Winchester City Mill has stood at the heart of the historic city of Winchester – the capital of Kind Alfred’s Wessex – since Saxon times. With a history of over 1000 years, Winchester City Mill is also the oldest working watermill in the country.

A rare surviving example of an urban working corn mill, the City Mill was rebuilt in 1744 and remained in use until the early 20th Century. Having entered the care of the National Trust in the late 1920’s, the City Mill was restored to full working order in 2004.

I had a pre breakfast walk, retracing my steps from the previous evening on the off chance that I might spot the missing Radley charm. As expected, I didn’t but I enjoyed walking in the early morning sunshine along the almost deserted streets of Winchester.

When breakfast arrived it was not as we expected. Yesterday the breakfast items had been on the plate and toast on a platter in the middle of the table, but today toast was served on the plate with the breakfast. This meant that the plate with the full English breakfast was piled high with toast. One order was asked for only one egg please but two arrived with more bacon than we had had the previous day. The phrase is breakfast was inconsistent, we couldn’t guarantee what we were going to get each day.

Before the 11.15pm Easter morning Eucharist service we took a stroll around Winchester taking in the Dean Garnier gardens and listening to the church bells ringing out. The weather was glorious. We returned to the Cathedral and had to line up and queue a short distance away. The Matins service that started at 10pm was still taking place as the congregation for the following service was arriving…

Eventually the earlier service finished and we were allowed to enter the Cathedral. We were a bit underwhelmed by the service as it fell short in the appropriate ceremony for what is a joyous occasion. The procession didn’t walk the full length of the church, proceeding only as far as the dignitaries before returning to the front of the church.

A lot of tea shops were closed but we found a lovely cafe located up a side street, one we had not been to before, Cafe Winchester. There was a great selection of food; I opted for courgette cake which was delicious. The sandwiches that Mr C and mum chose were thick cut and huge! Mr C decided to have a milkshake which he slurped noisily (on purpose), much to the amusement of the staff.

After lunch we walked to the Winchester City Mill where milling was taking place. The garden was open (it had been closed due to flooding on our previous visit) and the water was in full flow. There were staff on hand explaining about the mill and the visiting otters which they film and record on a webcam. It was a much better experience than our previous visit.

Next we made our way back towards our accommodation stopping off at St Swithun Upon Kingsgate Church before visiting the Saint George Tea Room where we ordered tea and a hot cross bun. Two arrived and when we queried this we were told that a portion consisted of two. It is a good job there were three of us!

We relaxed in our room before dining in Rick Stein’s Restaurant. I chose fishcakes which were delicious. As we were leaving an Australian couple from Newcastle near Sydney started talking to us after the lady commented on my mum’s cardigan. The couple were on a tour around the UK and their next stop was Chester before moving north to Scotland. We were asked if the rail route they had chosen was the best one; they needed to take a convoluted route because Euston Station was closed due to engineering works.

We had a drink in the William Walker pub where we received a warm welcome before returning to our room for the evening.

The Winchester City Mill is a restored water mill situated on the River Itchen in the centre of the ancient English city of Winchester. The mill is owned by the National Trust.

The mill was first recorded, milling corn, in the Domesday Book of 1086. The mill was last rebuilt in 1744 and remained in use until the early 1900s. The mill was then used as a laundry until 1928 when it was offered for sale. In order to prevent its demolition, a group of benefactors bought the mill and presented it to the National Trust. In 1932 the mill was leased to the Youth Hostels Association for use as a hostel, a usage that continued until recently.

In 2004, a 12 year restoration program came to a successful conclusion, and after a hiatus of at least 90 years the mill again milled flour by water power. The water wheel can be seen working daily throughout the year and flour milling is demonstrated every weekend of the year, and most Wednesdays during the Summer.

After breakfast it was time to resume our walking tour around Winchester, taking in the sites that were on our ‘To Do’ list. We made our way to the Cathedral which we intended to revisit but when we arrived we noticed a long queue leading to the closed front doors of the Cathedral. Our immediate thought is that there must be a morning service about to take place. We decided to carry along the route and come back later. Whilst I was taking a photograph around the side of the Cathedral Mr C got chatting to a lady who was parking her bicycle, she informed him that the service about to take place was the ordination of the new Bishop of Basingstoke.

We carried on along our planned route and as we passed Winchester College we noticed that a guided tour was  due to start in 30 minutes. We walked on to the new Bishop’s residence and Wolvesey Castle (the Old Bishop’s Palace).  We wandered around the ruins until it was time to make our way back to the college.  The tour was extremely interesting, our guide was very knowledgeable and informative.  There were only  three of us on the tour which added to the experience.

After the tour we made our way back to the Cathedral for morning coffee as we arrived there we realised that the service was due to finish shortly. After coffee we waited to see if we could get a glimpse of the Archbishop of Canterbury in front of the Cathedral. We weren’t disappointed. I was so close I could have stepped through the gate and shook his hand.

Lunch in in the guild hall was was rather chaotic due to it being full of people who had attended the service in the Cathedral. I had a  cheese and chive scone with chutney, it was delicious. After lunch we visited Winchester City Mill and took a walk alongside the river Itchen.  We then retraced our steps and visited the Cathedral to explore things I had missed on the first visit. When I had finished my explorations I was rushed to Peninsular Barracks so that Mr C could visit the Royal Green Jackets Museum to see the Waterloo diorama. On arrival we found that this part of the museum was closed in preparation for a new Waterloo exhibition that will be displayed in 2015 to celebrate the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo.

After all that walking we returned to the hotel to put our feet up and relax before a return visit to The Old Vyne for our evening meal in Winchester.