After a week spent gazing at one, I can confirm that millponds are really as calm as the saying implies. The pond in question belongs to Le Moulinot, an 18th century mill between the river Cure and the Nivernais canal in Burgundy.

Emerald dragonflies buzz incessantly across the pond’s surface whose flatness is only interrupted by clumps of rich green pond plants and the occasional duck-induced ripple. That hasn’t changed much since the days when Le Moulinot was grinding grain but other things have.

The end nearest the house has been converted into a swimming pool, fed with spring water from the millpond but which has been filtered to make it sparkle. The pool, good for splashing around and short laps, is heated geothermally. However, on our visit the water was only warm enough for brief dips from the adults although the kids were made of sterner stuff and stayed in for hours.

The mill’s wooden wheel has long gone, although a series of black and white photos inside show how it looked in its hey-day.

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The water from the pond passes through a sluice gate and tunnel under the pool and empties into a small stream just beneath the kitchen window. The constant flow creates a relaxing backdrop to your holiday. One afternoon, we came out and spotted a foot-long trout basking in the water here. There is trout fishing in the nearby river, and a licence is officially required although not policed very comprehensively.

These days, Le Moulinot is run by Cinda and Leigh Wootton, the former a Canadian and the latter a Brit, from Eastbourne. Leigh will be familiar to anyone who watched Rick Stein’s French Odyssey as the captain of the barge Anjodi. The couple live in a house by the edge of the mill-pond with their two young children.

Leigh spends the summer captaining the barge Nymphea along the River Cher in the Loire Valley. The barge is central to the story of how they came to be running Le Moulinot. Before moving the barge to the Cher, Leigh used to run it on the Nivernais canal.

One evening, as Leigh was moored for the night nearby, he spotted an old building near the canal on fire. It was Le Moulinot, then a restaurant that had fallen into disuse and was lived in by squatters. He reported the fire and the building’s owner mentioned in passing that if Leigh knew any crazy Englishman who wanted to buy the building, he should let him know. A year later, Leigh - from Eastbourne - became that crazy Englishman and set about converting it into a chambres d’hôte or bed and breakfast with a friend.

The arrival of Wootton’s two young children saw the property change from a B&B to a holiday home for rent.

So is the conversion a good one? The lower floor comprises a large kitchen and sitting room. One of my pet peeves is big holiday homes which don’t have enough plates, knives and forks and utensils. This kitchen is crammed full of everything you’ll ever need.

The sitting room blends the traditional – wooden beams in the ceiling and heavy wooden furniture – with the contemporary – modern still-life artworks on the walls.

At first floor level the main bedroom is dominated by a surprising grandfather clock. Open the face and you can see the batteries. The bottom of the clock also provides the perfect hiding place for small children playing hide-and-seek. The early morning views over the mill-pond from this room are stunning. The other bedroom on this floor has an ensuite shower room as well as a sitting room.

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