Summerfield was built on Gloucester Road (B4208) in the early 1850s, after the land was enclosed from Welland Common and the plot sold to Sarah Bullock. It was a generous plot, 2.819 acres as shown on the 1886 ordnance survey map. It was only the second house to be built on that side of the road between the crossroads and the edge of the common.

The original one-up one-down house had a bread oven. There was a smaller single storey building against the boundary line, possibly another dwelling or a business. A well between the buildings still exists.

The Wagstaff family were occupants but not owners in the census returns of 1891 and 1901. When the house was auctioned in 1903 a Miss Wagstaff was tenant. The advertisement names the house as Summerfield, formerly Dutfields. (William Dutfield was one of the early owners.) It was described as a cottage with sitting room, three bedrooms, usual domestic offices and outhouses, etc. The rent was £26 per year.

In 1908 the house and 0.75 acre of land were sold to Miss Harriett Thompson, who was already there as a tenant. Harriett described herself as lady gardener in the 1911 census. This photograph of two ladies in the 1900s is believed to show Harriett standing outside Summerfield but we do not know which of the two she is or the identity of the other lady.

By the 1921 census Harriett was recorded as a market gardener. This census also lists Clara Alcock as a boarder, and Robert and Margaret Carless as visitors.

Winifred Postlethwaite was living there at the time of the 1939 National Register. The house was requisitioned by military personnel during the war, with Winifred being relegated to living in a purpose-built nissen-style hut in the garden. This was provided with essentials such as a chimney and cooking stove and an outside solid fuel heated laundry tub. The hut had survived in a dilapidated state, as shown in this photo, when the current occupants moved in a few years ago; it has since been restored, retaining all its original features, to make a pleasant garden-room.

The original plot was gradually sub-divided and is now occupied not only by Summerfield but also Orchard Close, Sunnymede, Red Gables and the village shop.

Photo credits: Sue Haywood