One of the bonuses of gardening at Highgate Cemeteries is that the lovely volunteer lady, Kim, arranges a lot of excellent exchange visits for us volunteers to go to other interesting houses, gardens and cemeteries around London. And a couple of weeks ago we were posted off to Strawberry Hill House, Horace Walpole’s 18th century Gothic folly on the banks of the Thames at Twickenham.
Horace, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician, was the youngest son of the great early 18th century Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. Like most fashionistas of his day, Horace wanted a summer residence near London and in 1747 was lucky to bag one of the last remaining available sites on the banks of the Thames at Twickenham. Here he set about creating ‘a little Gothic castle’, its lawns running down to the river bank.
The house, of which more below, not only welcomed Horace’s guests from the worlds of letters and politics, but curious visitors, four of whom per day, would be shown around by his housekeeper.
The gardens, inspired by William Kent, complemented the Gothic castle with trees, shrubs, formal borders, winding paths and meadows leading down to the river where cows would graze – waiting to be milked to create the frothy syllabubs so beloved of 18th century revellers. Sadly we arived at the house along with the rain so I cannot vouch for the gardens in person.
However, although our visit to Strawberry Hill happened during a deluge, the rest of the day was dry if somewhat overcast. Just as well as I had decided to walk from Richmond along the Thames Path to Ham House. Here I am, heading up the river….
… to Ham House and – Hammerton’s Ferry.
Yes indeed, a real live little ferry boat chugging cross the Thames taking foot and bicycle passengers from Ham House to Twickenham. Not only, it seems to me, is this a delight in itself but what is much more delightful is that it is a family run business which has been ferrying people across the river for 130 years, the current family owners having been there for over 20 years. It is apparently one of only four remaining ferries on the 25 odd miles of river between Teddington and the Thames Barrier.
And here is the ferry pulling into the steps by Ham House and then ferrying us (including a very excitable dog) across to Twickenham.
Once on the Twickenham side I set off for Strawberry Hill House – via the very attractive Orleans House Gallery. Unfortunately you cannot stick by the river the whole way so having made my way through the pretty back streets of Twickenham, I trudged down the main road in the ever heavier rain till I got to Strawberry Hill.
Thanks to the rain I wasted no time outside but headed straight in and onto the tour, starting in the hall and staircase. Walpole was entranced by the idea of a gloomy Gothick castle as a setting for his collection of curious antiquarian objects – and for his spooky novel the Castle of Otranto – even though, despite his best endeavours, the rooms in the house are in the main light, elegant and whimsical.
Here, for example, is the staircase, the fretwork bannisters mirroring those of gothic cathedral choirstalls.
Here is one wall of the library……
And here are his dining room chairs especially designed to stand proud of the wall so that the flickering lights of the candles would throw spooky shadows on the wall behind.
This is his ‘tribune’ – desigend like a small chapel to house and display his treasures. Named after the Medici’s Cabinet of Treasures in the Uffizi in Florence, it boasted the first Axminster floor carpet to be laid in England and shutters which retreated into the ceiling to reveal views of the gardens. (In one of the upstairs rooms not only did the shutters slide back into the walls but the windows did also so that nothing would interfere with your view of the gardens.)
And this is the ‘great hall’ in which the flower of 18th century society came to be entertained and delighted by Horace’s house, his treasures and his gardens.
Although the house remained in the Walpole family by the mid 19th century the then owners, the Waldegraves, had grown tired of its excesses and, having blown most of their family money, sold off the entire contents of the house in an attempt to repair their fortunes. The house was eventually sold to a German banker and then, in 1914, to the Roman Catholic St Mary’s University College from whom the Strawberry Hill House Trust now lease it.
After a £9 million, two-year-long restoration, the house reopened to the public in 2010. And over the subsequent years it has been repopulated with some 150 artworks from Horace’s original collection. Located in museums and private collections around the world they have gradually found their way back to their exact locations in Strawberry Hill House, as mapped in Walpole’s detailed plans of each room.
The house and gardens are now open to visitors from Saturday to Wednesay, 11-4pm – all details on their site here.
Back to Richmond
My original plan had been to head back across on the ferry – here we go –
to Ham House, the very fine 17th century house now owned by the National Trust on the other side of the river. However, having got myself thoroughly lost in the back streets of Twickenham I was too late for the house, so had to make do with a very fine cream tea in Ham’s walled Orangery gardens.
Set me up a treat for my walk back down the Thames Path to bustling Richmond and onto the overground to carry me back ‘oop north.