The Elm Lodge property, now eight acres, stretches from the edge of the Great Sound, opposite Darrell's Island southwards.

Centuries ago, it extended all the way to Middle Road, and included Darrell's Island itself.

Ownership of the land in the earliest days of settlement are unknown, as is the exact date that the first house was built here, but by 1732 it had been some time in the possession of Moor Darrell (son of John, son of John the first Darrell settler in Bermuda).

Moor Darrell's will of 1732 indicates that the Elm Lodge property is the fourth part of two original Shares, which he directed to be split east-west and then north-south, the Elm Lodge portion being the north west quarter.

On Moor Darrell's death this portion was left to his son William who lived in a house on the property.

The house at that time probably consisted of the central portion of the house upstairs - with the old kitchen and earth cellars below.

Following William's death, ownership of the property must have passed to his brother John (possibly in lieu of a debt?), although Moor had wished the property to be passed on to his grandson James Darrell, who in fact was living there.

Certainly, in 1789, in accordance with Moor Darrell's wishes, the property was conveyed to James Darrell by John Darrell.

James Darrell died in debt in 1828. His will of 1822 stated that should he die with debts, Elm Lodge and its ten acres should be sold at public auction to pay off the debts.

This was accordingly arranged by Archibald Frith, who administered the sale.

The highest bidder was the famous "gentlemen privateer'' Hezekiah Frith, who acquired the property for 335.

The acquisition was clearly a business speculation for Hezekiah Frith, however, as only a year later, in May 1829, he sold the property on to Captain Thomas Nelmes for 458.10.

In a way, this brought the property back into the Darrell family, as Thomas was married to Martha Jane Darrell, daughter of Benjamin and Martha Darrell of Darrell's island.

Captain Thomas Nelmes, whose oval portrait hangs in the dining room, had an interesting history. He came from a family of mariners, and when he was 14 he was a cabin boy on his father Thomas's ship when it was overtaken by a British man o'war and commandeered.

Thomas found himself in the Navy and fighting against the French in the Napoleonic wars.

He was captured in 1814 and spent a few years as a prisoner in Bordeaux before being released. His letters from prison written to his mother, Sarah, back in Bermuda, are still in the house.

On his return to Bermuda, he married (Martha) Jane, and continued a seafaring career in his own ship, as one of Hezekiah Frith's `gentleman privateer' chums.

Letters from Halifax and the West Indies to his wife, during the 1830s are also still in the house.

His ships were wrecked three times and he was finally lost at sea. His spyglass is still in the library.

On the death of Thomas and his wife Jane, the Elm Lodge property passed to their eldest daughter, Laura Jane Nelmes.

Laura, and her sister Jessie Susan, lived in the house until she married her first cousin Samuel Nelmes after which Jessie lived here alone.

Laura Jane died in 1910, but Jessie had life tenancy of Elm Lodge until her death in 1915, when the property passed to Laura Jane and Samuel's surviving three sons, Eustace, Edgar and Sidney Nelmes. Edgar died in 1924, and Eustace died in 1925, both unmarried and without children. Elm Lodge therefore passed into the sole possession of Sidney Heber Darrell Nelmes and his wife Florence (nee Solomon).

From the death of Jessie in 1915, the house had a variety of tenants and other occupants.

Sidney Nelmes and his family were living at Edgewater on Pitts Bay Road, and Edgar and Eustace also had their own homes.

It probably remained empty until June 1921, when it was rented to Howard Villiers Smith.

Later that year, in October 1921, it was mortgaged to Caroline Louisa Jones (spinster) to raise 500, and in September 1922, a further 200 was lent against the property.

Letters from Sidney and Florence's son Cyril in Canada indicate that work was done on the house in 1920 ("The Lodge looks splendid in the photo'') and further in 1922, probably with the aim of increasing its rental value.

In February 1922, Cyril writes from Canada: "I think it is a fine idea having Elm Lodge remodelled. I suppose that the new dining room, hall entrance and kitchen that are being put in downstairs will be half underground, and so there will be no windows on the south side of the house downstairs?'' This suggests that, apart from the old kitchen, at that time the downstairs probably consisted of little more than earth cellars and slave quarters.

In a letter of September 1922 Cyril writes: "Elm Lodge must look splendid.

"If the drawing room is upstairs and the front door downstairs, a caller must enter, be shown up the stairs and into the drawing room. I suppose... How large is the library or study, and is it big enough for a billiard table?'' Correspondence during the 1920s suggests that Elm Lodge was infrequently let, although land was often rented to farmers.

When Cyril became engaged to be married to Phyllis Winter in 1926, he asked his father for Elm Lodge to live in with his bride.

It seems that this was granted by his father but the marriage was short-lived (in 1928 she deserted him and returned to New York, where she managed to have the marriage annulled as Cyril decided not to defend the action).

Cyril continue to live at Elm Lodge until late March 1931, during which time he struggled to set up a flying business called Bermuda Airways.

He moved to Cedar Grove, but only for a few months, as he was tragically killed at the end of August 1931, age 33, when his newly launched seaplane side-slipped into the sea off Dockyard - he left massive debts.

In the intervening years between Cyril's death and the marriage of his sister Laura to Pierre Pattisson in 1933, Elm Lodge was probably rented when possible.

However, Laura and Pierre took up occupancy following their marriage and continued to live here until their deaths, within six months of each other, in 1971.

As the only surviving child of Sydney and Florence Nelmes, she inherited Elm Lodge, and the other Nelmes family home Edgewater, following their deaths in 1935 and 1943 respectively.

Following her mother's death, Laura redeemed the 1921/22 mortgage for 700. Edgewater was sold in the 1960s.

During their occupancy, the Pattissons employed Bermudian architect Will Onions to carry out a number of changes and renovations to the house.

They included installing the bathroom and closet in the west bedroom in 1936 - this was originally one room with the entrance into the present bathroom; building the chimney and fireplace in the west sitting room in 1947 and removing the (probably ornamental) chimney on the sitting room roof They also installed the bathroom and storage closets in the east wing of the house, also in 1947, and building the garage in the lower part of the buttery; and finally installing the kitchen in 1949/50.

Laura and Pierre had no children, and according to both their wishes, following their deaths in 1971 the Elm Lodge property passed to Pierre's sister, Aileen Wingate, who with her husband George had lived at Elm Lodge for nursing them in their last days. Aileen and George Wingate continued to live at Elm Lodge until George's death in September 1981.

Aileen then passed Elm Lodge on to her son David Wingate, in accordance with Laura's expressed wish, in a voluntary conveyance in September 1982.

David and Elizabeth Wingate lived at Elm Lodge from January 1983.

Karen Border is the stepdaughter of Elizabeth Wingate. Gracious lady of the house: Elizabeth Wingate adores Elm Lodge and her many gardens, and yes, she loves flowers and cultivating.