In 1912 Bennett and his wife moved from France to England, where he bought Comarques, an early-18th-century country house at Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex. Among his early concerns, once back in England, was to succeed as a playwright. He had dabbled previously but his inexperience showed. "The Times" thought his 1911 comedy "The Honeymoon", staged in the West End with a starry cast, had "one of the most amusing first acts we have ever seen", but fell badly flat in the other two acts. In the same year Bennett met the playwright Edward Knoblauch (later Knoblock) and they collaborated on "Milestones", the story of the generations of a family seen in 1860, 1885 and 1912. The combination of Bennett's narrative gift and Knoblauch's practical experience proved a success. The play was strongly cast, received highly favourable notices, ran for more than 600 performances in London and over 200 in New York, and made Bennett a great deal of money.