Followers of our Blog may recall my earlier posts regarding our neighbouring mill, the Smock Mill at Swaffham Prior. James Forsyth, the owner is making fantastic progress with his project to return the mill to working order, to generate electricity.

Sails & Cap Come Off

Back in March, millwright Tim Whiting took down the sails, stocks and mill cap.

Work Commences to the new Cap Circle & Cap Frame

Meanwhile at the International Boat Building Training College at Lowestoft, work has commenced to build the cap circle (which is fixed to the top of the smock tower) and the new cap which will replace the cap you’ve seen being removed:

Once this was completed, the cap frame was built and mounted on the new curb:

Now, the cap spars and upper frame is taking shape:

We look forward to sharing more of this fantastic story in readiness for the day when Swaffham Prior can boast two working mills working together, side by side!

Keen eyed locals may have noticed that the mill sails have been resting at an unusual angle this past week. This is because we have been paying our respects to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in the traditional way.

For centuries, windmills have communicated messages to local communities by leaving the sails at rest in particular positions. The mourning position as shown above (taken this week) shows the top sails just over the highest point – showing life is “going down hill”, there is a reason for mourning.

When the top sail is set just before it reaches the highest point, there are reasons to celebrate, a birth has taken place or a marriage.

The image above is borrowed from our Dutch colleagues (who share the same symbols): Top Left = the miller is taking a short rest

Top Right – the miller is taking a longer rest (how the mill is usually left between milling sessions)

Bottom Left = reason to celebrate and Bottom Right = mourning.

Maintenance Progressing

You can also see in the photo above that we have made progress over the last three weeks repairing cracks in the mill tower and repointing where chunks of brickwork have split away due to frost damage over the winter. The north face of the mill is particularly susceptible to frost damage and was hit badly this year. So, we make the repairs, and then re-coat the tower in a tar-like substance to keep it water-tight.

The underside of the fanstage has also had a new coat of paint and the metalwork which supports the fan frame has been cleaned and painted!

If you’ve had to wait a little longer for your flour over the last couple of weeks, our apologies! We had a bumper crop of orders over Easter and also had to divide our time between milling and maintenance whilst we were loaned a Cherry Picker to enable us to access the outside of the tower. Normal service has now resumed!

In this week’s update from Priors Flour HQ I’m pleased to update everyone on teeth – thankfully, not the miller’s molars, but the re-coging of the stonenut of the West millstones in the mill!

Now for the blog post I’ve put off writing!

With the 2020 harvest wheat now in production the increased prices of grain due to the poor 2020 harvest have now rippled through the production system. With this increased cost and other costs, in particular shipping costs having increased on the 1st January 2021, I am afraid I need to announce some small increases in our prices which will be effective from the 1st March 2021.

You may have read in the autumn of 2020 that grain prices had significantly increased due to the poor 2020 harvest. Our farmers have had to pass these costs on to us too and, whilst we have not passed all these costs on, we have had to adjust our prices accordingly.

We hope you will understand – the new prices will be visible from the 1st March 2021, both online and in the shop.

Over the New Year, we have transitioned from our 2019 harvest milling wheat to our 2020 harvest milling wheat.

As followers will know from previous blog posts, we carry out a series of controlled baking tests to assess a number of different samples of milling wheat from different farms in order to decide on the wheat with the best qualities and taste for you, our customers! We then purchase around 50 tonnes of wheat to see us through the year until the next harvest comes along.

The 2020 harvest proved a challenging one. Some of you will have watched my videos showing Samples A and B being put through their paces. Sadly, sample A which was the front runner failed some all-important mycotoxin tests. This was a sample from Cambridgeshire, so we were mightily disappointed, as was the farmer!

Introducing Adrian Steele & Chapel Farm, Netherton

After some further searching we received samples from Adrian Steele’s farm – Chapel Farm, Netherton, Worcestershire. We were delighted with the test bake results and so, we have now introduced his Mulika 2020 crop into production.

The Steele family has been growing wheat at Chapel Farm, in the Vale of Evesham Worcestershire, since the 1930’s. It’s deep alluvial clay soils are suited for traditional mixed farming,  and the farm became certified organic with the Soil Association in the 1980’s. Cattle and sheep graze the clover rich pastures and the mixture of crops include vegetables and flowers,  plums, Spelt wheat, milling rye, milling oats, and wheat varieties suitable for biscuits and bread. The high conservation values of the farm can be enjoyed by the public via a network of bridle ways and footpaths.

The Results

It is always great to also be able to showcase the flour and some of our customer’s fantastic bread baking skills. Here are some photos of loaves made by Stewart Travers using the 2020 harvest Prior’s White & Prior’s Rye flours.

Buy our 2020 harvest flours here! Please note – our product photos are not yet updated with the new harvest farm information.