About the Retreat Centre

In 2007, Le Moulin de Breteuil now known as The Mill Retreat Centre was discovered by Kolinka Zinovieff, (a vsionary and philanthropist), in a very run down and dilapidated state.  Much of the grounds were completely overgrown, like an ancient, impenetrable thicket.  He fell in love, at first with the lake besides the mill, and then saw its wonderful and exciting potential

In 1846, the mill was originally built as a Camembert cheese factory.  The river was used to power a hydro-electric turbine to facilitate the cheese mixing process. This turbine is located underneath the west end of the house. At that time a canal, or leat, was built to divert the water from the river to the mill, to power the turbine. When Kolinka found the mill, the turbine hadn’t been used in years and was covered in many feet of mud.

The current project is underway to renovate the original turbine with its extremely unusual and rare design. It has a vertical axis  and the turbine wheel is permanently underwater, so it cannot be seen even when in action. Even though it was built  over 160 years ago, the original design and efficiency is within 10% of a modern turbine: an extraordinary feat of the European 1800’s industrial revolution. The goal is to have the project finished and the mill to be carbon neutral and even selling electricity back to the grid by 2011

The mill was used by the previous owners,  a group of parents who all had children with physical handicaps and learning difficulties, as a holiday school.

In 2008 , under Kolinka’s guidance, a team of builders arrived to renovate the whole mill and convert the top floor. Five additional bedrooms plus the stunning workshop space/meeting room were aded, turning a wonderful historic building into an exceptional retreat venue.

Kolinka’s vision for the centre is for it to be used by groups who work for the common good, and hold the highest ethical standards.

From October 2004, Barbara and Mike Boxhall (a spritual teacher with an international reputation) created and ran the  acclaimed ‘Duncton Mill Retreat Centre’ in West Sussex.  Their aim and purpose  was to create a centre where ‘all people could benefit’ and their efforts were recognised by being listed as ‘one of the top ten best international retreat centres in the world’ Guardian 2007.  However, in 2008 their landlord asked for an 85% increase in rent for the following lease (from October 2009), and they realised that they had no choice but to close and move on. Their future in the retreat world was handed over completely, to trust.

At the same time,  as Kolinka’s team was putting the last coat of paint on the Mill Retreat Centre, he received Barbara and Mike’s newsletter from Duncton Mill saying that it was having to close.

Witin half an hour of receiving this news, Kolinka was in contact and discussions were opened to join forces. The the move from Duncton Mill to the Mill Retreat Centre took place in October 2009.

It has been very exciting for Mike, Barbara and Kolinka to find a such a common bond and purpose – where both our ethos and vision are the same. We couldn’t be more delighted that we are all committed to making the Mill Retreat Centre ‘for the good of the people and planet’.

Barbara and Mike will share the mill  and are running Stillness Retreats there for about half of the time. We are proud of our reputation for providing our friendly and excellent service to group leaders and their participants in such a historic, yet far-sighted and beautiful venue.

For further enquiries  please call Barbara on 01243 785333 or fill in the contact form on the Contact Us page.