June 18, 2025: Combe Mill

(written on June 20 and 22 by Devri)

We had an early morning, which was a little rough after our later night previously. Some of us were really dragging, but we had a train to catch! We walked to King’s Cross Station, got our printed tickets from the ticket stand, and rushed to catch the metro to Paddington Station so we could catch our high speed train out past Oxford. 

The problem was that King’s Cross is a huge station where most of the lines connect, and London, we learned has a LOT of lines. We went all the way down an escalator only to discover that the line we needed wasn’t with those others down there. We asked some people where to go, and eventually found the right train. Thankfully, our turnaround time to catch our next train was enough that we had no problems getting on our western bound train with our actual reserved seats (that were expensive). 

Reserved seats on our western bound train

We enjoyed seeing more of the English Countryside on our drive, and got off at the tiny station of Hanborough. It was super tiny—no ticket station, no bathrooms, no nothing. We felt a little lost there, so thank goodness for smart phones! By this point, I really needed a water closet, and the station I was counting on to have one didn’t have one! We found the bus stop we needed, and there was a Mini Cooper dealership across the street. I went inside and asked if I could use their bathroom, and the sweet receptionist said, “Of course you can!” Bless her! And I didn’t even have to pay for it!

While we waited for our bus, a mom and her little son arrived to catch the same bus. She told us how we could buy our bus ticket, and explained that “It’s so hot today, I decided not to send the kids to school.” It only got to 80 degrees, but apparently, that’s quite the heat wave for England. She said a real scorcher is 86 degrees (she actually used Celsius, and we used a converter on our phones to communicate temperature comparisons). 

Our bus arrived, and we learned you have to kind of wave it down (thank you, random English mom!), and we bought a day pass for the bus, which turned out to be a very good thing. We rode the bus for a couple of miles, and then we walked another 20 minutes to Combe Mill. We walked on narrow roads with high hedgerows. We saw beautiful farming fields and some old stone houses that the Cotswolds are famous for. The morning was quite cool and pleasant. 

Bus to near Combe Mill

The Walk to Combe Mill

We arrived at the mill a little before 10, and found out it doesn’t open until 10:30. We knew this was an old mill that had displays and demonstrations. We were mostly going so that Michael could have a blacksmithing experience, and we hoped the rest of us could find interesting things to do while he worked in the forge. Everyone sat down in some shade after we arrived, but I went around the old buildings to investigate if the forge might be open since his experience was supposed to start at 10. I found a bustle of elderly workers trimming hedges, putting bunting up around this little shack. I signaled everyone to join me in the back, and we got our first introduction to the mill.

Basically, the volunteers all come on Wednesdays to work. They do maintenance, yard work, and things like that, and they decided that since they were all there working, they would open the mill for visitors while they worked. So, people were mostly working, and they would stop and answer our questions and help us out. Since they were all volunteers, they were all pretty passionate and proud of everything around. 

The mill itself was a funny hodgepodge of things. They have the old water wheel, and the old steam engine, and the blacksmith shop, but there is clutter and things everywhere. It’s like if my grandparents decided to do tours of their wood shop and farm back home, but with slightly more organization. There was a little tea shop that served scones and simple sandwiches at lunch, and there was a station of puzzles and STEAM activities in the upper floor of the museum. There was a stream and a path into the nearby woods. It was a delightful place, but not quite what I was expecting, and yet somehow, exactly how I thought it would be. 

When I was planning this trip, Michael mentioned how he wished he could find an old fashioned forge and learn some blacksmithing, so I did some google searching for blacksmiths in and around London who taught classes to teens, and that’s how I found Combe Mill. We did some emailing back and forth, and we ended up needing to wire money to them to pay for the class. It was clear that they weren’t up to date on all things modern, so we also made sure to bring cash here, just in case. 

The craft fair/booth at Combe Mill

The men working the blacksmith shop told us we should put in our orders for lunch, so after doing that, we got Michael squared away. He got safety glasses, a leather apron, and gloves. Robin, his teacher, walked him through some safety things, and then got him working and learning about the forge. The objective for the day was to make a fire poker, a toasting fork, and a wall hook. When we had reached out to the Mill about their Blacksmithing experience, they said most teens only make it through the poker before they are too tired to continue, so we were interested to see how far Michael would make it. We even took some theoretical bets about it. Most of us thought he’d be able to do all three. 

Robin showing Michael how to prep and light the forge

If I had a hammer....

They had said online that teens in the blacksmith experience needed to have a parent with them at all times, but they were really flexible and let us explore the mill and some of the surrounding areas together while Michael was in the shop. We’d come and check on him throughout, taking pictures and videos of his progress. 

