Waugh considered that "it has possibilities of beautification", writing to his close friend Nancy Mitford, "If only I were a pansy without family cares I could make it a jewel."

It was not a happy decade; becoming increasingly reclusive and paranoid, Waugh was nevertheless able to undertake some substantial work, including his biography of Ronald Knox.

[11][c] Combe Florey was bought from Waugh's widow, Laura, by his son, Auberon who lived at the house until his own death in 2001.

[15] In conjunction with his friend, John Betjeman, Waugh assembled an important collection of furniture by the Victorian art-architect William Burges at Combe Florey.

In a letter to his daughter Margaret Fitzherbert dated 30 June 1965 he wrote; "The William Burges furniture has arrived.

[21] Julian Orbach, in his 2014 revised volume, Somerset: South and West, in the Pevsner Buildings of England series, notes the "Gibbsian" influence on the design of the house.