again.

Grinding flour at Cotehele Mill

Head to the historic mill to see how it was used to grind local grain into organic wholemeal flour. When operational the millers manage to grind more than 7,100 kilograms of grain every year - thats approximately 4,600 bags of flour.

How the mill works

Ultimately the numbers rely on the rain. That’s because the millers rely on the Morden Stream to turn the wheel and how fast it turns dictates how fast the grain is ground into flour.

For example, when the stream is in full flow it takes two minutes to produce a 1.5 kilogram bag of flour. However, if the water is lower, this can fall to one bag per hour.

Path behind the mill leading to the wheel at Cotehele Mill, Cornwall
Path behind the mill leading to the wheel at Cotehele Mill, Cornwall | © Tish Valva

Artisan workshops

During the nineteenth century many country estates and villages had workshops to provide specialist skills. Recreations of these workshops can be found at Cotehele Mill.

Wheelwrights

The wheelwright would make wheels for wagons, carts, wheelbarrows as well as wooden parts for machinery on the estate.

Blacksmiths

As well as making horseshoes, the blacksmith would turn their hand to making and repairing a variety of metal tools for use on the estate. A horse chestnut tree and trough provides shade and water for the horses.

Saddlers

With horses often working on the estate, the saddler’s workshop was the place for making saddles, bridles and harnesses.

Baking demonstrations

Most days there’s a volunteer baking in the mill’s demonstration bakery, where you can try freshly made bread or biscuits. Many of these baked goods are organic and additive-free. The organic wheat comes from Tamarisk Farm, a tenanted National Trust farm in Dorset.

Machinery in the Wheelwright's workshop in the Mill at Cotehele, Cornwall

Discover more at Cotehele Mill

Find out when Cotehele Mill is open, how to get here, the things to see and do and more.

You might also be interested in

Project
Project

Morden weir project at Cotehele Mill 

Rain and flooding destroyed the weir near Cotehele Mill causing the mill and hydropower plant to stop working. Find out how a project is getting the mill back up and running.

The Quay on the Tamar River at dawn, at Cotehele, near Saltash, Cornwall
Article
Article

Exploring the Cotehele estate 

There's lots to discover at the Cotehele estate. Miles of pathways lead you through ancient woodland, past a historic chapel, and to an important Victorian quay.