Painters Arms

History of The Isle of Wight Garlic: Cowes on The I.O.W. is where the I.O.W. garlic originates from. From the years 1940 to 1945 a squadron of Free French Torpedo boats (Torpilleurs) were stationed in Cowes and they drank in The Painters Arms frequently. They complained to Bill Spidy the landlord about the dull British wartime diet. By 1942 they yearned for French cooking and the whiff of garlic, so Bill searched The Island for garlic with no success. However some of his RAF pilot friends were night flying Lysanders for 161 Squadron to central France and on one of these flights a sack of Auvergne garlic came back to England and into Bill’s hands on The Island. He lived with his family at Duxmore Farm across the Down from Mersley and so he grew garlic for the Free French, who then felt and smelt like any sef-respecting Frenchmen for the rest of the war. Colin’s parents came to live at Mersley Farm which is now The Garlic Farm, and in the mid 50s, next door to Bill Spidy’s farm at Little Duxmore. His mother Norah began growing garlic in her kitchen garden. Colin came home to farm in the mid 70s and the rest is history.