Our Gardeners have gone and done it again!

We are proud to say that the Windmill Garden has achieved further recognition at this year’s Royal Horticultural Society London in Bloom Awards, and at Havering in Bloom.

At London in Bloom at Kensington Town Hall the team achieved;

• Judged Garden - Level 5 Outstanding [the highest award possible]

• Environmental Challenge - Gold Award

• Gardening with Young People - Silver Gilt

• Biodiversity - Silver Gilt

At Havering in Bloom at Havering Town Hall the team won;

• Best Communal Garden - for a third year!

The Garden Team are especially proud of these outcomes given the challenges of a very prolonged hot summer in 2026 where volunteers were only able to water once a week – an exhausting task in the heat before the hosepipe ban, but a marathon subsequently when only able to use filled watering cans - by the hundred!

Despite the heat and drought there have been many highlights.

• The bog garden, planted in May, miraculously survived thanks to recycling a donated large planter containing a reservoir, regularly topped up with water. We still have resident frogs in our tiny ponds – a visitor recently spotted a tiny froglet sunning itself on the edge.

• Purple and orange flowering plants continued to attract pollinators like bees, hover flies, ladybird larvae and moths – plants such as California poppies, marigolds, achillea, lavender, agapanthus, verbena bonariensis.

• The fruit trees produced a small crop of pears, apples, cherries and plums – most of which were eaten by birds or fell early to provide food for insects.
  

•  Wheat, planted in November 2025, thrived and survived the heat until a family of foxes made a nice dry bed in the centre! We harvested what was left in July and are preparing the bed for a new sowing this November.
  

We are still learning - and helping others with their learning.

• A review of the garden in early September surprised us as we identified a list of 50 plants that appeared to be drought tolerant – we will divide and plant more of those this Autumn.

• We have taken part in a citizen science project by Public Health England – monitoring the spread of Tiger mosquitos across Europe.

• We continue to use wheat grown and harvested in the garden to show school children and visitors how to thresh and grind wheat into flour manually with a hand quern.

•  New bug hotels and habitat stacks have been created by Routes4Life students on placement and one, using an old wooden drawer, is a thing of beauty made by one of the Mill workshop volunteers.

None of this could have been achieved without the hard work and dedication of the volunteers that turn up every Tuesday, in sweltering heat or rain. All the work is not for the awards - much more important are all the wonderful comments from visitors on open days.

• Just think of our volunteers now as they are busy again working on digging out and refurbishing the compost heaps – a very exhausting and dirty job but worth it for the black gold to be found at the bottom which will be used to top-dress the beds ready for winter.

 Come and see the garden again this year on our final two open days, 25th October (when it will be part of Spooky Sunday) and 19th December, our Christmas Market.

September at the Windmill

September has seen Heritage Month celebrated at the Windmill, with a focus on life in the rural village of Upminster in the years leading up to the First World War, and on the period up to the closure of the Mill in 1934/5.

During the month a number of household items of the time have been on display. Whilst they would have been familiar to people around the village of Upminster one hundred and more years ago, identifying their use has proved a challenge for many of today’s visitors!

The month has also seen items introduced telling stories of the lives of the Abraham Family, owners of Upminster Windmill for more than 75 years. The Abrahams were closely involved in village life, sharing many of issues experienced by their neighbours, and through them it is possible to get an insight to the social history of the village.

Initial content includes Cricket [the village team at one time played on the Mill Field, and both the Millers John Arkell Abraham and his nephew Alfred played], evidence of the human impact of WW 1 in Upminster, and a wartime wedding involving a well known local family.

A short “Heritage Discovery” Activity Trail for children [and their adults!] based on information on display will be available on an ongoing basis - if visiting please just ask one of the Visitor Centre Volunteers.

Finally, we cant forget our special visitor at the start of September. For those who wondered what the big red thing was in front of the Windmill, maintaining the vintage theme was an 86 year old London Transport Bus built and operated during the early days of the Second World War, largely in condition of the time and with period adverts. On its last day out before winter hibernation it proved to be a source of fascination for many visitors, and we hope to see RT113 again in 2027.

What a lovely bunch of Painters!!

On 17th July we entertained 25 ladies - and 1 very brave gentleman - in the unique surroundings of The Windmill, provided them with some liquid refreshment, and set them to work as novice painters to create within two hours their very own piece of artwork under the tutelage of the excellent Dani from Paint Circle.

Some excellent representations of our Windmill went home with our happy students. Thanks to them for their participation and good humour - and for their ready participation in our raffle!

Funds raised during the evening go towards the cost of basic upkeep of The Windmill - circa £25k/£30k per annum before the cost of major upkeep and renewals.

