I plan to add some grunge/moss where appropriate in post. Anything else I should be looking at? A bridge perhaps? Critiques/suggestions welcome.
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It’s a matter of mixing details and textures that would help your scene. Have you seen the art and approach of Rob Tuytel?
Thanks for that. I do actually have a couple of Rob’s courses but must admit I haven’t finished them yet. Must do so.
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Yeah, do that. It will give you a good idea. Even if you finish the ruin tutorial you’ll have a good overview of riverbanks, grass and wall-texture setups! Have fun 
And maybe, for a first attempt, try adding a ao map:
And lighting with a hdri map…
It will add realism in an instant… 
The waterline looks too sharp where it meets the wall (further away it doesn’t really matter). It needs some real displacement, not just in material setup.
OK, thanks, I’ll have a look at that.
If you actually want historical plausibility, this beautifully(!)-rendered image has exactly one glaring problem: this tranquil body of water could never turn the wheel, nor has the water been directed into it.
An undershot water wheel would probably be located at the base of a dam or a natural waterfall, or in a narrow channel or flume that has been diverted from a source of rapidly-flowing water with a useful “hydraulic head.” It undoubtedly would not be located in flat terrain. The water situation as depicted here could never move the wheel an inch.
You could, of course, model something else. A “canal lock” would be entirely plausible here, and the building might be a canal toll-booth or operator’s housing.
Or maybe you just want a beautifully-rendered, appealing scene. In which case, “you’ve just made one.” 
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Thanks for the vote of confidence 
Point taken about the non-reality of the scene as is. Most photos of water wheels do suggest some kind of waterfall I must admit. I’ll give it some thought or maybe just try something else.
There are some issues I am aware of such as the obviously tiled texture on the walls of the building. Was intending to deal with those with a paintover.
In this photo do you think it’s possible that they have dammed half the stream so that it all flows past the wheel?
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I don’t find your present texturing to be objectionable – to be “tiled” – in fact I did not notice. A bricklayer who’s constructing a wall necessarily must do it over the course of several days, so “patterns” like these are often found in real buildings.
The builder of a water-wheel must either have fall, or current. If you have fall, perhaps created by a dam, you can build an overshot or breast wheel, sometimes using a flume if the dam is not adjacent to the wheel. If you have current, an undershot wheel can be used. In the photo that you posted, the wheel could actually be undershot or a breast wheel. Overshot was not an option because the dam is not higher than the top of the wheel.
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I featured you on BlenderNation, have a great weekend!
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Yes, this “featured” is well deserved. This is a pastoral, peaceful scene, with excellent texturing, very nice lighting on the mill wall – absolutely nothing to “draw your eye” anywhere in the scene. It’s simply “delightful to look at.” And, who knows, maybe someone built a little diversion-structure that really could have driven a breast wheel … or maybe it’s just a very pretty picture and you just don’t care. …
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Thanks for really appreciating what I was trying to do here. I did post a more complete image (with diversion structure!) on the Finished Projects sub-forum. But perhaps it loses a little of this one.
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That is much better with water movement.
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