Wind put back in mill's sails

The windmill had lain derelict for almost 180 years

A windmill near Usk which has lain derelict for almost 180 years has been restored to its former glory.

The two year renovation project at Llancayo was undertaken by Peter and Helen Morgan, whose grandfather once owned the windmill as part of his farm.

The mill was originally built by a privateer during the Napoleonic wars but was gutted by fire in the 1830s.

The windmill has now been refurbished to let out to visitors as luxury holiday accommodation.

The couple bought the farm ten years ago and have spent the time renovating the other buildings on the land, which have been converted into commercial office space.

The windmill was the last building on the site to be renovated.

Peter's wife Helen remembers playing in the windmill as a child and has taken an active role in the renovation taking responsibility for the interior decoration.

The couple and their team of builders and craftsmen have tried hard to restore the exterior of the building to the way it would have looked 200 years ago.

However Peter admits that working on such an unusual building project has provided them with certain challenges.

"The cap and the sails are the tricky bits because we've made them ourselves," he says.

"We've made them out of steel whereas traditionally they'd have been made out of timber."

Despite the difficulties, Peter says this is the part of the project he's enjoyed the most.

The renovation project took just over two years to complete

They employed someone to research the building's history and create some drawings of how the windmill would've looked.

Peter admits that health and safety concerns weren't too much in evidence two hundred years ago, so the windmill's cap would have been balanced on the top and could potentially be blown off in high winds.

However, things are very different today and as Peter is using the building as a holiday let, everything has been especially designed and safety checked.

The sails were put onto the windmill two weeks ago, and Peter plans in the future to put a generator onto the windmill so that it can generate its own electricity.