The Walkers were a wealthy family who owned Thomas Walker Ltd. a company making buckles and other items in great demand for the armed forces. Gilbert’s mother, Theresa, became great friends with Rebecca Dering who was still living at Baddesley, so Gilbert developed a love for the place. Theresa suggested that, when it came up for sale, he, as a “distant relative”, had a duty to buy the property and restore it. He did so in 1940 and in the following year changed his name by deed poll to Thomas Ferrers-Walker. For the next thirty years Thomas and his wife Undine gradually restored the house turning it into a home where they could entertain, Graham Baron Ash of Packwood being a regular guest. When Undine died in 1962 a new housekeeper, Miss Joan Pugh, was engaged and she continued to live alone at Baddesley after Thomas's death in 1970.
Thomas's son, Thomas Weaving Ferrers-Walker (1925-2006), did not live at Baddesley, preferring to remain at the family home, but visited on most days. He decided to save the property for the nation, but soon found that it wouldn’t be a straightforward endeavour. Eventually the cash needed was found from The National Land Fund, but an endowment of £300,000 was still needed before the government would sign off on the Land Fund money. The property was put back on the market, presumably in the hopes that someone would come forward with similar aims. Among interested parties was Richard Branson, but none of the potential buyers would be prepared to open Baddesley to the public.