WILTON windmill volunteers are keeping the sails ship shape while the public stay away.

Christopher Kerr is one of the volunteers, who signed up after seeing a poster asking for people to help out.

"I started as a kind of gofer for Charles Baxter who leads the maintenance programme. Handing him spanners and pots of grease was an excellent introduction to the workings of the mill and it was a natural step to train to be a guide so that I could share my enthusiasm for this astonishing machine."

He said that in due course he was able to earn a lot about milling.

"I simply watched what they did and asked a series of damn fool questions until, in due course, they allowed me to join the team."

The magic of the windmill lies in its complete absence of artificial power.

"Everything from the way the sails turn to face the wind, the hoist that lifts the bags of grain to the bin floor, the bell that rings to let the miller know the grain is getting low in the hopper - they are all powered by nothing but the wind.

"Standing anywhere in the mill on a milling day is like being on a great galleon with the wind in the sails, the creaking timbers, the rumble of the stones while the miller makes fine adjustments. It’s been like that for generations

"The sense of timelessness is everywhere – you realise that each modification, each simplification, every improvement to the process has been the product of millers’ inventive minds over the centuries."

Next year, among the bicentenary celebrations, there will be the chance to spend a day watching the entire process from sheaf to loaf.

Wilton Windmill was built in 1821 after the new Kennet and Avon canal had been built. This canal was built over and through the site of some local watermills and the pumps providing the water for the canal also lowered the river levels so that the remaining watermills were no longer viable.

The mill was in operation for 100 years, however with the introduction of new steam roller mills and fast production of cheap bread it became unwanted, was abandoned and then fell into disrepair. The mill was finally restored to its former glory in 1976, by a team of dedicated volunteers.

Set high above the village of Wilton, in the heart of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Beauty, about 9 miles south east of Marlborough in Wiltshire, Wilton Windmill is the only working windmill in Wessex and still produces wholemeal, stone-ground flour.