Moulin de Dosches, Traditional windmill in Dosches, France

Moulin de Dosches is a reconstruction of an 18th-century Champagne windmill, built entirely of wood on a pivot so the whole body turns to face the wind. Its tapering tower is clad in dark rectangular wooden shingles, and four sails of wooden lattice frames, partly covered with reddish-brown fabric, cross in an X. The 20-metre span turns a horizontal shaft driving a vertical wooden wheel with 48 cogs.

The present mill is a reconstruction built from October 2004 to October 2006 by the Association des Moulins à vent Champenois, following plans of 18th-century Champagne windmills. Near it, a tithe barn built in 1480 between Lusigny-sur-Barse and Géraudot was dismantled beam by beam and re-erected by volunteers and a work-integration scheme.

The mill pivots on a central post: despite its 28 tonnes, two men can push the lever to turn the whole structure into the wind. Nearby stands a bread oven and an old-style garden, and flour ground here is sold in the shop.

The mill stands in Dosches, in the Aube department. It is open year-round, but hours change with the seasons, so check the website before setting out. The wooden mill, bread oven and old garden sit close together, and the grounds are explored on foot.

The mill's 28-tonne body pivots on a central post, yet two people pushing the lever can turn it to face the wind. The 20-metre, 2-metre-wide sails are of the cross-bar type, and the gearing runs through a 48-tooth wooden wheel into an 11-spindle lantern of wild cherry wood.