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Hunsett Mill

UK England East Anglia Norfolk

You'll feel like you've died and gone to heaven as you make your way up the rough farm track that lead to this disused mill on the banks of the rive Ant, a mile north of Barton Broad. Hunsett Mill, just outside Stalham, is a listed nineteenth-century drainage mill, and sits next to a miller's cottage that has been refurbished many times over the years due to repeated flooding – most recently in 2008, when it was transformed into the fabulous contemporary dwelling it is now. Featured in Grand Designs magazine in 2011, and the winner of a RIBA award in 2010, it has a beautiful open-plan kitchen and sitting room on the ground floor, a further sitting room, and a dining room in between. Light floods in from both sides, and you look out on to the house's private stretch of riverbank with boardwalk. Upstairs there are two double rooms, two twins and one single room all very comfy and bright, and it's as environmentally friendly as can be: underfloor heating keeps it cosy in summer, powered by a ground source heat pump, there are two woodburning stoves (logs supplied), and water is heated from solar heaters on the roof; water is from a garden borehole. Disappointingly, you can't bring pets – it's a bit too pristine for that – but it's a fabulous place for children, with lots of opportunities for fun on the river (you can rent canoes at Bank Boats a mile or so upstream) and there are board games, books and toys for rainy days, as well as TVs with lots of channels and DVD players. There's free wifi too, but it would be a shame to use it, in what is one of the most gloriously peaceful spots in The Broads on dry land.