Uffculme

In medieval times, the charming little village of Uffculme, set beside the River Culm, was an important centre for the wool trade. Profits from this booming business helped build the impressive parish church of St Mary around 1450 and to install its splendid rood screen, believed to be the longest in Devon.

Coldharbour Mill, to the west of the village, is one of the few surviving reminders of the county’s industrial wool trade. It closed down in 1981 but has since been converted into a Working Wool Museum where visitors can watch the whole process of woollen and worsted manufacture, wander around the carpenter’s workshop, a weaver’s cottage and the dye room. On most Bank Holidays, the massive 300 horsepower engine in the boiler house is ‘steamed up’- a spectacular sight. Conducted tours are available by advance arrangement and the complex also includes a Mill Shop and a waterside restaurant.