On 4 July 1952 Dyson wrote to Freeman:

My dear Freeman,

We have two interesting bits of news. First, the Council of the College has been very generous about my pension, and in spite of my urging them to be more circumspect, they have promised me £1500 a year in retirement, which is about 3/3 of my pay and more than I had my claim to for 15 years service.

Secondly, we ran down to Winchester two days ago to look at a house that won't do, and accidentally found one that well might. It is in St. James Terrace, which you may remember is just above the railway up the hill beyond ‘Sunnyside’. It is quite antediluvian in its fittings, no electric light, no hot water, no anything, but a very nice compact little place, and naturally very cheap. The deal will depend on whether we can get a licence to spend about £1000 on modernising it. If we can, I think we shall buy it. We have four or five months in which to do the renovations, if we are allowed to. It is the most promising possibility we have yet heard of. It is about five minutes from the station, which is important for me. For though I shall cut all the dozen things I belong to connected with the College, I shall still have a lot of Trust meetings in London.