The UK’s most sustainable flower festival returns this September, transforming Strawberry Hill House & Garden from Friday 12 until Sunday 14 September 2025 into a faery-tale realm where imagination runs wild. This is your invitation to witness the event.
The 2025 Theme: The Faery Tale Castle
For one magical weekend, The Faery Tale Castle will burst into bloom, as sixty of the UK’s pioneering floral artists conjure up spellbinding displays inspired by folklore and fairy legends. Using only British flowers and sustainable techniques—free from floral foam and single-use plastics—they’ll weave nature’s untamed beauty into every corner of this Gothic masterpiece.
Guest curated by botanical artist Gaia Eros, with founder Leigh Chappell, this year’s festival invites you into a world of spinning wheels, a witch’s perfumery, flying carpets, a goblin market—and even a giant spider in the gardens.
Now in its seventh year, the festival stands apart from typical flower shows in both spirit and sustainability. All materials are locally sourced, foraged, or grown by the florists themselves — no imported blooms, no wasteful packaging. “The only waste from this festival ends up on the compost heap,” say the organizers.
Consciousness Meets Creativity
Florists are encouraged to think not only creatively, but conscientiously — crafting beauty that leaves no trace. And there could be no more fitting stage than Strawberry Hill House, the celebrated Gothic villa created in the 18th century by writer, collector, and garden designer Horace Walpole.
Strawberry Hill is often described as Britain’s first faery-tale castle, a white turreted confection that helped ignite the Gothic revival. Inside, visitors wander through theatrical interiors of gilded fan vaults and mirrored alcoves. Outside, the gardens reflect Walpole’s own pioneering ideas about nature, landscaping, and beauty. His 1780s essay On Modern Gardening helped establish the English landscape movement, while from this house he famously coined the word “serendipity”—to describe the art of unexpected discovery.
That same spirit infuses the festival: each room holds a new surprise, embracing the idea of floristry as visual storytelling—a world away from high-street bouquets or competitive flower shows.
Just as Walpole delighted in the “curious, the singular, and the whimsical,” the Flower Festival celebrates creativity born from thinking differently. This year, a quietly radical curatorial thread has emerged: many of the exhibiting artists are neurodivergent. Their work isn’t labelled as such, but it reflects the festival’s ethos of celebrating difference and championing originality.
Two Interesting Threads for Florists
Gaia explains that, besides the florals galore, her curating year is incorporating two brand new mechanics that will surely be of interest to the sustainable florist:
"Yes, the floral designers and I are excited to be platforming two incredible new products. One of them is a genuinely compostable, non-toxic alternative to floral foam from Phoam Labs, which is made completely from corn and will be used in the entry gates display.
The other is OLMS Bamboo Pods which Yan Skates will be designing with as a visible mechanic. They are water vials which have been crafted out of a by-product of bamboo and are also fully compostable. Unlike plastic water tubes they are also incredibly beautiful in and of themselves so florists will want to show them off rather than hiding them!"
A Rich Program
A rich program of events accompanies the festival, offering visitors behind-the-scenes insight and creative inspiration.
The Flower Festival has become a defining moment in our cultural calendar,” says Dr David Gaimster, Director of Strawberry Hill House, “uniting artistic excellence with an ethos of sustainability that feels both timely and deeply rooted in the spirit of the house.”
"It’s the moment in the floral year where florists come together non-competitively to create magic," says guest curator Gaia (nee Elkington) Eros, "elevating each other and showing guests the extraordinary possibilities of botanical art."
About Strawberry Hill House & Garden
Strawberry Hill House & Garden has been open to visitors for over 250 years and is internationally famous as Britain’s finest example of domestic Georgian Gothic revival architecture. Horace Walpole was a pivotal figure in 18th-century society, literature, art, and architecture. The third son of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first Prime Minister, Horace Walpole was a man of many talents with a large network of influential friends. From 1739 to 1741, Walpole embarked on a Grand Tour, and European influences can be seen in the design of Strawberry Hill House and the works that formed its vast collection of treasures. He was the author of the world’s first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto.
Where & When
Strawberry Hill House & Garden
268 Waldegrave Road, Twickenham, TW1 4ST
Friday 12 – Sunday 14 September 2025 from 9 AM to 5 PM
Book your tickets now via strawberryhillhouse.org.uk. Adult: £22, Student: £15, Child (under 14): £10.
Follow this event via Strawberry Hill House & Garden Facebook and Instagram.
All photos courtesy of Strawberry Hill House Festival, taken by @anneschwarzphoto (unless otherwise noted).
