R.B. traveled again to England from late August to early November 1938. He had made the decision to retire there. His old friend, Max Aitken, now Lord Beaverbrook, hosted R.B. at his Surrey estate, Cherkley Court, near Leatherhead, while he looked for a new home. R.B. looked at several grand locations but decided to purchase Juniper Hill in Mickleham, Surrey, an estate close to Beaverbrook's, which had been suggested by Beaverbrook from the beginning.
While R.B. returned to Canada to settle his affairs and say his goodbyes, he arranged for renovations to Juniper Hill. This move represented a significant change for R.B. as Juniper Hill would be the first home he would live in since he left his parent's home in Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick, at the age of 16; he had lived in several different hotels and boarding houses, but not a home that he owned.
In January 1939 R.B. embarked on a farewell tour across Canada. He ended up in Saint John, New Brunswick where he boarded the ship R.M.S. Montclare. The ship made a stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia before heading to England. A final farewell luncheon was planned and hosted by the Canadian Club of Halifax and the Board of Governors, Senate and Faculty of Dalhousie University on January 28, 1939. At R.B.'s insistence the luncheon was not held on land, but in the main dining room onboard the Montclare. R.B. wanted his last footsteps on Canadian soil to be in New Brunswick, the province of his birth.
