Strawberry Hill and Horace Walpole

‘My buildings are paper, like my writings, and both will blow away in ten years after I am dead.’ Horace Walpole died in 1790 yet remarkably Strawberry Hill is still standing over 200 years later. During the latter part of the 18th century, Horace Walpole, son of England’s first Prime Minister, transformed a modest house into his own ‘little Gothic castle,’ creating a tourist attraction, which was as popular in his day as it is in ours. Walpole was a compulsive collector and filled the house with a pioneering collection of antiques and curios. The house and gardens have recently undergone a multimillion-pound restoration project to return Walpole’s Gothic vision to its original splendour.