When they finally got into their house, in 1846, they gave a house-warming, which is thus described by one of the guests: "Our first night," she says, "is well spent. Nobody smelt paint or caught cold, and the worst is over.... After dinner we were to drink the Queen's and the Prince's healths as a house-warming. And after it the Prince said, very naturally and simply: 'We have a psalm in Germany for such occasions, meaning a prayer to bless our going out and coming in.'" So the Royal pair settled down in what was to them perhaps more of a real home than any other of their residences. The model farm was a great joy to the children, who grew up simply amid the trees and fields on the edge of the sea. The Queen herself took up the part of an ordinary country lady while at Osborne, and visited the poor in their homes, sitting by the bedsides of the sick and reading to them. The Prince passed his time as a country gentleman, looking after his estate and cultivating it. Many times were they visited by the crowned heads of Europe, and all the numerous relatives among the foreign royalties. Baron Stockmar, the Prince's tutor, was a welcome guest, and made shrewd observations on the development of the two he had first known as children. Many of the Queen's letters relating to the great events which made up her outer life are dated from Osborne. While she stayed in happy seclusion her hand was ever on the wheel, and she missed nothing, though the roar of wars and the terror of political upheavals might have seemed far distant.