The historic Cotswold buildings of Baker’s Mill and Twissel’s Mill lie in the Golden Valley below Frampton Mansell. The Grade II Listed Property is mentioned in the Doomsday Book and recognised to be of outstanding interest.
Originally harnessing waterpower to grind corn, the mills were used to spin Cotswold wool or silk when weaving cloth for military uniforms became a major occupation in the terraced villages of Oakridge and Chalford nearby. You can still find teasels grown for teasing the wool in what is now a garden.
While golden Cotswold stone was hewn from two quarries on the property, oak beams and cut stone was brought from an disused abbey in Stroud to add a two storey wing to the main house in 1963.
Martin Neville spent the next fifty years preserving the unique national heritage of the site characterized by a series of Georgian tunnels, sluice gates and cascades that have attracted visitors from Holland, Germany, Belgium, USA and South Africa.
The valley includes sites of historic and scientific interest and there is easy access to a number of footpaths ideal for dog walking.
A steep path leads up to Jackdaw Bridge that take you across the Great Western Railway built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel around 1850. You can also walk along the decommissioned Thames and Severn Canal towpath either to the Daneway Tunnel below Sapperton or westwards past the village of Chalford and on to Stroud.
The main stone-roofed Cotswold stone building, with its elm spiral staircases and mullioned windows, dates from 1501.
You can see original wooden scaffold ends built into the stone and the number of original oak beams within where you find a huge fireplace.
The property has been used as film locations in dramas such as ‘The House of Elliot’, ‘Dark Secret’, ‘Cold Caller’, ‘The Durrells’ and ‘Arthur of the Britons’, along with popular television serials such as ‘Come Dine With Me’.
Nature programmes filmed on the property include ‘Animal Magic’, ‘Really Wild Show’, ‘Pet Nation’, ‘Velvet Claw’ and ‘A Day in the Life of the Otter’.
The view down the lake is lovely in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Sophie Neville learned to sail here, as mentioned in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)’.
Wildlife include mute swans, little egrets, grey heron, little grebe, mallard, kingfishers, dippers, yellow wagtails, foxes and otters.
Whilst being of specific interest to industrial archaeologists, the property has been used for photo-shoots and by groups of artists.
The garden features two small Cotswold stone buildings, unusual planters and sun dials.
Wrought iron gates have been added to the property over the years.
There are a number of rural pubs and restaurants nearby including The Bell at Sapperton, The Crown in Frampton Mansell, the Butchers Arms in Oakridge and The Daneway Inn, all of which are within walking distance.
Over the years, members of the Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology, Wiltshire Wildlife, Gloucestershire Wildlife, Worcestershire Wildlife, The Ramblers, The Canal Trust, Cirencester University, The Arthur Ransome Society have visited Bakers Mill, exploring the environs of the River Frome and impressive canal locks dating from 1786.
Bakers Mill has been profiled in Country Life and Listed Heritage Magazine
Twissel’s Mill has been converted into two self-contained appartments. There is a large one-bedroomed flat with an open-plan kitchen/sitting room on the top floor heated by a wood-burning stove.
Steps lead down to a self-contained studio apartment beyond which is an operational water turbine producing electricity on the ground floor of Twissel’s Mill.
The original mill wheel is long-gone but you can see interesting alcoves on the ground floor of Bakers Mill.
Twissels Mill and Bakers Mill on the River Froome
Information on these two early Cotswold mills can be found in a number of books published by the History Press including Stroud Through Time, Stroud and the Five Valleys and ‘Oakridge – A history’
There were once 200 water mills in the Stroud Valley
Bakers Mill has become a magical place
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Daphne Neville 