The quirky Yorkshire B&B built into a Grade-II listed, 18th century corn mill

There is nothing run of the mill about Jane and Neil McNair’s unusual home in the Yorkshire Dales. Heather Dixon reports.
The B&B has been popular with people shunning holidays abroad in faour of holidaying in the UK since the coronavirus pandemicThe B&B has been popular with people shunning holidays abroad in faour of holidaying in the UK since the coronavirus pandemic
The B&B has been popular with people shunning holidays abroad in faour of holidaying in the UK since the coronavirus pandemic

The Great British staycation could not have worked out better for Jane and Neil McNair.

Their multi-award winning B&B in Bainbridge, in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, has been attracting holiday makers like bees to a honeypot since lockdown restrictions were lifted. In fact they are so busy that they are taking bookings well into next year to cater for the wave of staycationers who are opting to holiday in Britain rather than risk travelling abroad.

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“We’re rushed off our feet,” says Neil. "It’s really taken us by surprise."

The B&B is inside an 18th Century, Grade-II listed corn millThe B&B is inside an 18th Century, Grade-II listed corn mill
The B&B is inside an 18th Century, Grade-II listed corn mill

It comes as no surprise, however, to those who return again and again to this quirky accommodation which has won a string of awards including, most recently, Food and Travel magazine awards winner 2019, Good Hotel Guide editors’ choice for quirky hotels 2020, Deliciously Yorkshire’s winner of the “Best use of local produce on a menu” category and White Rose award winners in 2017 for best Guest Accommodation.

Drawn by the warm welcome and eclectic surroundings of the McNair’s grade II listed, 18 th century converted corn mill, visitors have been giving it the thumbs up ever since the couple came to Yorkshire for a weekend break – and made a decision which was to transform their lives.

“After 20 years in London we were thinking of moving to the country to run a B&B, but had no intention of moving north,” says Jane. “When Neil saw the details for the mill in an agent’s window I just rolled my eyes thinking he was mad, but we came to see it anyway.”

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The mill had been empty for three years so it was cold, dark and damp – the kitchen and bathroom were particularly basic. It had been renovated in the early 1980s and had changed very little since, but the best bit was the mill mechanism.

Low Mill Guest House in BainbridgeLow Mill Guest House in Bainbridge
Low Mill Guest House in Bainbridge

The mill wheel, the cogs and two huge grindstones were still in working order and featured through three stories of the property.

“We loved it,” says Jane. “We had renovated several houses in London and we knew it could be brilliant.”

Neil was running a building company and Jane was managing a veterinary practice in London at the time, but the lure of the Dales was too powerful to resist. Within a week the property was theirs and they moved north, cramming all their furniture into one room while they decided what to do with the mill.

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“We sold our old house quite quickly so there was no turning back, but the mill is in such a beautiful location that we knew we were doing the right thing,” says Jane.

The mill wheel, the cogs and two huge grindstones were still in working order and featured through three stories of the property when the McNair's took over the propertyThe mill wheel, the cogs and two huge grindstones were still in working order and featured through three stories of the property when the McNair's took over the property
The mill wheel, the cogs and two huge grindstones were still in working order and featured through three stories of the property when the McNair's took over the property

They created a bedroom, bathroom and sitting room in the attic area first so that they had somewhere to escape to as the mill became a building site.

“It was like living on a film set, sitting up there in comfort while everywhere else it was chaos,” said Neil. “We left the room layout pretty much as it was but we had to apply for planning

Consent to change the use in the parts that were not residential. The previous owner was quite well known for his dolls house collection, so one room had been used like a museum and other rooms had been left just as they were when it was a working mill.”

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Jane and Neil were able to do a lot of the renovation work themselves, which involved taking it right back to the stone walls inside. They took out ceilings, installed new windows and laid new floors.

Low Mill Gues House in Bainbridge has won a number of awardsLow Mill Gues House in Bainbridge has won a number of awards
Low Mill Gues House in Bainbridge has won a number of awards

They decided to leave some of the walls as bare stone to reflect its history, then plastered and insulated the rest. They also sandblasted clean all the oak beams, which took about three weeks of intensive work because there are so many. Local trades people did the electrics and plumbing.

A lot of the work was carried out in the middle of winter. “It was absolutely freezing and we had very little heat but our old lurcher dog suffered most. We had to put him in three coats to keep him warm,” recalls Jane.

“We didn’t want to lose any of the character of Low Mill so we were very keen to make features of the workings, the three foot thick walls and the huge beams.”

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Neil cleaned all the mechanisms of the mill and painted the water wheel because he wanted to make sure it stayed in full working order.

“It’s a great talking point with guests because they all want to see the water wheel and the grind stones turning. They don’t make a huge amount of noise – just a gentle rumbling in the background,” he said.

Although they had to refit the kitchen, there was a beautiful old range in there which was dismantled by a local company, cleaned and refitted in the sitting room fireplace to create a lovely focal point.

The house has evolved with a mixture of furniture from their old house, and things specifically bought for Low Mill.

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“We don’t have a particular style and we buy most things from auctions,” says Jane. “We like individual things but we also found that we had to think big when we bought new furniture. The mill has large rooms with high ceilings so small furniture would have looked completely lost. We definitely like to shop around. We don’t have a particular style so we buy things that we see and really like then somehow it all fits together. With a building like this there is no guide. It’s a blank canvas open to interpretation.”

Low Mill was built in 1785 and still has the original working machinery inside. The River Bain runs past and turns the restored water wheel, which in turn moves the corn grinding wheels in the sitting room. The three-foot thick walls have stood the test of time.

Low Mill Guest House, tel: 01969 650553, lowmillguesthouse.co.uk

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