Experience the water wheel at Alderford Mill making flour for the first time in more than 70 years.

Organised by the Friends of Alderford Mill (FOAM), there will be two session of milling take place at the open day to celebrate the historic milestone on Sunday, one at 2.30pm until 3pm and one at 3.30pm until 4pm, water levels in the river permitting.

The milestone had been anticipated by many visitors for the last few years and has come to fruition due to the generosity of the public with their donations and the skills of the Essex County Millwright and FOAM artisans who made or restored the equipment.

It is an exciting day for all those involved in the mill, and everyone is welcome to come and watch the grain falling from the hopper into the millstones and emerging as meal from the spout on the floor below.

There will also be other interesting things to see and there will be tea and cake for sale.

FOAM is also now planning major restoration work to enable them to demonstrate how sacks of grain were hoisted to the top of the mill by water power.

Visitors can see the early 20th century machines that were used to produce animal feedstuff prior to and during WWII. These will also be restored to working order when time and funds allow.

The mill has been chosen by Waitrose Sudbury Store as one of three restoration projects to be supported by their green token scheme during July and shoppers are encouraged to put their green tokens into the Alderford mill bin.