We spotted Rye Windmill when we had a brief visit to Rye when we holidayed in Chichester last year. It was near to where we had parked our car and as we walked past the windmill we found out that it was a B&B. How quaint. The mill has an interesting history:

The distinctive and famous Rye Mill is a grade-two listed building and has been the inspiration for artists and photographers throughout the centuries. It occupies an historic site in Gibbet’s Marsh where a windmill has stood, in one form or another, since at least the sixteenth century. The Symondons map of Rye created in 1594 shows an illustration of a windmill in the exact spot where today’s mill now stands. Copies can be seen in Rye Town Hall and in the guesthouse.

The first recorded owner of a Rye Mill was Thomas Chatterton who built a ‘post mill’ in 1758. After his death his widow, Mary, passed it on to a Frederick Barry who demolished the ‘post mill’ in 1820 to erect a ‘Smock Mill’, similar to the one we see today. Milling continued until 1912 when the premises became a bakery. Eventually to be owned by the Webbs, a well regarded family of Rye bakers who were to become custodians of the Windmill for over 60 years.

Unfortunately, on a Friday 13th in 1930, the ovens of the bakery overheated and destroyed the wooden structure on the mill, leaving just the two story brick base. The mill was reconstructed in 1932 and it continued as a bakery until 1976. The ovens were put to good use when the mill became a pottery. The original oven doors can be seen in the base of the Windmill, behind what is now the bar.

The Mill first became a B&B guesthouse in 1984. Since then the Mill has gone through many improvements and, today, its present owners aim to carry on making The Rye Windmill a memorable venue and unforgettable experience for all patrons.

The Moulin de Cugarel is an intact and restored 17th-century windmill. Typical of the 32 mills built here with the arrival of Riquet’s canal, the Cugarel was in use until 1921.

The top and roof (capelado) of the mill rotates, with a gear mechanism controlled by the miller to keep the 7-m long sails directed into the wind. The mill was restored in 1962, with complete with working interior. The giant millstones were turned at 60 revolutions per minute, producing three 50-kg sacks of flour per hour.

Sadly it was now time to say goodbye to Carcassonne and return to the airport for the journey back home.  We took a leisurely drive along the A roads and stopped off in the quaint town of Saint-Papoul in order to visit the abbey. We then continued our journey and stopped at Castelnaudary where we didn’t quite find the cathedral but we did find an unexpected windmill!! Along the way we picked up a cheese and ham baguette for lunch which we ate on a picnic bench at a service station.

After that we made our way back to the airport stopping for petrol on the way before finally dropping of the hire car. After all that we thought we were a little late for checking in but we found we were half an hour early. The flight times had been given in UK times rather than local times

I inadvertently managed to choose a seat that was in the emergency exit isle and was advised on how to open the emergency exit if a problem arose… Then I was asked ‘are you still happy sitting here’. Well of course I was for more than one reason. And in any case there were going to be no problems There was thick cloud throughout the journey until we came into land. At this point we were treated to some amazing cloud formations and gaps creating interesting views of the land below. My camera had been stowed away by this time…

Luck was with us and we were off the plane, baggage collected, onto the shuttle bus to the car within 20 minutes of landing. All that remained was for us to pick up our car key from the airport parking and head for home.