Environment

The Mill Retreat Centre is a spectacular Centre with :

large 30 acres grounds
a 10 acre lake
1 mile of river banks
wild wetlands habitat, private nature reserve.
woodland habitat, river wildlife habitat and lake habitat all combined to provide an extraordinary rich area of plants and wildlife all in one place.
A 6 acres Poplar wood plantation surrounded by a the beatiful river Bresle.

The centre has a wonderful grounds to explore and go for walks and relax.

Nature Reserve

We have set up a wonderful nature reserve in over 5 acres of the gorunds, competely given over to nature and wildlife. It is a beautful wetlands habitat and it is now completely inaccessible and contained. Thriving with birdliefe with over 40 species of birds, widl boar, water mammals.

Here is a photograph taken this summer 2009:

Hydro electricity in the process of being set up using the river and the original Mill works.

The Mill Retreat Centre is located in spectacular grounds. It is a natures paradise, having all four main ecological groups: 1. Lake, 2. River 3. Woodlands 4.Wetlands habitats and garden area all in one area, making it teaming with wildlife. One can find: wild boar and deer, to trout, and Pike, to over 40 specious of birds. As well and many water mammals and a huge variety of plant life.

The Mill Retreat Centre was discovered by Kolinka Zinovieff in 2007, it was very run down and dilapidated, but a wonderful and exciting place with lots of potential. Much of the grounds looked like a one hundred year old thicket from a fairy tale: totally impenetrable.

Originally it was built in 1846 as a Camembert cheese factory which used the river ‘Bresle’ to power the cheese mixing process using an old hydro turbine located underneath the Mill where the canal goes. We are in the process of renovating this old 1880 turbine which is an extremely unusual and rare design. It has a vertical axis and the turbine wheel is permanently underwater, so one cannot even see it when it is in action. Even thought it was built 130 years ago the design and efficiency of this Turbine is nearly as good as modern design give or take 10%, an extraordinary feat of the European 1800s industrial revolution.