| History |
 Summerton
Mill first appeared in the BBC flagship programme Tikkabilla as a segment of the
show. It became so popular that the BBC eventually decided that each episode
should be shown as a separate entity, rather than being part of another show.You wouldn't guess it, but this show has only had a few people working on it. |
 It
was created by Pete Bryden and Ed Cookson (click
here for our interview with Pete & Ed), who wanted to recreate the type of
Children's Programme that would remind adults of the programmes they used to
watch when they were young and that would interest a new generation of children.They also like to play on words, Naybhur, sounds like Neighbour (which they are to Dan) and Oocuck which if you rearrange the words is Cuckoo. |
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| Story |
 In
a lovely country valley, there is a magical place called Summerton Mill. The
mill there has not been used for years and is overgrown, and is in need of
repair. The only things that live there are the wild animals, the birds and
the plants.But when it rains further up the hills, and the water comes through the valley, the water wheel starts to turn. Suddenly there is a magical transformation. |
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Not only that, the people who lived in the mill and around it are brought back to life, maybe they are ghosts, but either way it is nice to watch what Dan and his dog Fluffa get up to. But the sad thing is when the wheel stops turning, everything goes back to the way it was - a disused mill. |
| Dan |
 Dan
is a country lad and owns and runs Summerton Mill. He likes the peace
and quiet of the countryside, plus he has the best neighbours anyone
could ask for (Mr and Mrs Naybhur).He is really pleased when Mrs Naybhur gives him some of her home grown vegetables, especially if they are parsnips, as they are his favourite (he even has them in sandwiches). |
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Dan seems to talk to Mrs Naybhur a lot. He had better be careful, otherwise Dr Naybhur could become jealous. |
| Fluffa |
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He really likes biscuits and digging holes to bury his bones in them. The trouble is that he doesn't know when to stop digging and they become so deep that they look like miniature wells! |
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| Mousey-Tongue |
 Mousey-Tongue
is probably the laziest cat in the world and is Dan's cat.
I've never really seen him move and instead he likes to laze around outside the front door of the mill with the sunshine keeping him warm and snug. |
| The Chickens |
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But these aren't any ordinary chicks, as they can even drive a digger!! They get quite upset if Dan forgets to let them out of their coop (they try to bash the door down if he doesn't). |
| Dr Naybhur |
 He
lives with his wife in the cottage next to Summerton Mill and works as a
doctor at the local hospital.When it is windy, he likes to go to the top of a nearby hill (where the stone circle is) and fly his kite. But he lost his kite when Fluffa decided he wanted to fly the kite for him. |
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To relax he loves to go out in the countryside and play his guitar. It seems that the others like his music too and join in singing and dancing to it. |
| Mrs Naybhur |
 She
is the wife of Dr Naybhur and loves to grow vegetables in their garden.
She even has a ring that looks like 3 mini carrots are growing out of it
(a 3 carrot gold ring - geddit!!).Mrs Naybhur is quite generous and tries to give away her vegetables to Dan and gives Fluffa biscuits. |
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| Francoise |
 She
is Dan's French Cow and loves for Dan to tickle her behind her ear, as
it is her favourite thing in the whole wide world. Did you know that
French cows have hairy armpits? (I'm sure there are lots of jokes here).She wasn't too happy when Fluffa mistook her tail for a stick, but she got her own back when she pulled his tail later in the day. |
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Luckily Mrs Naybhur had spotted that her wing nut had come loose and tightened it up. Francoise was very happy. |
| Oocuck |
 He
is a bird that lives in the sundial which is attached to the side of the
mill.
Each time the mill wheel is about to come to a stop, it makes a cuckoo noise to let the others know it is time for Summerton Mill to go back to normal and become deserted and disused. |
| Millfreaks |
 If
you look carefully, you can see these creatures running around the fields
near Summerton Mill. They look like little hedgehogs, but they seem to live
in burrows under the ground. They make a strange eeek! sound.Once, the Mill Freaks ganged up on a big grey fluffy creature, so it looks like they can get defensive over their territory. They attacked it and Dr Naybhur had to stop them from hurting it. That's when he found it was his missing bobble, from his bobble hat. |
| Gallery |
No
longer is Summerton Mill in a tumbledown state, instead it is transformed
back to how it used to be, working and looking new.
He
likes dancing and has even created a Summerton Mill Dance. When Mrs
Naybhur was feeling down, he taught her the steps to it, to cheer her
up.
Fluffa
is Dan's Dog and he loves to rush around the Farm and barks at
everything. He knew he was in trouble when he accidentally pulled
Francoise's tail, but Dan made him apologise.
Once
he was swept into the air when he pulled on the string attached to Dr
Naybhurs kite. Poor Fluffa wasn't too happy and Dan had to tell him to
let go of the string before he was carried away.
These
are the chickens (or chicks) that Dan keeps. They are free range 'Yellow
Spinners' and they love to run around the yard and get into mischief
(they are very silly).
Fluffa
was lifted into the air by the kite, but let go it and so it blew away.
Dr Naybhur doesn't hold a grudge and offered to fix Dan's old kite for
him.
She
really gets on well with Dan and classes him as her special friend. She
even wrote a poem about him, which was published in the local paper. Umm
I think Dr Naybhur should keep an eye on them.
Poor
Francoise was really upset when she had trouble standing up. Dan had a
look and found out her leg was coming loose!!
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| They like to blend in | Summerton Mill |
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| Woof, my bone's in there somewhere | Mr Naybhur!! |