Heritage
Assets
The two principal heritage assets in Strawberry Hill are Strawberry Hill House & Gardens and Pope’s Grotto. A key SHRA objective is to protect our heritage assets.
Horace Walpole (1717-1797) acquired what became Strawberry Hill in 1747 and set about building his Gothic castle. Strawberry Hill House opened to the public in October 2010 following extensive restoration. SHRA has a strong partnership with the House and each SHRA Bulletin has a page devoted to upcoming exhibitions and regular events – such as the annual flower festival. This year 2025 was the first partnership approach to running the Strawberry Hill Community BBQ & Picnic where House staff and volunteers worked together with the SHRA Committee. You can see the latest programme of activities by visiting the What’s On section of the House website.
We would also encourage local residents to volunteer as room attendants and gardeners at the House & Gardens. To express your interest, please email at volunteer@strawberryhillhouse.org.uk.
Strawberry Hill is also fortunate in having Pope’s Grotto on Cross Deep within its boundaries. Alexander Pope (1688-1744) the leading 18th century writer and poet lived in a now demolished Villa with a grotto in the basement and a tunnel leading under Cross Deep to his gardens (now St Catherine’s School playing field). After nearly 200 years of neglect the grotto was preserved in 2022 and is open to the public for (up to) 30 days per year. In addition to the Open Days there are occasional Guided Landscape Tours of Strawberry Hill House Garden and Pope’s Grotto. These can all be accessed via the Visiting section of the Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust website – www.popesgrotto.org.uk. These tend to be sold out quickly.