About

This Halloween, Strawberry Hill House transforms into the stage of Horace Walpole’s darkest imaginings. Here, in his “little Gothic castle,” the Gothic was born: one night in 1764 Walpole dreamt of a giant armoured hand on a staircase and awoke to write The Castle of Otranto — the first Gothic novel, the blueprint for every haunted castle and uncanny tale that followed.

Walpole even coined a word, “gloomth,” to capture the sublime mix of shadow and warmth he cultivated here. As Walpole himself said, “with a Gothic house, all you need to bring is your imagination, and the House will do the rest!” From 25 October to 2 November 2025, the house will return to that very atmosphere: shutters drawn, every room alive with flickering candlelight, as unsettling stories echo through the halls and visitors wander at their own pace.

Bewitching botanical displays by the Flower Festival Team, including this year’s guest curator Gaia Eros, will twine through the rooms, adding to the ghostly spell. Among them, two uncanny figures fashioned from nature’s remnants will linger in the Hall — half-human, half-forest, as though Strawberry Hill itself had conjured them from shadow.

Families can take part in a riddle-strewn Halloween Garden Trail throughout the week, complete with a sweet treat reward from the Garden Café.