Councillors have rubber stamped a £1.7million plan to breathe new life into a 500 year-old Mearns landmark – creating a new destination for day-trippers.
The Mill of Benholm, near Johnshaven, will be partially redeveloped and restored to improve the visitor experience.
The A-listed building was run as a cafe until 2014 and although owned by Aberdeenshire Council, it was run by the Mill of Benholm Trust – which provided work experience and training for adults with special needs.
It closed after a number of health and safety concerns were uncovered in the facility’s kitchen.
Now local councillor George Carr has said it is up to the community to get behind the project to bring it back to life.
He said: “It is really over to the community now – they have been working with the north-east preservation trust who has given them some tremendous support and help with producing the business plan to get the project to this level.
“It is going to require some persistence and dedication to take this forward from volunteers. There will be very little support from the council financially, so they will have to work on applying for grants.
“It will be a stand-alone project, but we want to make it sustainable and bring it back to life. The community have shown their enthusiasm to deliver this – but it will be a challenge.
“It will be a long road to delivery, it will eventually mean another destination for tourists in the area – it will give people another choice for a day out.”
Other attractions in the area are the Lifeboat Shed, in Johnshaven, the Maggie Law museum in Gourdoun and the Grassic Gibbon Centre in Arbuthnott- the intention would be to create a tourist destination south of Stonehaven.
In a report, director of infrastructure services Stephen Archer said: “With this option the mill would remain the core of the site, open to visitors as a working heritage attraction, with enhanced education and workshop options.
“The cafe would be renewed, with better facilities and bigger capacity.”