Lincolnshire windmills: Maud Foster, Boston

Lincolnshire has more working windmills that any other county in the UK, according to the Lincolnshire Mills Group, and the Petwood Hotel is well placed to visit many of them. We know of six which are within easy traveling range.

Mary Cook writes: Around 800 windmills were grinding flour for Lincolnshire’s inhabitants up to a century ago. But winds of change have blown across the county, leaving some mills in ruins while giving others a new lease of life. Local government organizations, charitable trusts and private enterprise have been working to convert them into tourist attractions.

Visit the Maud Foster Mill, Boston.

This windmill is close to Boston town centre – just off the A16/A52 Grimsby/Skegness road and there is a free car park for mill visitors. On foot the windmill is a 10 minute stroll from the market square and the historic Boston Stump church. It’s hard to miss! The mill is privately owned but is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays until the end of September and Summer Bank Holiday, August 25. Boston is about half an hour by car, or an hour by bus (from opposite the Woodhall Spa police station.)

You can climb all 7 floors and see flour being made in the traditional way by wind-power in this mill, one of the tallest in the British Isles, and there is a mill shop where you can buy organic flour, porridge oats, local history books and a variety of good quality souvenirs.