Created by renowned writer Horace Walpole (1717-1797), Strawberry Hill is Britain's finest example of domestic Georgian Gothic revival architecture.

The House and its garden has been open to visitors for over 250 years.

Horace Walpole was a pivotal figure in 18th-century society, literature, art and architecture and was the third son of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first Prime Minister.

From 1739 to 1741, Walpole embarked on a Grand Tour and European influences can be seen in the design of Strawberry Hill House and the works that formed its vast collection of treasures.

He was author of the world's first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto.

Strawberry Hill's 18th-century garden is one of the earliest in the English naturalistic style, with Walpole's 1780 essay on garden design one of the most influential piece of writing on the English landscape garden.

In Focus displays

Strawberry Hill House

& Garden will stage three In Focus displays for 2022, featuring objects and artworks that help tell the story of Strawberry Hill and its inhabitants.

The Grand Tour, the two Horaces and the Court of Florence (1740-1786)

24 March to 24 July 2022

This display is dedicated to the Italian Grand Tour, in particular the friendship between Horace Walpole (and the British Envoy to Florence, Horace Mann.

Pollock Theatres

7 July to 8 October 2022

This exhibition will display a series of early 19th-century Victorian Toy Theatres from the historic collection of the Pollock's Toy Museum (today part of the Benjamin Pollock's Toy Shop, one of the oldest toy shops in London).

Toy theatres were popular children's' playthings until their decline at the end of the 19th-century. Miniature stages, characters, scenery and props were printed onto paper from copper plates.

The Tudors and the lost jewelled dagger of Henry VIII

29 September 2022 to 1 January 2023

Horace Walpole was also fascinated by the Tudors and at Strawberry Hill he consecrated an entire room to them and called it The Holbein Chamber.

This room originally contained works by or after Holbein, as well as those objects which Walpole associated with the Tudors.

These include the Cardinal Wolsey hat, portraits of the members of the court of Henry VIII and the king's dagger.

Useful links

​ www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk