IT was young Fraser Gemmell’s chat with his schoolmates that sparked the idea.

The seven-year-old told his pals at Priorsford Primary School in Peebles: “You should come and see my Mum’s mill.” Mum Patsy was far from horrified at her son’s idea and set about organising the visit to the historic to the town’s Robert Noble mill.

Mrs Gemmell’s efforts came to fruition as 60 excited youngsters from P3 congregated at the factory in March Street on Wednesday before they began a guided tour.

Many of the 80 staff employed at the 130-year-old mill gave up their time to explain to the children the processes involved in turning out finished pieces of cloth.

“We were delighted to accommodate the children,” said Mrs Gemmell, a senior designer with Robert Noble’s sister company Replin Fabrics. “We have done guided tours before but it’s a long time since we had children here. It’s good for the mill as well as a lot of people don’t know about us.

“There is such a variety of things for them to see and almost everything in the process is carried out here.” The children, who are learning about the journey of wool from Sheep to Shop, were given a sheet with a list of things to tick off and they eagerly put pencil to paper as they passed through the factory.

It was a comprehensive list as they were taken through all the work required in the manufacture of woollen cloth right from the sorting of the wool fleece to the final dispatch of the finished piece of cloth.

Some of the children had brought their own mini-looms but their eyes were opened when they saw the real things. “It’s absolutely amazing. I was not expecting this,” said seven-year-old Hamish Semple.

The children learnt that the textile mill serves some of the most celebrated fashion houses in the world as well as international airlines and train companies.

They were surprised to discover that Scottish wool is unsuitable and the factory takes supplies from New Zealand and Australia.

Natalie Beatton, aged seven, said: “We’ve had such good fun and learned so much. I never knew the mill was 130-years-old.” Natalie’s mother Rachel said: “It’s been great for the children to get to see the mill in action. There’s so much more happens here than you might have realised.” Teacher Jane Davidson said: “This is good for the children to help them about Scottish history and Peebles in particular.

“Our school is a pilot to teach younger children French, so when we knew we were coming here we took the opportunity to go through colour mixing with them using French words.” Her colleague Donna Handley added: “We had them doing weaving in class when we knew they were going to come here and that made them really excited about the tour.”