Connect with your Heritage at Suffolk's Oldest Water Mill!

Pakenham Water Mill is the oldest surviving flour mill in Suffolk, where once there were many.

There has been a watermill in Pakenham for almost a thousand years

The oldest surviving working water mill in Suffolk is one of the highlights of your visit to the Bury St Edmunds area.

Pakenham Water Mill, which dates back almost 1000-years, is owned by the Suffolk Buildings Preservation Trust, a registered charity, and run by volunteers.

The water mill was voted in the top three best landmark sites in Britain by readers of the BBC Countryfile magazine in 2019.

Streams coming from parishes to the west of Pakenham merge and are channelled across Pakenham Fen to feed into the beautiful millpond. This water provides the power to turn the mill’s great iron waterwheel and drive the millstones.

Flour milling goes on all the year round and the mill is open to visitors during the summer months. Inside the mill all the machinery is visible (and safely guarded) and a friendly guide will show you round and explain how it all works.

Visitors can watch as the mill produces it’s renowned stone-ground wholemeal flour, which is then available to buy with a range of other flours and gifts in the shop. The tearoom sells refreshments and freshly made cakes.

Outside a circular walk takes in a recently planted orchard of fruit trees while a wildlife area on the bank of the mill pond is particularly popular with children and home to frogs, toads, slow worms, and insects.

For more details about the water mill including visiting times and events, visit www.pakenhamwatermill.org.uk