Everything you need for your stay — the full version lives in the printed guide in the barn.
Check-in / out — from 3:00pm · check-out by 10:00am
Helen 0775 374 5181 · Chris 0796 806 1502
Address — 190 St Paul's Road South, Walton Highway, Wisbech PE14 7DD
Wifi — network "Peacock Barn"; the password is in the printed guide in the barn. The line maxes out at 75mbps — fine for streaming, but it has its limits if every device is busy at once.
🚗 Please drive slowly down the drive — birds and animals roam freely, and the guinea fowl have absolutely no road sense. 🚽 Please don't flush anything other than toilet paper — the barn isn't on a sewer, and wet wipes, kitchen roll or nappies will break the waste plant. 🚭 No smoking inside the building — outside is fine (patio, firepit and BBQ areas).
📍 How to find us
Peacock Barn, 190 St Paul's Road South, Walton Highway, Wisbech PE14 7DD
We're about ten minutes off the A47. Follow the postcode (PE14 7DD) along St Paul's Road South, take the turning on the right just after the four-storey mill, then follow the white gravel drive down to the barn. Pull up next to the barn — there's plenty of parking on the gravel.
what3words for the drive entrance: ///plunge.terminal.relished · Open in Google Maps
⚠️ Please drive slowly down the drive — birds and animals roam freely, and the guinea fowl have absolutely no road sense.
One of us will come out to hand over the keys and show you round. If we don't spot you straight away, ring Helen on 0775 374 5181.
🏡 How the barn works — an introduction
Welcome to Peacock Barn, where we have tried to build holiday accommodation with all the creature comforts of a normal home. So many holiday lets we stayed in over the years were compromised by inadequate facilities for cooking, cleaning and washing that when we came to convert this building, we were determined it would give our guests a 'proper' level of amenities — so you can just enjoy your stay without worrying how to cook this or where to wash that.
For context, we took the conversion on in 2019 and completed it in 2021. It was a ramshackle old apple shed with the back corner missing and various other issues, including an unsafe roof. Aside from the plastering we did all the work ourselves, and as such we are rather fond of it. We hope you find it as enjoyable to stay in as we did to save it from ruin.
The full guide to how everything works is in the printed guide in the barn — and the essentials are in the cards below.
🅿️ Parking
Park anywhere on the gravel around the barn, but please avoid riding over the kerbs — they're not designed to support vehicles.
🚪 Doors & blinds
All the external doors use the same key: turn the key to unlock; raise the handle and turn the key to lock. The French doors don't have restraining hooks yet, so please don't leave them open in windy conditions.
Grey blinds: pull the cord to the left or right to unlock, vertically to lock. Blue/green blinds: pull vertically to unlock, outwards to lock.
🌡️ Heating, hot water & shower
Heating and hot water come from an air source heat pump with underfloor heating throughout. In summer (May–Oct) the heating is generally off. Hot water heats daily at 2pm (250l to 50°C in about 40 minutes) — if you'd like it on constant for 'unlimited' hot water, just ask and we'll set it. Please don't alter the heat pump controls by the cupboard.
In winter (Nov–Apr) the rooms are set to 22° in the living area and bathroom and 20° in the bedrooms. Each room has a thermostat (the bathroom's is in the hallway): use the up/down buttons to pick a temperature, then the third button from the right to set it. Underfloor heating changes slowly, so nudge it early rather than waiting until evening.
The shower is electric and separate from the hot water system. Press 'high', adjust with the dial, and press the bottom power button to stop. The head is mounted on the wrong side of the enclosure (our fault!) so it can fire water out of the opening — keep the bath mat by the opening so you don't slip.
Heated towel rails switch on outside each bathroom — please don't leave them on all the time.
🍳 Kitchen — hob, oven, microwave & kettle
Induction hob: bottom-left button to switch on, press the button for the zone you want, then up/down to adjust. The 'b' boost button is fierce — it can set a pan of oil on fire, so use with caution (don't ask us how we know).
