In the woods

After a heavy weekend with my better half's family it's taken a couple of days to repay the sleep overdraft, but a good blast on the mountain bike and exploring on foot got rid of a few more cobwebs just before lunch. There's a ruined abandoned hamlet in the woods that i went to have another look at with fewer leaves on the trees. The owner might be persuaded to sell, but I wasn't sure about its siting on the hill when I first found it this summer, so I went for another look. It would need a lot of plantation trees cut down around it, but after that it could sit quite nicely, although it would get little morning sun.

Later on I passed a track that I seemed to remember headed down to a ruined mill complex alongside the Doulon. I was a bit out in my mental map, but found it anyway. It's more complex and fascinating than I first thought, and seems to have several layers of development and the remains of a small footbridge, maybe big enough for a horse but not a cart. I don't know what information I can find out about it (or water mills generally) locally or on the web. Worth a try. It reminds me of neighbours who have built their own house having failed to find a water mill in anything like restorable condition. It would be ambitious, but ...