About the end of that month Evelyn went to Sayes Court to prepare for their reception, but was waylaid by footpads near Bromley and came near meeting his death from them.

Fortunately, however, 'did God deliver me from these villains, and not onely so, but restor'd what they tooke, as twice before he had graciously don, both at sea and land;...

for which, and many signal preservations, I am extreamly oblig'd to give thanks to God my Saviour.' On 24th July, 1652, Mrs.Evelyn presented her husband with their first child, their son, John, who predeceased his father in 1698.

He now busied himself in acquiring full possession of his father-in-law's and the rebels' interests in Sayes Court, which he effected at a cost of L3,500 early in 1653.
Then he began gardening and planting on a large scale, transforming the almost bare fields around the house into fine specimens of the art of horticulture, as then practised.

Sayes Court was afterwards the temporary residence of Peter the Great, who committed great havoc in the gardens and hedges during his rough orgies.