Cottage Spotlight: Rowesfield

Concealed by lush greenery and trees, Rowesfield is a hidden gem of a countryside escape. Whilst the sea and amenities are just a short cycle away, they feel as though they are in another world when you are lying back with a good book in the Rowesfield garden. Time disappears and all that matters is the sound of the birds, the rustling trees and the intense archipelago sunshine.

Sleeping up to 6 people, this country cottage is the perfect space for just two of you or the whole family, and with the Abbey garden and some of the island's best beaches just a stone's throw away, there really is something for everyone. 

As one of our older properties, Rowesfield also has a rich history with many characters having passed through its walls over time. We learnt about one such lady last month...

In May, Edna Green and her family came for an extra special stay in Rowesfield - a cottage where her Mum had lived between 1943 - 1945 as part of the Women's Land Army. 

Nellie Mullin was 17 when she was stationed on Tresco with the Pettit family. Originally from Liverpool where she lived with her Mum and Dad, four older sisters and a younger brother, Nellie was often sick when she was a small child and had overprotective parents as a result. 

"Her older sisters were actively working to help the war effort," writes her daughter Edna Green. "One worked in a munitions factory and two were nurses in Liverpool where many wounded soldiers were shipped to. Nell wanted to do her bit."

"When Nell was 17, she decided to apply to join the Women's Land Army. Her Mother was not keen on this idea and marched her to the GP and asked him to tell her she couldn't go because of her weak chest. The doctor, however, thought it would be very good for her to be out of smoky, foggy Liverpool, so it was settled: Nell applied to join the Women's Land Army. She expected to be placed in Lancashire, or maybe on the other side of the River Mersey on The Wirral."

However, she was incredibly shocked when she discovered that she had been placed 380 miles away off the coast of Cornwall on an island. 

"Her dad had to get an atlas from the library to find Tresco on the map!" says Edna. 

Nellie boarded the train from Liverpool to Penzance and her Dad - who had been in the Navy in the First World War - found a carriage full of sailors, pulled rank and ordered them to take care of his daughter on the 15 hour steam train journey.

"Nell had over two years of working on Tresco, helping to grow all kinds of vegetables with the other Land Girls' - 'The Tresco Gang'. She also worked in hot houses on the island growing tomatoes and other salads [...] and the dairy where she was very skilled at churning butter. Nell bought food from the farms on the island and posted it home to her family in Liverpool which was received with open arms because the family were on rations like everyone else in the city and good fresh food was very scarce."

The Land Girls worked extremely hard but they also got stuck into island life on their days off. Nell was in the theatre group and - in addition to acting in several plays - she helped make the costumes.

"Mum also told a tale of a house fire on the island," continues Edna. "All the islanders and the land girls formed a human chain from the sea and passed buckets full of sea water to put out the flames."

"When news came that war was over, the land girls celebrated by taking a rowing boat out and rowing to Bryher at midnight singing! Lots of the girls jumped off the boat and Mum remembered seeing this 'magic' glow in the sea, which we now know as bioluminescence from the plankton."

"Nell, my dad, my two sisters and myself returned for holidays with lovely Mr & Mrs Pettit over the years and they eventually moved to live in another cottage near New Grimsby, but Mum always took us to see Rowesfield Cottage whenever we visited."