BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833)
Pic: PhilYeomans/BNPS

Flour power - Miller Jim Bailey.

Octo-mill turns again...'Ferrari of windmills' is restored.

Britains only eight sailed windmill is working once again after a £150,000 restoration to repair its unique sails.

Heckington Mill has ground wheat to make flour since 1830 but it was closed down when two of its enormous wooden sails were found to have rotted.

Four years and more than 100,000 pounds were spent crafting the one-tonne, 34ft sails from the trunks of Siberian larch trees so that the historic mill near Boston, Lincs, could continue to operate.

And after a nail-biting operation to crane the old sails off and replace them with the new ones, the Grade I-listed building has been brought back to life.

Eight-sailed mills were at the forefront of milling technology and experts have described Heckington Mill as "the Ferrari of windmills".

Miller Jim Bailey, 62, hopes that with the help of the mill's new sails he can increase output to five tonnes of flour a year within the next three years.