Cooker hood: please use it when cooking — setting 1 covers most things; '0' switches off; the right-most button is the light.
Oven: turn the left knob one click clockwise to 'FORCED AIR', set the temperature with the right knob, press OK, then OK again ('PRE' = pre-heating). It beeps when up to temperature. We've only ever needed forced air.
Microwave (the most complex device in the property): to cook — left knob to 'MICRO', right knob for power (650/750/900W), OK, right knob for time, OK, then press the bottom-right diamond button to start. To defrost — left knob to 'DEFROST', right knob to pick the food type, OK, right knob for weight, OK, then the diamond button. The bottom-left button resets it afterwards.
Kettle: press the left button to switch on, check 100° is lit, press the left button again to heat. Please don't use the 'constant' keep-warm setting — it's massively energy-inefficient.
🧼 Dishwasher & washer-dryer
Dishwasher: load it, pop a capsule in the door locker (capsules in the cupboard to the right), press the power button and wait for the beep ('1' is the standard program), press play, and close the door within 3 seconds. The door opens itself near the end for air-drying — wait for the triple beep before emptying. One quirk: large plates only fit the back row of the bottom tray.
Washer-dryer (in the larger bathroom) — for a general 40° wash: pod in (container above the machine), no more than ~9kg, power on (bottom right), rotary selector to the 30-minute wash, temperature button to 40, then hold start/pause for 3 seconds (35–45 minutes). To dry: no more than ~5kg, power on, hold the Dry button (top right) for 3 seconds, then hold start/pause for 3 seconds — about an hour and a half.
📺 TV & music
The TV isn't connected to broadcast television, but the Amazon Fire Stick has BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Netflix and more. Press the red button on the TV remote, then the AV button to select HDMI 4, then Home on the Fire Stick remote. The DVD/Blu-ray player is on HDMI 1.
The Alexa is linked to a full music subscription — just ask it for whatever you fancy.
🗑️ Bins & cupboards
Two lined bins sit by the leftmost kitchen cabinet — general waste and recycling. To empty them, take the bags to the wheelie bins behind the building opposite the front door: up the path to the right, past the green containers. Green is recycling, black is general waste.
The double doors on the right as you come in hide the heat pump, tanks and fuse board — please leave them closed, and call us if anything in there seems to need attention.
🧳 Heading home
No check-out chores. Just close the windows and doors, lock up, and either leave the key with us or pop it in the boot box outside the front door. Check-out by 10:00am.
Friends who've stayed call it "living in your own petting zoo". Wander freely — or ask us for a guided tour: collecting eggs, feeding the sheep, hosing down the emus.
⚠️ The lake is unfenced and ornamental rather than for swimming — please keep an eye on little ones (and dogs) near the water; lifebelts are stationed on the banks. ⚡ The ribbon around the chicken and duck pen is electric, so please don't touch it. And the guinea fowl have absolutely no road sense, so do watch out for them on the drive.
Download the free Merlin Bird ID app
🎧 Sound & 📷 photo credits
Recordings from xeno-canto.org, trimmed to about 15 seconds and volume-levelled; each clip is shared under the same licence as the original.
Wild bird and animal photos from iNaturalist, resized; each is shared under the licence shown.
Help yourself to whatever's ripe — bowls and a child-sized picking basket live by the back door.
Peacock Barn sits in the grounds of The Old Mill — a Grade II listed tower windmill, and our home next door. Here's its story, as far as we've been able to piece it together.
The big round tower next door is a real windmill — more than 240 years old! This is where we live. Here's its story.
🔍 Windmill detective
- The mill was built around 1780 — before anyone had a car, a phone or even a bicycle!
- In 1815 a miller called John Dobbs made it two floors taller. He put his initials and the date in the bricks: J.D. 1815. Ask a grown-up to help you look for it on the east side of the tower.
