COBSTONE WINDMILL

"The windmill home of Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is Cobstone Windmill, at Cadmore End, High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. The movie was based on a book by James Bond author Ian Fleming.

Cobstone Mill was built around 1816, overlooking the village of Turville (it’s often called Turville Windmill).

Until 1873 it remained a working mill but, after being damaged by fire, it lay derelict. It was restored cosmetically for the film, and a few years later restored completely (even getting a swimming pool) as a home for actress Hayley Mills and husband, director Roy Boulting. They no longer live there, but it’s still a private home.

In this lavish 1968 musical, Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) is a down-on-his-luck inventor living in the English countryside, set around 1920. After saving a former Grand Prix car from the scrapheap, paying the huge sum of thirty shillings for it, Potts rebuilds Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to the delight of his children. He takes his children and candy heiress Truly Scrumptious in the car to the seaside for a picnic. There, Potts tells a story about the wicked Baron Bomburst wanting to get his hands on the car while the hero Potts with the help of the Toy Maker (Benny Hill) tries to save Grandad Potts who has been imprisoned and sets free all the captured children of the land. "