Mervin and Marie-Christine’s dream was simple: a large home for them and their two sons, and a place to open their own bakery.
But when they bought Mount Pleasant, a Victorian windmill 25 minutes down the road from Lincoln, they never imagined it would blossom into a shared family purpose, a community hub, and even a tourist attraction.
As Marie-Christine puts it: “It’s been an incredible journey to learn a traditional craft, produce wonderful food, become a vital part of local life, and create a wonderful home for our family.”
Their boys, aged four and seven at the time, thrived in this new environment with a vast garden to play in, brilliant education and lots of nearby activities and festivals.
The business gave their mum the flexibility to attend every school event, while their dad taught them the art of bread making and helped them develop their social skills and mental maths by helping out at farmers’ markets.
Beyond the family, the windmill is also a beloved local landmark. “It’s like the town’s favourite child,” Marie-Christine says with pride. “There’s a painting of it in the doctor’s surgery, and it’s the logo of the community board. We also donated a millstone to the town which stands proudly underneath the welcome sign.”
Now, after 25 years of joy and memories, it’s time for Mervin and Marie-Christine to retire and hand over their gem to someone new – so let’s take a look at the life that awaits from owning a windmill and bakery.
Finding their cake, and eating it
On their first visit to the windmill, Mervin and Marie-Christine were greeted by a beautiful brick structure standing gloriously in the sunshine, framed by deep blue Lincolnshire skies. It was love at first sight.
Then they went inside the house and it ticked all the right boxes as well. “I’m not easily pleased,” Marie-Christine admits, “but the feeling that the planets were aligned kept reverberating inside my head.”
You can see why. The house is supremely practical and spacious, with four double bedrooms, two large living rooms and a big dining kitchen – enough for a family to grow, spend time together, and even get away from each other!
The ground floor of the house also has a dedicated office to run the business from, and all right next door to the mill and tea rooms.
In Mervin’s words: “It’s a great feeling to step out of your front door and be at work—no commuting, emissions, or wasted time. And since moving in, we’ve had many wonderful times. Family gatherings, especially Christmas, have been magical, as were the staff parties with Marie-Christine’s homemade sangria. Sunsets from the back garden are also spectacular.”
All the help they could knead
Although Mervin had run a successful bakery supplier business in London, neither he nor Marie-Christine had any experience in milling, so they learned on the job.
“We made friends with various associations and clubs. They were so helpful and encouraging because stone grinding by wind power is part of our national heritage and a great tradition that’s well worth preserving.”
Staffing was also never a problem, and although they advertised at the local Spar, many locals would simply pop in and leave their details for future vacancies.
Their list of tearoom staff included two during the week, three or four on weekends, and an extra pair of hands for clearing tables and washing up. A local lady came in twice a week to bake, with classics like Victoria Sponge and Carrot Cake becoming firm customer favourites.
They even hired a young French baker each year from a Parisian school to work the early shift and bake fresh bread and scones.
And in case you’re wondering about ever getting away for a break, the team was well-trained in all aspects of milling, baking, and running the tea rooms, so the family could go on holiday.
A real breadwinner
The windmill and house already provide multiple streams of income alongside a wonderful and meaningful lifestyle, and there’s potential for further expansion.
The tea rooms are a popular spot for locals and visitors to the area. The 44 seats inside (pushed to 52 for coach bookings & guided tours) and 12 outside by the mill are often full, with customers coming for cake and scones alongside tea or coffee while watching the sails going round.
The bread and flour produced by the mill and bakery were sold straight to the public on-site, online, and at farmers’ markets, as well as to local farm shops, 30 Lincolnshire Co-op stores, and even Waitrose.
Mervin led windmill tours, played Dusty Miller for school kids, and ran baking workshops, while Marie-Christine worked with the local tourist board and council to promote the business. “I even gave a few tours in French!”
The house has also supported the business and served as an extra prep zone for Christmas baskets, big vats of soup, and food for larger tour groups.
Depending on the direction you’d like to follow, there’s plenty of scope—and demand—for more baking and milling classes, extra experience days, and converting the house into a B&B to create an even bigger money-spinner.
More self-raising than daily grind
“Owning a windmill has been a fulfilling 25-year experience that gave our family freedom over our lives and also our business, with total control over everything from sourcing premium organic wheat, to quality artisan production, to branding.”
Marie-Christine’s days always began as a mum, getting the kids ready and driving them to school. Back home, she managed the invoicing, website, wholesale orders, and general admin. She also wrote regular articles about their exploits for local magazines and papers.
The staff would arrive at 9:30am to display cakes and breads so the tea rooms were ready for opening at 10. During quieter times they also assisted with school visits, coach tours, and baking classes.
Meanwhile, Mervin handled wheat orders, milled, baked, sold at farmers’ markets, and delivered to local shops and the Co-op warehouse in Lincoln.
Fridays and Saturdays were busiest, with baking production for selling at the weekend farmers markets, then Sundays were dedicated to rugby matches for the boys while the staff looked after the tea rooms. Mondays were always a day off.
After building a highly successful and popular business, numerous accolades and recognition followed. They won the grocery section of the Waitrose Small Producers’ Awards, became one of Rick Stein’s Super Food Heroes, filmed an episode with The Hairy Bikers, and were one of the businesses chosen to start the Slow Food movement in the UK.
Of course, this only went to increase the profile of the bakery, helping it to expand its list of customers and proving that its products could be sold way beyond the local market and to people right across the UK.
A business bloomer fit for the future
Longevity and sustainability are at the core of Mervin and Marie-Christine’s mindset, and during their tenure, they made numerous improvements to the mill to protect and secure its future.
They tarred and repainted the windmill twice, rebuilt the flour dresser, renovated the great spur wheel and stone nuts, and installed a holding box that improved white-flour production efficiency by 10%.
In the bakery, an 18-ton wood-fired oven was built with a team of local and Spanish builders. For a cheap and never-ending supply of fuel, they buy offcuts that would otherwise be discarded from a local timber merchant.
Although the mill runs on wind power for most of the year, an electric motor was fitted for still days and really came into its own during the freak weather of 2015: when the fantail and sails were damaged, the mill kept on grinding while repairs were made. If you wanted to take things a step further, you could add solar panels to provide the power.
All this means that whoever takes things over can do so with the comfort and knowledge that the mill had been loved and cared for with an eye on providing many more years of reliable use.
A Windmill, A Dream, A Legacy
For Mervin, Marie-Christine and their sons, owning a windmill and living at Mount Pleasant has been so much more than a home and business—it’s been a wonderful way of life that everyone got to share and experience.
They’ve created a legacy of family, community, and artisan produce, with the windmill standing as a testament not only to their hard work and vision, but also to the joys and goodness of a home-baked life.
Mount Pleasant Mill is for sale at £975,000 – click here to see the full listing, video and plans.
