A keen amateur painter , holidaymaker , Rowena Ryle of Cambridge sketches the old mill at Cley-next-the-Sea , near Blakeney Point on the north coast of Norfolk . Although the mill stands on the edge of the salt marshes about a mile from the sea , it is sometimes surrounded by seawater during storms . It has been coverted into a house by the owner , Major Blunt of Cley , and is at present tenanted by Admiral Sir William Jameson who , since retiring from the Royal Navy , has written several books about the sea . 15th September 1958