Between arriving at Merton on 20 August and leaving it on 13 September 1805 there were 25 days. Although Nelson referred back to this period a month later, on 12 October: ‘I do really feel that the 25 days I was at Merton was the very happiest of my life’ [398], one must not be misled into thinking that the time ashore was spent in secluded togetherness. Nelson spent much of his time conversing with ministers, at the Admiralty and with politicians; so much so, that he ‘often stayed at Gordon's Hotel in Albemarle Street to save the fifty minutes by post-chaise to Merton’. When Nelson and Lady Hamilton were together at Merton, they were never alone. Members of Nelson's family as well as old friends visited and Lady Hamilton complained to Mrs Ludwidge: ‘He has all his Brothers & Sisters at Merton & I go there to see them but for fear of having all the Cats on my back I am over cautious so as to be completely miserable.’ At the same time, however, it appears that Lady Hamilton enjoyed the buzz of activity around Nelson, into which she was drawn to a certain extent and to which she had contributed, ‘sending to every part of the country to bid Nelson's family join her at Merton’. Lord Minto, one of the visitors at Merton, observed: Nelson's ‘conversation is a cordial in these low times … Lady Hamilton has improved and added to the house and the place extremely well without his knowing she was about it. He found it all ready done. She is a clever being after all: the passion is as hot as ever.’

During his last days in England, Nelson could hardly move without being feted. Lord Minto wrote to his wife on 26 August: