12th September 2025
It could be put off no longer. We had to deal with the machine gunned guano debris on the walls of the mill. We had lined up someone to come and help, a vat of bleach and a pressure washer. Needless to say after initially saying he wanted the job, for 3 weeks he has not been answering his phone or messages. Who can blame him? The Bebb team it is then!!!
As you can see the worst of it was concentrated in a pile on the central millstone, dried and caked into an unappealing mound. Just enough to provide us with a headache and not enough to use on the garden by any stretch. (The National Trust property on the edge of Bristol, Tyntesfield, was build on the profits of guano ……. We have no hope or wish for such an income stream.) The mill stone was right under the roost it seemed. On the way in to the mill, they must have been well practised at high speed entry, then performed a little flick of the derrière to spray it on the walls. It was also evident that they had been munching on the Jamun tree in the garden. Jamun a fruit known for its wine making properties, but crucially also for its purple staining properties.
Bar keepers friend… my go too tough stains cleaner ….to the rescue. So I start. This shit needs elbow grease, I’m really not joking. After slow progress I have done half the millstone …the easy half. I down tools and ask Google … Histoplasmosis it tells me, take this shit seriously, inhalation of the spores can be fatal. Flipping heck what ever next. Wetting down the area before starting reduces the risk of inhaling the spores, nope, I did not do that. Wear gloves ….nope, mask….nope. Holy shit ok down tools for the day.
Another trip to the hardware shop, ffp3 masks, Mrs Mop rubber gloves, trainers etc and we are off again. This time we are both in on this dirty job. And we rope in the big boys, bleach… nuke this shit.
Two days scrubbing, hosing, scrubbing, bleaching, up ladders, down ladders. This afternoon we declared ourselves done. This historic building has seen some action, and we have given it some respect and TLC. Well done us, honestly it looks amazing.
The millstone whilst it is not pristine, after five jolly good scrubs and bleaching…it’s good enough. The new doors installed in the spring are keeping the monkeys and bats out, so hopefully there will not be any new deposits. Next week we paint, unless of course the histoplasmosis kicks in. 😂
Those of you who know me well, know I can’t stand bats, one more reason to add to the list …..batshit.
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