The Mill House The Mill House at Ormidale has taken us two and a half years to restore, and was christened by its first guests as “the wow factory.” With rooms on four levels, it will accommodate up to 22 guests in total, in real style and luxury. The main feature is the open plan 80m2 ground floor reception area which opens up from a fabulous kitchen, through the dining area with vaulted ceiling, into a generous living / lounging area with open fireplace. The dining and lounge areas feature the original exposed stone wall and light floods through a large glass archway incorporating the main house entrance into the courtyard. It’s a stunning room, and the natural communal gathering place for any party that takes both The Mill House and Old Barn at Ormidale. The two matching dining tables can be placed end to end to enable you to sit down and eat in one place as a party of 24. The contemporary staircase in the centre of the arch gives a natural focus and pulpit like performance space for speeches! All the reception areas on ground and mezzanine levels are tiled in a natural riven slate which goes beautifully with the old stone walls and new white plaster walls, with underfloor heating throughout the house provided by an environmentally sustainable ground source heat pump. The stone fireplace (not photographed because a new addition) features the saw bench from the original mill, as the mantelpiece.
Living Accommodation The large stylish contemporary kitchen area features a granite work surface throughout, twin stainless steel sinks and two dishwashers, two electric ovens, a large American style fridge freezer, and gadgets galore. There’s a kitchen table for eight – expandable to sit a comfortable 12 – and a breakfast bar for up to six. The separate utility room features washing machine and drier, an additional large fridge and freezer, and extra storage. As well as the stunning main open plan reception area, the ground floor also features a utility room, a loo, and a separate TV room-cum-play room with 42 inch flat screen LCD TV with full Sky plus package; this room has its own access to the garden and to a sandstone terrace facing the river. An additional South-facing sitting room on the mezzanine floor, again with slate floor and original exposed stone wall, gives access through a pair of french doors onto another terrace with garden furniture and to the private rear garden, river and woods. So, with two separate reception rooms as well as the large open plan communal area, the Mill House living accommodation is generous and flexible. Guests also have access to a separate games cottage with snooker, darts and table tennis, shared with the Old Barn.
Bedroom Accommodation There are nine bedrooms altogether, each offering double or twin accommodation. As well as five ordinary doubles, there are two wee bunk rooms, a family room sleeping up to five people, and one room that can be set as a twin, a superking, or a triple. They are all smaller than the bedrooms elsewhere on the estate, and we don’t make any claims to four star status for them, as a result !! We go for the same quality of goose-down and feather pillow and duvet, the same gorgeous linen, same quality of mattress, but they don’t have the space that we offer in the rest of the estate. As a result we usually restrict the adult occupancy to somewhere between 14 and 18 – classing some of the beds and bedrooms as for children. As the downstairs space is so generous, we have added extra beds into a few of the rooms to make the most of the available space and maximize the number of guests we can accommodate. While none of the rooms are enormous, four of them have either additional bunks or fold-away beds to increase the overall capacity to 22 including children. The six main bedrooms all have stylish contemporary wash-handbasins. Four bedrooms feature raised platform beds with storage underneath. There are three stunning bathrooms, with wall to wall travertine marble walls and slate floors, two of which feature jacuzzi baths, and a separate sauna. In our nine bedrooms, there are fifteen separate beds, of which seven are doubles.
The Mill House can be taken in conjunction with The Garden Cottage next door – two quite large bedrooms, a shower room, and two box/ bunk rooms, all on the ground floor. It is literally a few meters away, and means that we are a more attractive prospect for those parties including guests with either limited mobility, or with a desire for a bit more peace and privacy. The Garden Cottage was chosen as their bridal / honeymoon suite by the last couple to get married at Ormidale, so it isn’t exactly the shabbiest bit of the estate…
The Mill House
