Turning Back Time

With its red-tiled roof and riverside setting, Preston Mill is a favourite of artists, historians and TV crews alike

- Words: DANIELLA THEIS

ONCE a key feature of Scotland's landscape, there are now fewer than 20 working watermills left in the country.

One survivor is Preston Mill in East Linton, 37km (23 miles) east of Edinburgh, which was never ground down, despite the odds.

In fact, it was several hardships that perhaps saved the mill – the last working watermill in the area – from facing a similar fate to its counterparts, according to Fraser MacDonald, visitor services supervisor at Preston Mill.

“Ours is a very unusual building and there aren't many mills that are like ours,” Fraser says. “That's partly because our one is quite old.

“A lot of watermills that still survive in Scotland were rebuilt in the 19th century, so they're not actually as old as you might think they are. Ours is approximately 300 or 400 years old.”

Fraser works for The National Trust for Scotland, who manage the mill, which was donated to the organisation by its previous owners in 1950, making it the first industrial property the Trust took into its portfolio.