tried & tested

This weekend I arranged to meet the legendary Auntie JenJen (godmother-extraordinaire to my youngest, and sister-from-another-mister to myself) at Jordan’s Mill for a Saturday morning catchup with the boys. Just 20 minutes away from myself in Ickleford and 40 mins for her from Peterborough, it’s an ideal location, not only due to the distance, but it’s also a great child-friendly place to meet up with friends.

Never one to miss a ‘Tried and Tested’ opportunity, I dropped a message to Jordan's Mill and asked if it would be possible to have a tour of the Mill so I could do a writeup for the website, and they very kindly agreed. I’ve been meaning to take the boys to Jordan’s Mill for a long time, and sadly we missed their Summer Trail this year (spoiler alert- there’ll be a Halloween Trail soon!), but despite having missed it,  I still found there was plenty to keep the boys entertained there.

When we arrived, I parked in the main car park, where you can walk along the road by the river or through the garden trail. We opted for the garden trail, it’s only a couple of minutes’ walk and fairly easy with a buggy. I must point out at this point that we were politely waiting in the car for Auntie JenJen so she wouldn’t have to walk alone, then got a text from her asking where we were as she was already inside. There was only one other empty car in the car park, and no one had arrived after us, so how did she do that?! I forgot there is a car park at the front of the mill too where you can park, so there’s a tip for you to try there first as it's much closer, and if full, head to the main car park instead.

Once we’d located her, we explored the gardens, which are beautifully kept with flowers, shrubs, plus fruit trees and bushes. With pathways throughout, it’s an ideal place for little ones to run off some steam and explore.

We then popped in to the gift shop as the boys had some money from Grandad and were desperate to spend it. After buying a truck and a ball, they then enjoyed racing them down the ramp from the gardens, which kept them amused!

We headed through the back of the gardens to the grassy area across the river from the café, to look at the ducks and roll down the hill (them, not me) and then followed the trail towards the woods.

The boys enjoyed walking along the wooden balance beams and then spotted the Bug House, so went running off towards that. After bug spotting, we went in to the little woodland area where they enjoyed climbing aboard the wooden truck and hiding in the den. It’s a lovely little area to explore with children.

We were booked for our tour of the Mill at 11am so we headed back for that and were met by the lovely Geetha, our Tour Guide. Not only was it Geetha’s first day, it was also her first tour and you’d never have known, given her extensive knowledge and enthusiasm in telling us all about the history of the mill!

We began outside, where she explained all about the building, the river and how the mill operated, before we went inside the mill and explored and learnt about the 3 floors of machinery and how it all came together as a fully-working mill until as recently as the year 2000.

I won’t spoil the anecdotes, but the whole tour was really fascinating and the boys were engaged throughout as Geetha really involved them and brought it to life for them. To have a 2 year and 5 year old enjoy a tour that was 45 minutes was no mean feat!

Throughout the mill, they’d hidden toy rats, which the boys had to spot and then tell the staff in the gift shop how many they’d seen in order to win a prize. It was a really great way to make it fun for them and they loved spotting the rats throughout the mill, particularly one sneaky hiding one! (I won’t spoil the surprise).  

You can pre-book a tour by email here or book on the day. Tours run Thursday – Sunday (weekend tours are a new addition). There’s a choice of guided tours (this is what we did) at 11am and 2pm for £7.50 each (children are free) or a self-guided tour for £5.50. On a guided tour, you’ll be shown round by a knowledgeable and friendly tour guide, who will take you on a fascinating tour of the Mill museum including a demonstration of the milling machinery and tales of the Jordan family’s journey from farming and milling to cereals. Or you can browse the Mill at your own leisure and try a self-guided leaflet which takes you around the Mill museum, floor by floor, for just £5.50. Tickets can be purchased from the Mill Shop. 

 

Following our tour, we headed to the café for lunch. It’s a beautiful setting, with outdoor seating overlooking the river, plus a spacious café area inside. We sat inside near the window overlooking the river- it was great to see an area with colouring things for the boys to keep themselves entertained as lunchtimes can be challenging with a 2 year old who now won't sit still for more than 2 seconds. All hail Auntie JenJen who had also brought magazines with stickers for them! There’s a great selection of food and drinks, including lunchboxes for children that consisted of a sandwich, crisps, Jordan’s cereal bar, raisins, cheese and a drink, so finding lunch to suit everyone was easy.

We had a really lovely time at Jordan’s Mill and I would definitely recommend it as a family trip- an absolute local gem that I wish I had gone to sooner. We will definitely be back!    

Check out the Reel I've also done on Instagram of our trip.

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