In April of 1941 the de Glehns’ home and studios of nearly forty years at Cheyne Walk were completely destroyed by a parachute bomb, which hit the neighbouring Old Church in Chelsea. Having spent many of the months since the war had been declared with Wilfrid’s brother in Grantchester, near Cambridge, any plans to return home to London were now impossible. With so many of their old friends gone from the area too, including Sargent, Tonks and the Harrisons, there seemed little point in renting elsewhere in Chelsea.

In March of 1942 the de Glehns moved permanently to their new home in Stratford Tony, not far from the house they had been renting at Wilton in Wiltshire. Surrounded by lawns and herbaceous borders, the Manor House was the sort of home that Wilfrid had once told his sister Rachel he would never be able to afford and its situation in a tiny hamlet was in complete contrast to the sophistication of their home in Chelsea.

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