He was no longer on speaking terms with his brother and had been devastated by the death at the age of seven of his elder daughter,Josephine.

Moving to Rosewood allowed the family to start a new life.George regarded Rosewood as a pure example of a traditional country house of this part of England and did some of his most successful writing here.The house and its grounds became the family haven and their escape to privacy and quiet.The walls,and the mullioned windows were built of the local sandstone,the tiles on the roofs and the bricks of the chimney stack were baked from local clay,and the wooden structures inside came from oak trees which grow around here.