Listen to the track:
When the Mill Went Quiet
WW2 and Lockdown, (the beach was also once shut during a national outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease)
Verse 1
The shutters closed on the old mill door
No tea was served, no cakes, no more
The tables cleared, the windows shut
No welcome sign, no open hut
Verse 2
No laughter rising off the shore
No summer boots outside the door
The tide still came, the cliff stood wide
But nothing stirred on the café side
Chorus
When the mill went quiet and the beach was sealed
And barbed wire coiled across the field
No orders called, no kettle hissed
Just the wind and sea and lives we missed
Verse 3
They’d just begun, not long before
To serve soft drinks and treats from store
A window in, a view out wide
Then war declared and plans denied
Bridge 1
They said one day the tide would turn
That light would rise, and peace return
But for a time, the mill stood still
A quiet place beneath the hill
Verse 4
Then decades passed and people came
With backpacks, sandals, much the same
The café opened up once more
With coffee steam and views to shore
Verse 5
Until a newer silence fell
A world indoors, a stillness held
No virus seen, no battles fought
But yet again, the mill was caught
Chorus 2
When the mill went quiet for the second time
No pillbox watched, no blackout sign
Just empty lanes and voices low
And all of Wembury moving slow
Bridge 2
Still it stood, through storm and strain
It took the quiet, then stood again
And when we came with cautious cheer
The coffee warmed, the view was clear
Final Chorus
When the mill goes quiet, it does not fade
It waits for sun to cross the glade
And when the world begins to mend
It opens up, and calls back friends