Dilys Fell tells one of the tales of a farm she worked at during her time with the Land Army.

I was very fond of the cows, but didn't always like the farmers! Once I was trained I got sent all over the county. We often lived very well, in fact, off the fat of the land at some farms despite the rationing.

There was a farm I was sent to at Sutton Veny where the farmer was a real poacher. We had pheasant cooked in cream at Christmas and I had to skin and clean two deer during my time there, although I was only there for three months! We always had cream on our porridge. There was another girl there with me, but the farmer didn't like us going out at night - you can't just work on a farm and not have any relaxation.

We decided to join the local young farmer's club but he didn't approve of that. We told him where we were going; the meeting was going to be held in a room over the Bell Hotel in Warminster.

The next morning the farmer wouldn't speak to either of us girls and he turned to the housekeeper and said, "I wonder if those drunks got home safe last night." We probably hadn't had anything to drink at all, or perhaps just a little something to warm us up, for it was a frosty night, and we had gone in our uniforms.

The next time we went there was a dance afterwards and we decided to stay for that as well. When we came back, on our bikes, we worried about whether the farmer would be waiting up for us. We took our shoes off and carried the bikes, tiptoeing to the farmhouse and under his window but luckily he didn't wake up. There were three dogs in the house and none of them barked either!

After this I told the Land Army that I wanted to move because he was getting on my nerves and so I went to an Army hostel and went out on relief milking for a while.

Dilys Fell (centre) working for the Land Army at a farm near Ramsbury just after the war.

From: Devizes Voices compiled by David Buxton Tempus Publishing ISBN 0 7524 0661 2 £9.99 For a complete list of local history books published by Tempus Publishing visit: www.tempus-publishing.com