The Strawberry Hill Trust was formed in August 2002 with a mission to restore Horace Walpole’s 18^th century gothic villa, Strawberry Hill in Twickenham and to open it to a wider public. Recently the Trust has taken over a 120 year lease from the Catholic Education Service, the owner of the property, and is embarking upon a £8.9 million project to restore Walpole’s villa and surrounding gardens. The Strawberry Hill Trust is supported by the Friends of Strawberry Hill.

Strawberry Hill is a Grade I listed property and has been identified by many as a place in need of urgent assistance. It was featured on the BBC2 series ‘Restoration’; it is listed on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk register; and it was included in the 2004 World Monuments Fund Watch list of the world’s 100 Most Endangered Sites.

Strawberry Hill is nationally and internationally famous as it was here that Horace Walpole’s passion for Gothic became manifest and inspired the popular 19^th century Gothic revival movement in architecture and the tradition in literature.

The house is often described as one of the jewels in the stretch of properties running along the Thames from Hampton Court to Kew and is a near neighbour of Orleans House and Marble Hill.

Last Updated: Thursday 19^th, March, 2009