We are working to bring Bickleigh Mill back to life as a hub for community life, local enterprise, and sustainability:

• a community-owned business run for the benefit of the local area
• a café and restaurant serving local food
• a village shop supporting local producers
• affordable workshop space
• co-working and meeting space
• a renewable energy hub generating hydro and solar power
• a centre for sustainability and environmental projects
• space for events, talks and gatherings
• a community garden and sauna

Community and wellbeing

The Mill will be a place where people of different ages and backgrounds can meet, work, learn new skills and feel connected to the wider community. We want to create an affordable and inclusive place where people enjoy spending time and getting involved in local life.

Alongside jobs and volunteering opportunities in the café, shop and garden, the Mill will host wellbeing activities such as yoga and pilates and regular community lunches.

Local economy and skills

The café and shop will create jobs, promote local food and crafts, and strengthen links between local producers, growers and consumers.

The workshops will provide a space where local craftspeople can make and sell their products, and the co-working and meeting space will support local enterprise.

The Mill will create opportunities for skills development and training with space available for courses and workshops. There is the potential to partner with local colleges in Tiverton and Exeter to provide placements and apprenticeships for students.

Energy, environment and sustainability

The project will help create a more sustainable future for the Exe Valley and become a practical demonstration of how rural communities can respond to climate change.

We will revive the Mill’s historic relationship with the river and start generating renewable energy through hydro and solar installations (subject to feasibility studies). We will use the energy locally, improving the viability of small-scale generation and keeping more value within the local economy.

We will support local environmental initiatives, including habitat restoration and natural flood management measures. The community garden will help connect people more directly with local food production and the natural environment.

We will encourage sustainable travel by supporting the development of walking and cycling routes within the valley and providing EV charging points.

Tourism

The riverside setting, café, restaurant, shop and sauna, renewable energy generation and environmental projects will combine to make the Mill a distinctive destination within the Exe Valley.

Tourism will provide an important source of income that can be reinvested into community initiatives while also supporting the wider local economy across the valley.

Bringing it together

The strength of this project comes from the way its different elements combine to support each other, for example:

• The workshops, co-working spaces and sauna create year-round activity and customers for the shop and café beyond the summer tourist season
• Renewable energy generation reduces costs and supports local enterprise
• The community garden supplies produce for the café and shop
• Walking and cycling routes bring low-impact tourism into the valley
• Environmental restoration improves biodiversity and helps reduce flood risk
• Community ownership keeps profits circulating locally.

Bickleigh Mill will be run as a Community Benefit Society. Members of the society will help shape the future of the project. An asset lock will ensure that profits generated by the Mill are reinvested to support community life, local enterprise and sustainability projects.

You can get involved and help us turn this vision into a reality!

Alternatively, you can download a printable version of the questionnaire. This will allows you to complete the questionnaire without supporting the project, and also anonymously, if you wish.