The First World War began in July 1914, and by the time of the following year's Royal Academy summer exhibition the Edens had purchased a property in the Cotswolds: Waterfall House in the medieval town of Burford, Oxfordshire.Royal Academy summer exhibition catalogue, 1915. That they owned the property is evidenced by the Oxfordshire Weekly News of 23 May 1917. The public showed little appetite for purchasing art at this time of crisis, and The Old Apple TreeDated 1914, exhibited at Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1915. was not sold when exhibited at the RA in 1915. However, it was bought later in the year when it was exhibited in Walker Art Gallery's autumn exhibition and it was gifted anonymously to the gallery.The Studio, no. 274 (January 1916), p. 288.
