After staying at Wickwar (1890) and Bredon’s Norton (1890), Algernon Gissing and his wife Catherine finally settled in Willersey in November 1891. Their residence was probably Rose Cottage. Algernon set many of his early rural novels in the Cotswolds, along with his two topographical non-fictions works: Broadway (1904) and The Footpath-way in Gloucestershire (1924). Of his 30 books, Algernon based some 16 of them in or around the Cotswolds. It was his second walk book which gave him success. A Footpath-way in Gloucestershire draws on forty years of local knowledge to describe the tracks between Chipping Campden and Winchcombe - now part of the Cotswold Way. Filled with information on history, flora and fauna, Gissing's book describes walks along the Cotswold Edge and the old Saltway, using his descriptive powers to re-enact the pleasures of walking.
In October 1892 George Gissing visits Willersey. Of the visit he writes: 'Climbed the hill with Alg, and, amid clear sunshine, looked down upon the plain covered with mist, Bredon, the Malvern summits, standing out precisely like islands from a sea ... beeches, elms, at 9 in the evening, when mist was thick, Alg and I again went up the hill to hear the owls crying.’ (Owls which, in October 1895, W H Hudson, avid ornithologist, also notes).