The Hillesden Group continued until 1956, when Derek and Ruth, along with Eric and Marty, wishing to remain near to each other, decided to moved to Sussex. According to Derek’s kiln log, his last glaze firing at Hillesden, took place on June 24th of that year. John and Mary remaining another year, before headed to Suffolk where John returned to painting.
Eric wanted somewhere modern to live, and having secured a suitable building plot, not far away, on the edge of Bognor Regis, commissioned his brother to designed and built him and Marty a house.
Derek, meanwhile fancied living somewhere in what he called, his ”Magic triangle,” an area between the villages of Arundel, Billingshurst and Chiddingfold, and after Ruth and him drove around the district, found a beautiful Georgian building, in the heart of Arundel. Derek said it was his ideal house, and they stopped to enquire at the estate agents, only to find it been up for auction the previous day. Fate was to smile however, as due to snow, no one had turned up, and they managed to purchase it for the opening price.
It was the summer of 1956, when Derek and Ruth move in, and during this initial period, they were excited to discover ancient maps and papers hidden away, in the back of an upstairs cupboard. On closer inspection it becomes evident that, they were the property of a Captain George Duff. Further studies find Duff to have been the Captain of HMS Mars, who fought and died during the Battle of Trafalgar. They decide to name their new house, ‘Duff House.’
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