A cold morning to spend at the windmill.
It has been decided that Admission Fees will have to be increased for 2008. It will be our first increase since 2001, but it is always our intention to ensure that the windmill will always be a reasonably affordable place to visit. The fees will be £1.50 for an adult, and 75p for a child under the age of 16.
A local map showing routes to Lacey Green Windmill has now been added to the Information for Visitors page of this web site. The travel information for Road, Bus, Train, and Foot access has also been updated. The Map, Road Travel, Bus/Train/Foot Travel information is also available in pdf format suitable for printing. see Our Map.
In 2008, Brill Windmill is now opening to the public again, after it was closed for 2007.
This programme was due to visit the windmill on Sunday 6th April 2008. The Treasure Quest started by going to Buckingham instead of Princes Risborough. They then drove down to Aylesbury and circled around Lacey Green visiting Great Missenden, Bradenham and travelling through Princes Risborough on their way to Stoke Mandeville. Having been so close to us they never came up to Lacey Green, or Askett for their last clue. Earlier that morning we had about 3 inches of snow as can be seen on the photo below, so I spent a very cold morning at the windmill, whilst those expected circled around us. However to fill in some of their time, I did a very long radio interview about the windmill via my mobile phone.
A cold morning to spend at the windmill.
Unfortunately, one publication (that we had asked to include our details for opening during National Mills Weekend), printed the wrong date, stating that we would be open on Wednesday 7th May. This was then copied into at least one other magazine and a couple of websites. We arranged for corrections to be made to the dates shown wherever we knew it was wrong. We can only hope that anybody who had a wasted journey to see the windmill open, did come back another day when we were open.
There are some reports in the press which state that Lacey Green is the only windmill planning to have its sails turning on Sunday 11th May. This is not correct as Quainton windmill will hope to be milling and producing flour on that morning as they have now been doing for some time. Lacey Green is the only windmill planning to have its sails turning in the Chilterns, but as always, this strictly depends on the weather at the time.
During this annual weekend, which was on 10th and 11th May in 2008, as many mills as possible were open and working.
Lacey Green Windmill was open on the Sunday (11th May) only. Despite a lack of wind in the morning, the sails turned for most of a hot afternoon. Although the windmill has been restored to working order, due to the age of the wooden machinery in the windmill, we are not able to use the machinery to grind flour.
For a personal view of our day, when we welcomed 2 other organisations to the windmill, please click on NMW - 2008
Between Friday 6th June and Wednesday 11th June 2008 the body (or smock) and cap of Lacey Green windmill were painted black. This was done by a team of 4 of our committee members, together with 7 other volunteers, with 3 or 4 on site each day. We are very grateful to all of them for their help. In the photo below, Geoff and Michael are approaching the front of the sails, to reach in between them, to paint the front of the cap. For more details and pictures, click on Painting 2008
During the painting work in early June, we became aware that the fantail mechanism needed repairing after 25 years of service in turning the cap so that the main sails always face the wind in the very exposed position of Lacey Green windmill.
The fantail was removed on Friday 13th June, shown in the photo below. For more details and pictures, click on Fantail 2008
By the beginning of August, the repairs to the mechanism were complete and the fantail had been given a new coat of paint. The crane returned and replaced the fantail on Thursday 7th August, enabling the cap to turn into the wind once again. The photo below shows the repaired fantail on its way back up to the top of the windmill.
During this annual weekend, which was on 9th and 10th May in 2009, as many mills as possible were open and working.
Lacey Green Windmill was open on the Sunday (10th May) only. We did not have enough wind to keep the sails turning, but it was a dry day and plenty of visitors came to see the mill and the other attractions that were there for the day. Although the windmill has been restored to working order, due to the age of the wooden machinery in the windmill, we are not able to use the machinery to grind flour.
For my personal view of our day, click on: NMW - 2009
The weekend is coordinated by the Mills Section of SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings). For their information on National Mills Weekend click on: National Mills Weekend (this link is set to open in a new window or tab)
I am pleased to report that our Brown Tourist Signposts have been installed to direct visitors from the A4010, and once they arrive in Lacey Green, a sign directs them down Pink Road for parking, and another sign shows the location of the footpath to the windmill. As we are only open on around 25 afternoons each year, the signs are folded away at times the windmill is closed. We are very grateful to Buckinghamshire County Council, and the Chilterns Conservation Board for their assistance, enabling us to have these signs fitted. For further information on the Chilterns Conservation Board, click on: Chilterns AONB (this link is set to open in a new window or tab)
Between Saturday 15th and Sunday 23rd August five of our volunteers painted the sails of the windmill. We were extremely lucky to find a virtually fine week during another wet summer. We were also very grateful to be loaned a cherry-picker for the week to enable us to access the sails.
For further details of this painting project for 2009, click on: Painting - 2009
This page ( news-2008-2009.php ) was last updated on 16 February 2018.
The Chiltern Society is a Registered Charity No 1085163 and a Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England and Wales Registration No 4138448.