So our grateful thanks also go to local businesses Nisa Local Upminster, M&S Upminster and Brew Dog Upminster for their donation of goods for the event.

And finally thanks to Dani [and Brenda, her glamorous assistant and also her mum!] for her patience and expert guidance in enabling everyone to produce more than recognisable reproductions of the target image.

See you again next year??

Getting the Background right ………………

Adding the outline of the building ………..

Flowers in the Foreground ……………………

Look what we have done in two hours from scratch!!

Windmill helpers - or something - on the night!!

Our Garden is blooming ………….. lovely!!

The award winning Windmill garden leapt into Spring with many wonderful flowering plants providing much needed nectar for pollinators.

In April our fruit trees were full of blossom, bluebells (we even have some native ones) looked gorgeous against a backdrop of lime green euphoria bracts, forget-me-nots provided spots of cute blue flowers, marigolds used their cheerful flowers to entice bees and our winter wheat put on a growth spurt.

May arrived and so did our wonderful wisteria, wowing us with its blooms on the pergola. Purple tansy attracted bees as well as being a green manure in a raised bed, with aquilegia and erysimum providing yet more pink & purple flowers which bees love. 

Meanwhile, the Windmill volunteers, apart from tending the garden and maintaining the Windmill, have been busy laying new block paving by the refreshment kiosk, laying a new brick pathway around the raised beds and making repairs to the central raised bed which seemed determined to make it's way down towards Upminster Bridge!!

Don't miss a chance at our open days throughout the Summer to come and see for yourself how things are changing as the year progresses.

Blooming with pride!

At the October 2025 London in Bloom Awards held at RHS Wisley, the Friends of Upminster Windmill took home an incredible collection of awards, and we couldn’t be happier!

A huge thank you to everyone who helps make our gardens such a thriving, beautiful space for both people and wildlife.

Here’s to another year as a truly multi-award-winning garden!

End of Season 2025

Our final summer season windmill open day was on Sunday 12 October … our volunteer team are busy preparing for Winter events and the Summer re-opening on Friday 3rd April 2026.

These are some of our most significant achievements in 2025:

• The Windmill remains fully functional and in best possible condition as our workshop team, much like the old millers, continue to develop new skills to respond to the weekly challenges of maintaining a 222 year old  Windmill.

• We are seeing new schools – from within Havering and from adjoining Council areas – take up on our diverse, creative and engaging range of educational activities for schools themed around the windmill and site.

• We have seen more than 3,200 open day visitors to the site – up 41% on 2024 – with more than 1,500 of them  touring the Windmill. Many events have been especially popular with families – not least our Easter Egg Hunt and Halloween Spooktacular.

• We have opened a superb new, self built catering kiosk.

• Our award-winning garden has done it again – four top awards in 2025 London in Bloom and a nomination to Britain in Bloom for Sustainable Gardening.

What’s Next in December and in 2026?

• We close out the year with our now annual Christmas Fair and Mill Open Day on December 20th

• We will be hosting a Quiz Night in The Crumpled Horn in Corbets Tey Road on January 26th – further details to follow shortly.

• Our main 2026 opening season kicks off on Friday April 3rd with an Easter Egg Hunt and Windmill Open Day.

• Full dates to follow shortly as we also move to confirm specific additional attractions and special features.

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2025 in Pictures

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Our new catering hut, self-built to high standards.

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Hopefully visitors will not have been put off by the servers at our October spectacular!

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Wisteria in full bloom in our multi-award winning garden

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Our most travelled visitors ... school children from Japan

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Upminster Camera club 70th birthday exhibition

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"Hands around" mixed morris dancers on a sunny May day

Windmills of London

We are delighted to be featured in a new video from popular YouTube video historian Peter Stone, “London’s Windmills, Past and Present”.

Liberty Line Walking Tour

Six walking tours have been created by @gojauntly and @transportforlondon to celebrate the naming of the new Overground lines! 🎉

Explore the incredible stories behind the Windrush, Liberty, Weaver, Suffragette, Lioness, and Mildmay lines as you visit stations and landmarks along each route. These walks highlight the rich and diverse history of London, with many offering step-free options so there’s something for everyone!

And yes, The Liberty Line Walk shows off our fantastic Windmill! ✨🤩

🏰 The Liberty Line Walking Tour celebrates the historic independence of Havering. Alongside us, explore beautiful green spaces and historic sites like Ingrebourne Nature Reserve. 🌿🏞️

📲 Download the Go Jauntly app and experience freedom on foot!

Get ready to walk, discover, and celebrate! 🚶‍♂️💫