The Mill House · A Cozy Sleep Story with Water Sounds · 8 Hours

A cosy sleep story for deep sleep, set in a watermill that finished work at four o'clock, on a wet October night. Put it on when you get into bed. The narration runs a little over an hour and does not wake you at the end: there is no counting back up and no return. After the last word the picture fades to black, and the water and the music carry on quietly until morning. WHO IT IS FOR If you want a longer one. If you sleep better with weather outside and a fire in. If you would rather be shown round somewhere warm than asked to do anything. WHAT IT DOES Nothing in it works on you. Nobody speaks to you, nothing is at stake, and there is no lesson at the end of it. You come down a lane that is mostly water, to a mill pond with the rain falling on it and one lit window low down at the far side. The sluice was wound shut at four, so the whole river goes round the building instead of through it, over a low stone lip, all night. Inside, the mill is warm and full of flour dust: the sacks and the beam scale, the two pairs of millstones standing quiet under their wooden casings, the hopper and the shoe and the damsel that chatters all day and is silent now. Seven steps down to the wheel, standing still in its pit and letting go of a drop at a time. And at the bottom, the miller's parlour, the range in since six that morning, and a box bed built into the warm corner where the flue goes up. The voice drops lower as it goes and the gaps between the lines grow longer. It is written so that you miss the ending. A NOTE ON THE SOUND Water going over the weir runs under the whole eight hours and never stops. It sits under a low music bed, and both of them ease down through the first three quarters of an hour so that nothing is louder at three in the morning than it was when you started. The water steps back a little under the voice and comes forward again in the gaps. CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction 1:02 Settling 4:18 The lane 7:27 The mill pond 10:20 The footbridge and the door 13:23 The meal floor 16:44 The stones 20:02 The dressing and the screw 23:13 The stair down 26:33 The wheel 29:52 The parlour 32:41 The range 35:44 The settle 38:28 The window 41:21 The bed 44:38 The lamp 47:36 The water 50:24 The mill going quiet 53:15 Outside, in the dark 56:13 Deeper 59:17 The last of it 1:01:54 Sleep BEFORE YOU LISTEN Do not listen while driving or operating machinery. This is a relaxation recording, not medical or psychological treatment, and it is not a substitute for either. If your sleep is a real struggle, please talk to your doctor. You stay in control throughout and can open your eyes at any moment. Written and narrated by Melanie Jane. Dreamscapes by Melanie Jane. Original music and artwork.