On Saturday 21st April 1877 an auction sale was held at the White Hart in Guildford (now Sainsbury's High Street store) at which the attendance was so large that the sale had to be moved to the "commodious ballroom". In the Particulars of Sale the neighbourhood was said to be "select and particularly desirable for Residence" while the properties were described as "offering several tempting sites for building" as well as including "tracts of rich grazing land next the River Wey". The locality commanded "most extensive views in all directions", including Frimley Ridges, Knapp Hill and the Brookwood asylum to the north, and to the south "the bold elevation of the Hog's Back" as well as the Grand Stand at Newland's Corner, on the racecourse which preceded Epsom.

Lot 1, described as part of  Hurst Farm consisted of the house west of the Woking Road and just over 35 acres between the road and the railway. The house was described as "A Comfortable Old-Fashioned Farm House" built of brick and tile and containing "5 Bed Rooms, 2 Parlours, Kitchen, Pantry, Brewhouse, Dairy, etc." The adjacent homestead comprised "A Barn, 2 Cow Sheds for 13 Cows, another Cow House for 6 Cows, Cart Horse Stable for 4 Horses, Chaff House, Meal House, Pigsty, with Farm Yards and Productive Gardens." These buildings were located between the house and the Woking Road.
     A small two-roomed cottage, just north of "Briton's Pond", was included in this lot.

Lot 2, another part of   Hurst Farm, comprised the house east of the road, divided into 5 tenements of 3 rooms each, together with a stable for 4 horses, a shed, a farmyard, a large garden and two fields, totalling over 34 acres in all. Neither of these lots reached their reserve prices. (see report in Surrey Advertiser and County Times)

Neither did Lot 4 consisting of   Queen Hithe farmhouse and 46 acres, nor Lot 7, comprising   Watts Farm, Watts Cottage and 55 acres. In fact, out of the total of 200 acres on offer, the only sales actually achieved were of 8 small plots totalling just over 10 acres. The auctioneers had claimed that "some of the lots form fine natural building sites specially adapted for the erection of First-class residences or large Public Buildings" but clearly the time was not yet ripe and the development of the area hung fire for another 30 years or so.

The report of this sale in The Surrey Advertiser & County Times includes an example of Victorian humour:- "Lot 16, a small piece of pasture land in Upper Hook Mead, was bought by Mr F. Smallpeice, acting for Lord Onslow, for £45."

In the sales particulars it was stated that Mr Burt, who occupied the whole of the property and had been the tenant for over 30 years, had been given notice to give up possession at Michaelmas. Sadly he died soon after the date of the auction, a few months before his 70th birthday. In due course Robert Ferguson, a Scotsman, took over the tenancy and moved into Hurst Farm with his wife, two daughters and step-daughter. The 1881 Census describes him as farming 125 acres. By this time his landlord was George Moss of Stockwell Green in south-west London, and the old Crosse house, which had been known as the Old Barracks for a short period, was called Hurst Farm Cottages, still containing five households.

On 16th February 1898 Messrs Daniel Smith, Son and Oakley conducted another auction on the instructions of the trustees of the late Sir William Bovill. This time the property for sale comprised the two parts of Hurst Farm as well as Watts Farm, totalling "upwards of 129 acres". Robert Ferguson had been given two years' notice to quit but he was still there in the spring of 1900, as the tenant of Charles Burgess of Godalming.