Amis and Howard married in 1965 after meeting two years earlier at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, which she had helped to organize.
She had been married twice: in 1947 she had left her first husband, Peter Scott, with whom she had a daughter, and in 1963 she divorced her second, Jim Douglas-Henry.
Kingsley was still married to his first wife, Hilly Bardwell, when he and Jane began an affair.
The couple first lived together in an Edwardian house at 108 Maida Vale, London, W2.
They bought Lemmons at auction for £48,000 in 1968, and lived there from 28 November that year.
Kingsley wrote to the poet Philip Larkin in April 1969: "This is a bloody great mansion, in the depths of the country though only 15 miles from the centre, and with lots of room for you to come and spend the night."

The core household consisted of Jane and Kingsley; Jane's mother, Katherine ("Kit"), a former ballerina, who died in the house in 1972; one of Jane's brothers, Colin Howard ("Monkey"); and artists Sargy Mann and Terry Raybauld.
The housekeeper, Lily Uniacke, lived in Gladsmuir Cottage.
Kingsley's children, Philip, Martin and Sally Amis, lived in the house from time to time, mostly outside term time, or at weekends in the case of Philip and Martin; the children were 17, 16 and 12 when Kingsley and Jane married.

It was Jane who encouraged Martin to start reading, beginning with Jane Austen, and who "salvaged" his education, for which he said he owed her an "unknowable debt".
After 12 months at Sussex Tutors (a Brighton crammer) in 1967–1968, he passed six O-levels and 3 A-levels, and won an exhibition to Exeter College, Oxford, graduating in 1971 with a congratulatory first in English.
Martin lived at Lemmons until Christmas 1971, after which he started work at The Times Literary Supplement and moved to central London, visiting his father and Jane at weekends.
He shared a maisonette in or near Pont Street, SW1, with a friend, Rob Henderson, who was the basis of Charles Highway in The Rachel Papers (1973), Gregory Riding in Success (1978), and Kenrik in The Pregnant Widow (2011).
When they ran out of money, Martin found himself a "dust-furred bed-sit in Earls Court".
He described Lemmons in Experience (2000):
The house on Hadley Common was a citadel of riotous insolvency—not just at Christmas but every weekend.
There was a great sense of in-depth back-up, a cellar, a barrel of malt whisky, a walk-in larder: proof against snowstorm or shutdown.
I think it was that Christmas morning [1977], that all four Amises, with breakfast trays on their laps, watched Journey to the Centre of the Earth—then the visit to the pub, then the day-long, the week-long lunch.
And with Kingsley the hub of all humour and high spirits, like an engine of comedy ... I felt so secure in that house—and, clearly, so insecure elsewhere—that I always experienced a caress of apprehension as I climbed into the car on Sunday night, any Sunday night, and headed back to the motorway and Monday, to the flat or the flatlet, the street, the job, the tramp dread, the outside world.
Amis and Howard married in 1965 after meeting two years earlier at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, which she had helped to organize. She had been married twice: in 1947 she had left her first husband, Peter Scott, with whom she had a daughter, and in 1963 she divorced her second, Jim Douglas-Henry. Kingsley was still married to his first wife, Hilly Bardwell, when he and Jane began an affair. The couple first lived together in an Edwardian house at 108 Maida Vale, London, W2. They bought Lemmons at auction for £48,000 in 1968, and lived there from 28 November that year. Kingsley wrote to the poet Philip Larkin in April 1969: "This is a bloody great mansion, in the depths of the country though only 15 miles from the centre, and with lots of room for you to come and spend the night."
The core household consisted of Jane and Kingsley; Jane's mother, Katherine ("Kit"), a former ballerina, who died in the house in 1972; one of Jane's brothers, Colin Howard ("Monkey"); and artists Sargy Mann and Terry Raybauld. The housekeeper, Lily Uniacke, lived in Gladsmuir Cottage. Kingsley's children, Philip, Martin and Sally Amis, lived in the house from time to time, mostly outside term time, or at weekends in the case of Philip and Martin; the children were 17, 16 and 12 when Kingsley and Jane married.
It was Jane who encouraged Martin to start reading, beginning with Jane Austen, and who "salvaged" his education, for which he said he owed her an "unknowable debt". After 12 months at Sussex Tutors (a Brighton crammer) in 1967–1968, he passed six O-levels and 3 A-levels, and won an exhibition to Exeter College, Oxford, graduating in 1971 with a congratulatory first in English. Martin lived at Lemmons until Christmas 1971, after which he started work at The Times Literary Supplement and moved to central London, visiting his father and Jane at weekends. He shared a maisonette in or near Pont Street, SW1, with a friend, Rob Henderson, who was the basis of Charles Highway in The Rachel Papers (1973), Gregory Riding in Success (1978), and Kenrik in The Pregnant Widow (2011). When they ran out of money, Martin found himself a "dust-furred bed-sit in Earls Court". He described Lemmons in Experience (2000):
The house on Hadley Common was a citadel of riotous insolvency—not just at Christmas but every weekend. There was a great sense of in-depth back-up, a cellar, a barrel of malt whisky, a walk-in larder: proof against snowstorm or shutdown. I think it was that Christmas morning [1977], that all four Amises, with breakfast trays on their laps, watched Journey to the Centre of the Earth—then the visit to the pub, then the day-long, the week-long lunch. And with Kingsley the hub of all humour and high spirits, like an engine of comedy ... I felt so secure in that house—and, clearly, so insecure elsewhere—that I always experienced a caress of apprehension as I climbed into the car on Sunday night, any Sunday night, and headed back to the motorway and Monday, to the flat or the flatlet, the street, the job, the tramp dread, the outside world.
Lemmons