Nundle Woollen Mill

Sixty kilometres south of Tamworth, in the old gold village of Nundle, one of Australia's last working spinning mills turns raw merino into knitting yarn on textile machinery salvaged and restored from mills that closed decades ago, some of it approaching a century old. Reopened in 2001, it spins its own eight-, twenty- and heavier-ply yarns, sold in the mill store alongside knitwear, accessories and the locally celebrated Nundle socks. Weekday tours walk visitors through the carding and spinning floor while the machines are running, a rare chance to watch a heritage manufacturing process still in commercial use. Drawing tens of thousands of visitors a year, it has become a reason many make the drive up the Peel Valley, part working factory, part living record of the Australian wool trade.