Savills Portugal

Representing some of our earliest industrial buildings, mills are embedded within British architectural history, with the first documented use of water mills dating back to the Romano-British period. Initially used for grinding grain, the number of mills increased rapidly during medieval and post-medieval times, when they started to take on more industrial functions, such as cloth and paper manufacture.

Despite falling out of use by the early 20th century, mill buildings remain a feature of rural and urban landscapes today. They have a lot to offer architecturally, thanks to their inherent character, high ceilings and spacious layouts, and therefore lend themselves very well to conversion into homes.

The beauty of a mill conversion, however, is about more than the building itself – it’s about its location. Mills were more often than not built on their own in rural but well-connected areas. Water mills have a magical charm in that they sit alongside running water. Not only does the sound of water trickling down a mill stream or rushing into a mill pond relax even the busiest of minds, its presence normally means an array of wildlife.

Souldern Mill in Oxfordshire, below, is a classic example. Surrounded by farmland, the original downstream mill race and millstream runs two sides of the gardens, and the mill pond is a haven for kingfishers, ducks and swallows to name a few.

Here is our selection of the finest mill conversions currently on the market.