Heritage Open Days 2026 🌍

Though it's not widely advertised as such, Heritage Open Days is a festival run by the National Trust. Many National Trust buildings offer free entry for the festival, which runs from 11-20th September this year, and a large number of other buildings owned by a huge variety of other owners are also open for free on some days of the festival.

Although the National Trust themselves seem to be somewhat ambivalent about the mills in their care at the moment (at least 3 of them are currently closed, with no information available from the Trust as to if or when they will reopen), the Heritage Open Days website footer features a windmill silhouette (unfortunately the designer seems to have simply used clip art to form this - with what looks like a Massachusetts mill!) and a number of windmills and watermills are taking part.

Properties that take part are not always generally publicly accessible, and there is one windmill in this year's festival that is in this category - that of Dunstable windmill which is now used as a Sea Cadet headquarters. This property was open on 12th Sept, though I haven't seen a report by someone who visited. The listing noted

The Ship Without Sails
Discover the story of Dunstable Windmill and the Sea Cadets this HODs. Throughout the day, there will be continuous tours, talks, and information.