Adding a welcome with a focal statement

First impressions are very important. At Sidbury Mill, we felt that the addition of a pertinent focal point would provide visitors with an initial statement of purpose for their visit.

Whilst many attractions attempt this with notice boards or free-standing signs, we took a different approach.

The car park is generally the starting point of any visit to an attraction. It is, of course, primarily a functional area, as the second photograph makes clear, though in the case of Sidbury Mill, a carefully integrated part of the whole site.

One of the disused millstones was set into a section of natural stone walling that would be immediately visible to guests. It provides an attractive focal point and a reminder of the site's history to all visitors.

It is a deliberately subtle statement, as the last photograph shows, yet wholly in keeping with this particular site's ethics.