Strawberry Hill House & Garden
Forthcoming events - Strawberry Hill House & Garden>

Strawberry Hill is Britain's finest example of Georgian Gothic Revival architecture and interior decoration. It began life in 1698 as a modest house, built by the coachmen of the Earl of Bradford. It was transformed into 'a little Gothic castle' by Horace Walpole, man of letters and the son of England's first Prime Minister. Between 1747 and 1792 Walpole doubled its size, creating Gothic rooms and adding towers and battlements in fulfilment of his dream. Further additions were made by the Countess Waldegrave in the 19th Century.
Strawberry Hill was already a famous tourist site in its own day. It has miraculously survived into ours, its rural surroundings gone, but its charm undiminished. The plaything of Walpole and his friends, it established a taste for the Gothic: fireplaces and gilded ceilings like medieval tombs and vaults, painted glass with rustic and biblical scenes and heraldry.
Walpole was a compulsive collector. His gothic home grew to house a vast, idiosyncratic collection and to reflect his social position and aspirations as an innovator in style. He surrounded himself with antiquities, works of art and curios, especially those with strong historical associations. His library and collection of historical prints were equally impressive. In 1842, at a sale lasting thirty-two days, the contents of the house were scattered to the winds, but many can still be identified.
Horace set up a private press at the house, publishing important historical texts and his own writings on history and art, He also wrote the first Gothic novel, set in the house, establishing a form and taste which is still with us.
Following an £8.9 million restoration with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the house is now open to the public as an extraordinary fairytale experience.
Bookings may be made on the website given below or by telephoning 0208 744 1241.
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What's On
Museum/Heritage
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15 Jan 2021
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly'
Kew Society -
27 Jan 2021
Thames Luminaries
Turner's House Trust -
27 Jan 2021
Thames Luminaries: Within the garden walls at Hogarth’s House
Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust -
28 Jan 2021
Thames Luminaries: A painter’s garden: J.M.W. Turner and the grounds of Sandycombe Lodge
Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust -
29 Jan 2021
Thames Luminaries: Alexander Pope: the poet and the poetic landscape
Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust -
2 Feb 2021
Lecture on
The Arts Society Richmond -
3 Feb 2021
Thames Luminaries: Chiswick House, William Kent, and the birth of the English Landscape Movement
Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust -
3 Feb 2021
The Arcadian Thames - Flood Plains & Sustainability
Kew Society -
4 Feb 2021
Thames Luminaries: Marble Hill: Howard and her garden of grottos and groves
Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust -
5 Feb 2021
Thames Luminaries: Strawberry Hill: the open grove in which Walpole explored the ‘gaiety in nature’
Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust -
8 Feb 2021
Talk: Andrew George on the gardens of Twickenham Park
Richmond Local History Society -
10 Feb 2021
Thames Luminaries: Fishponds, great cedars and Jayne Mansfield - renovating the historic landscapes of Boston Manor Park for the 21st century
Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust
Full list for Museum/Heritage