- Its sails turned 3 pairs of giant millstones to grind flour. Most windmills had 2 or 4 — ours was unusual!
- On 22 February 1908 a huge storm broke the mill and it never ground flour again.
- Nobody has ever found a picture of the mill with its sails on. Mystery!
- Emmet the emu hatched right here, in an incubator at the mill, in 2021. 🥚
🏚️ The story of the mill
We believe it was first called West Walton Highway tower mill and was built around 1780 — probably three storeys tall to begin with, with steeply leaning ("battered") walls. In 1815 John Dobbs added two more storeys and straightened the batter, which made the sails turn far more efficiently. He tarred the red brick and set a datestone in the east wall — J.D. 1815, still legible today — and from then on it was usually known as Dobbs' Mill. The iron wall anchors above the top windows read "18" on the east side and "15" on the west.
The mill had an ogee cap with a finial and petticoat, and — unusually — its sails drove three pairs of millstones, where two or four is more common. In the late 1800s the miller Daniel Sutterby added a steam engine to supplement the wind, and the mill kept working until a severe storm on 22 February 1908 damaged it beyond economical repair.
After that it was used now and then to store fruit from the apple and pear orchards that grew up around it, became largely derelict, was renamed Fen End Mill at some point, and was Grade II listed. In the mid-1970s it was converted into a house, with a bungalow added alongside and castellations put on top of the tower. Around 2000, new owners Peter and Catherine Harvey renovated it extensively — removing the castellations, making it watertight, reinstating the floors and stairs, and planting to soften the bungalow. We bought it from them in 2018.
Very few photos of the mill exist, and none show the sails — so nobody knows what its sail configuration was. If you ever come across an old picture, we'd love to see it!
📜 Timeline
| c.1780 | Built; William More of West Walton is the first miller |
| 1802 | John Dobbs Snr first mentioned in connection with the mill |
| 1815 | Two extra floors added by John Dobbs Snr |
| 1864 | Daniel Sutterby renting the mill as miller |
| 1886 | Advertised for auction by the trustees of owner Charles Hubbard; Daniel Sutterby stays on as miller |
| 1898 | Daniel Sutterby dies; his son William takes over |
| 1908 | Damaged beyond repair in a severe storm |
| 1912 | Advertised for sale by auction |
| 1926 | Recorded as derelict |
| 1933 | Painted by Karl Wood, ogee cap still in place |
| 1949 | Used as a store |
| 1972 | Sold to a Mr Bottom |
| 1978 | Advertised for £11,000; bungalow built and castellations added |
| 2000 | Bought and extensively renovated by Peter and Catherine Harvey |
| 2018 | Bought by us, Chris and Helen |
🔨 What we've been up to since 2018
In late 2017 a newspaper article about a four-storey windmill with direct trains to King's Cross caught our eye — and three days later our offer had been accepted. Since then it's been a long list of projects (and a fair few misadventures):
- The garage — turning an outbuilding into a garage and tool store, our first big project.
- The barn — converting a 1970s apple shed into the three-bedroom holiday let you're staying in. We did almost all the work ourselves.
- The lake — dug in the south-west corner of the grounds.
- The paddock — fencing, land drainage and a stable… and then re-fencing after the emus escaped.
- The solar array — panels that help power the barn.
- The mill — our current project: extending and renovating the mill, with a second storey and an internal bridge.
The animals arrived in stages: ducks and hens in 2018; geese, the peacocks, guinea fowl and our first dog in 2019; the sheep, turkeys and second dog in 2020; and the emus and the koi in the lake in 2021.
Follow the projects on our blog: oldmillnorfolk.com
Grown-ups: the full history and our renovation blog are at oldmillnorfolk.com.
Our family's favourite days out, places to eat, takeaways and the essentials nearby. Drive times are approximate from the barn; tap Directions for a live route. Opening times change with the seasons, so do check before setting off.