We enjoyed interacting with all the workers. They reminded me of all my Ririe neighbors and relatives. I’m learning that small town folk are the same wherever you go—hard working and kind. We enjoyed eating our first real homemade British scones with jam and clotted cream. The kids enjoyed hanging out in the tinkering station where we learned about how compressed air can move things. We did puzzles, and Rachel spent a lot of time coloring, saying she missed being able to do it. 

English scones and clotted cream

I'm drooling just thinking about this

Adding twists to the hot iron

Working on the poker

The old water wheel

The old water wheel that ran the mill back in the day

Upstairs STEAM activities

Working on the toasting fork

We all ate lunch together when Michael and his tutor went on lunch break. Our lunch was sandwiches and chips put together by the cute ladies in the tea shop. Before we ate lunch, I went with Michael upstairs to where the wood shop was (along with the rest of our family). When Michael found the old woodworking tools, he was SO excited. They had a foot powered scroll saw. He showed the workers the pictures of the lathe that he made back home, and the worker said, “Oh, you’ve got a Pull lathe” and Michael excitedly said, “They know its name! They actually know what it’s called!” I said, “You found your people!” To which he responded, “I found my people! I’m just going to stay here from now on.” (Or something to that effect.) He was like a kid in a candy shop. The worker then went, “Do you want to turn some wood?” And I had to say, “Not until after lunch!” He was so happy up there!

Michael checking out the carpentry stuff upstairs during his lunch break

We ate our sandwiches on a picnic table under the trees by the river along with all the volunteer workers, and it made me pretty happy. 

The mill is owned by the Blenheim Estate, home to the Duke of Marlborough. Interestingly enough, Blenheim Palace was where Winston Churchill was born. We enjoyed walking around the Blenheim grounds, pretending we were guests of this distinguished family, exploring the woods and hoping that the bugs wouldn’t bite us too much. 

On our walk through the woods

So many tadpoles!

The marsh in the woods behind the mill

The woods on the Blenheim Estate

Walking and snacking

We came across a cliff/rock wall, and we couldn’t decide if it was natural or remnants of an old man-made wall. Some of the stones looked cut by man, but it was difficult to tell. In front of the cliff wall was a fire ring, and next to it, a little shelter. This was either a very fun spot for a kid or teen to hang out with buddies, or it was the scene of someone who got stranded in the woods in a storm or something. 

Man-made wall or cliff?

After our walk in the woods, we checked on Michael again. He soon had all three projects finished, and then we gave him some time to go explore the wood shop. 

Working on the hook

Finished!!

Certificate from completing the class

I was feeling a bit wiped, thanks to the cold I was still fighting, and so I ended up sitting on a bench in the shade and reading, and then moving to a chair in the tea shop when my back decided it had had enough of the bench. Brian and Gabe eventually joined us. Rachel took advantage of the paper and markers and just colored the hours away. 

The old Beam engine

Coloring the afternoon away

Working in the carpentry shop

Brian learning about how clocks work

Michael totally in his element

Timeline of the Mill

Michael turned wood. Brian looked up train times and booked our train back. Soon, it was time to begin our trek back to the bus station.

Rachel, Gabe, and I got a ten minute head start on the walk because I wanted to take my time. Brian and Michael caught up to us not far from the bus stop. I took a picture of Rachel by a Savill house selling sign before they caught up to us. 

Quick photo on our way out

Wanna guess where the Saville family originated? (Brian's pioneer ancestors added the "le" to the end at some point because they thought it was more distinguished.)

We took the bus to the train station, walked down the hill to the sparse station, only to discover that our train had been canceled, and so had the one an hour later. So, we had to figure out what to do. I told Brian we should take the bus to Oxford, and get a train from there. So, we walked back up to the bus stop and waited for it to come pick us up, and then rode the bus for another 45 minutes to an hour to Oxford, which was okay because we got to see more of the little nearby towns, including the beautiful Woodstock. We had to book a regional train from Oxford back to London, so it took much longer to get back than we had originally anticipated. We splurged on a taxi from Kings Cross Station back to our place, and grabbed some frozen dinners from the co-op across the street to eat for dinner. 

I was really grateful that this was the first time (and only time) that one of our trains didn’t work out, and it happened at the end of our plans so it didn’t throw off plans (except getting Gabe to bed on time). It also happened in an English speaking country and after we had already figured out the bus system and had a ticket for the day. It was a beautiful little detour.  

It was a random little excursion to this random little mill out in Oxfordshire, but Michael told me that it was his favorite thing from this whole trip, so I’m really glad we figured it out, that they had things for all of us to do, and that it all worked out.