It is also close to the original abbey ruins, is near a fresh water pool and overlooks the sand dunes and beach at Carn Near.
The Grade II listed house consists of roughly coursed granite with ashlar dressings and a slate roof.
[3][4] When Augustus Smith chose the area for his house and garden one of his first acts was to build a granite wall for shelter and to scatter gorse (Ulex europaeus) seeds.
Only two survived so in 2013 the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey provided a new colony which was flown to Tresco by helicopter on a routine flight from RNAS Culdrose.
Most of the figureheads date from the middle and end of the 19th century and come from merchant sailing vessels or early steamships that were wrecked on the Isles of Scilly.