Combe Mill

This just didn't appeal to me and my wife. If you like events with Morris Dancers, men with beards, and women spinning wool and running the tea room, then maybe it will appeal to you more. £7.50 entry is expensive in my opinion - there was a mention of doing your own forging but that would have been an additional £10 and no one was even doing it. We've previously had fascinating discussions with people running restored steam engines (at different places) so I expected something a bit more engaging.

We went on a steam day (when everything was running) and it was great fun, there were multiple stalls set up around the area selling a range of arts and crafts. They had a lovely barbeque where they served a delicous burger piled high with home grown vegetables and with a gluten free bun, then we settled down to watch traditional Morris Dancers for a while before going in to the mill itself and listening to a talk on the history of the mill. After this we looked around the workshop and enjoyed watching the steam engines and water wheel turning, to top it all off for £10 or £6 if you are u16 we got the chance to work on a historic forge to take home a toasting fork or a poker.

Disappointing. Only open 10.30-3pm. Probably would be nice when it's open. You can just about see the idle machinery through a dingey window at the front. You cant access the adjoining meadow because it is claimed by the sprawling Blenheim Palace estate and gated off. At least it was pleasingly quiet and absent of people, but little else going for it.

We loved this place on our first visit. Our second (with grandchildren) was even better. It's difficult to describe just how good this place is, a time-capsule of Victorian technologies. It would be worth visiting just for the riverside location, or just for the collection of church clocks (going back to the 1600s), or just for the hundreds of tools of every sort. Not only can you see the blacksmith at work, for £15 he will talk you through making something yourself. Starting from an iron bar I made a poker I'm hugely proud of! But best go on a 'steaming day' to see everything working.

What a wonderful place to visit entrance fees well worth the money,recently won an award,IF you are into engineering/woodcraft/Iron work visit and be hands on check days for project.
Volunteers very knowledgeable Many Thanks
Alan and Rose.

Attended for a Steam Day; there were also Morris dancers and a craft fair. Make yourself a poker under tuition from the blacksmiths, learn how to spin wool using a distaff, or have a go at "bodging" on a treadle lathe. What an excellent day!

What a wonderful day out! such a small homely hands-on museum with knowledgeable volunteers ready to impart their wisdom. My daughter got involved with woodworking and blacksmithing and came away having had a fantastic day. She commented on how it was so different to other museums.

We visited Combe Mill this last Sunday on their steam day. If you go expecting a large steam event then you will be disappointed but we had a fantastic time. I've a 10 year old son who loves to discover how things work and the volunteers are all more than happy to talk and pass on their knowledge. We watched them start up the beam engine and the metal work enthusiast engaged exceptionally well with my son.

We must have spent best part of 90 minutes inside the mill and pattern workshop before heading outside for a lunch of fish and chips under the shade of the trees.

If you're looking for something to do in a sunny summer's day then you can go far wrong.