Anna grew up two valleys over. Tomas is a carpenter who came to mend a roof, and he stayed for the swimming.
The first cabin came from a larch that fell across the lane in the winter of 2011. We had no plan for it, except that it seemed a waste to burn it. Friends came to stay, then friends of friends, and one day a stranger asked what we charged.
We still do almost everything ourselves. Tomas brings up the firewood and fixes whatever the winter has broken. Anna answers every message and will tell you honestly which stay suits you, even if it’s the cheaper one.
How it came to be
The mill stopped working in the 1950s, and the roof had gone by the time we found it. We rebuilt it a room at a time, using what we could save and what the neighbours had in their barns. The workbench is still in the old grain store, and the river still runs under the floor of The Mill Room.
What we care about
We leave the stove lit.
One of us is always here when you arrive, and the first basket of wood is on us.
The river comes first.
No chemicals on the land and no motors on the water, and we clear the banks together every spring.
We buy from the neighbours.
Bread from Tollgate, apples from Beech Hollow, eggs from the honesty table. Ask, and we’ll tell you who made what.
Come and talk to us
Write or ring with anything at all. Anna usually replies the same day, unless the river is warm.
Old Mill Lane, near Oberau