THE MILL

place for slightly overpriced festive gifts – think tweed hats and pastel pashminas. There’ll probably be an oompah band playing somewhere, too. Christmas lights here and across town make Winchester a prime destination across the festive period.

As Dad points out, Winchester has changed a lot since the early Seventies. Apart from grandiose religious buildings, the only thing he seems to recognise are the pubs, though perhaps that says more about the priorities of a teenage scholar than the town itself. Winchester City Mill, on the River Itchen, claims to be the oldest working water mill in the country. Learn to tell your bran from your endosperm, and much more about wheat (plus a couscous reference for the

21st century). £4 entry.