📷 Photo credits
The first photos on each card are from Wikimedia Commons, resized; each is shared under the licence shown. The rest are our own family photos.
Here for work? Peacock Barn is let on a sole-use basis to companies with teams working in the Fens — the whole barn, one invoice, and a quiet four-acre site to come back to at the end of the day.
Sole use — the whole barn to yourselves: no lobby, no shared corridors, no other guests
Sleeps — three bedrooms (one queen, one double, one single) · two bathrooms (shower over bath, plus a separate shower room)
Included — electricity, heating, Wi-Fi, bed linen, towels and a weekly clean
Parking — three vehicles, vans included, on a gated private drive with CCTV coverage
Billing — invoiced to the company · arrival and departure times by arrangement
Booking for a team?
We do weekly and longer stays for contractors, engineers and project teams, invoiced to your company. Book direct — no agency, no platform, no commission in the price.
helen@helencardrick.co.uk · Helen 0775 374 5181 · Chris 0796 806 1502
🏠 Why crews choose the barn
Teams who've stayed tell us they prefer having their own space — and that it works out cheaper and nicer than putting the same people in separate hotel rooms.
- A full kitchen — oven, hob, combi microwave, air fryer, dishwasher, fridge/freezer and coffee machine.
- Washing machine on site, and underfloor heating throughout (air source heat pump with solar).
- Open-plan living and dining, a smart TV, and a dining table that works as a desk. Wi-Fi up to 75 Mbps.
- All on one level, no steps.
- Room to switch off — four private acres, a firepit and barbecue, a lake with fish you're welcome to feed, and chickens, ducks, emus and peafowl wandering the place. Most crews end up outside with a drink rather than in front of the television.
“One of the finest locations I have ever stopped in.”
— Stuart, July 2026 · 10/10 on Booking.com
🛣️ Getting to site
We're just off the A47, so most sites in the Fens and West Norfolk are an easy run. Approximate distances from the barn:
| A47 | about 1 mile |
| Wisbech | about 4 miles |
| Sutton Bridge | about 9 miles |
| King's Lynn | about 11 miles |
| March | about 13 miles |
| Peterborough | about 25 miles |
Early starts are no problem — just let us know your arrival and departure times. Please drive slowly down the drive: the animals roam freely.
🔧 Trade counters & supplies
Screwfix Wisbech — Belgrave Retail Park, Cromwell Road, Wisbech PE14 0RG. Directions
Travis Perkins Wisbech — Oldfield Lane, Wisbech PE13 2HH · 01945 582825. Directions
Toolstation March — Meadowland Retail Park, Wisbech Road, March PE15 8HA. Directions
Tesco Extra Wisbech — Cromwell Road, for food and essentials. Food deliveries to the barn are fine — we get them all the time.
Takeaways, pubs and the delivery apps are on the Out & About tab (tap the Takeaways filter). Opening hours change, so check before you go.
🩹 If someone gets hurt
Emergency: call 999. For urgent advice that isn't an emergency, call NHS 111.
Wisbech Minor Injury Unit — North Cambs Hospital, Wisbech PE13 3AB · 01945 468787. Walk-in, Monday to Friday 8.30am–6pm; closed weekends and bank holidays. For cuts, sprains, minor burns and suspected broken bones. Directions
Nearest A&E — Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn. Directions
Operated by The Old Windmill Property Holdings Ltd. No smoking anywhere on the property. Bookings are on a licence to occupy for holiday and business-travel use and do not create a tenancy. Please note there is an unfenced lake in the grounds.
⭐ The Peacock Barn Spotter Challenge
Can you find them all during your stay? Tap each one when you spot it — your ticks are saved on this phone. Fruit only appears here when it's in season.
🌿 Wild Spotter — bonus round
Wild birds and animals are trickier — they come and go as they please! Tap ▶ Listen to hear what to listen out for.
The latest from the barnyard.
Loved your stay?
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