The family moved to Abney House on Stoke Newington Church Street in the village of that name, then a few miles distant from the City of London.
As at Hampstead, he was interested in the preservation of open spaces for the people, and was closely involved in the proceedings which led to Ashdown Forest being placed in the hands of conservators charged with preserving the rights of commoners and the public.
She was the daughter of William Crawford, MP for the City of London (1822-1841), who had made a fortune in the British East India Company.
She was an author and her publications included "Alpine Byways" and "A Tour of the Grisons" (the Swiss Alps now known as Graubünden).
Their son Douglas William Freshfield became a mountaineer and travel writer.