May 24, 2025 – Jane Austen in Vermont

This day I had the pleasure of spending time with Ron Dunning – we have in the past visited estates and famous houses, and this time the plan was to go to Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill

– alas! it was CLOSED [who closes a tourist site on a Friday??!] – but a few outside photos give you a sense of its grandeur – inside for another trip I am sorry to say – but you can visit it virtually here:

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But Marble Hill was a lovely surprise – home to Henrietta Howard, mistress of George II [for which George’s wife Caroline was most grateful] – apparently George spoke no English and Henrietta was deaf, so a perfect relationship that lasted until he took on another mistress [you can read the ever-interesting George’s mistress stories here.

Howard was unhappily married, separated, but a well-loved and respected woman of education, wit, and grace. She also had a “home of her own” – she designed and lived in Marble Hill beginning in the 1720s, one of the many villas built along the Thames – it remains a rare example of a house built for and by a woman in Georgian England, thankfully saved by an Act of Parliament in 1902. Unlike many such estates, it feels like a very real and livable home, not a museum – you can read more about Henrietta and Marble Hill here.

Love this dining room wallpaper:

View from the Thames:

And now a view of the modern Thames, not likely what Henrietta saw!:

Lunch at the Couch House café was an added treat.

[You can read more about Marble Hill at this post by Tony Grant from 2013!]

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We did go to nearby Orleans House, now really just the Gallery standing – I only took a picture of the exquisite ceiling, but here is also an exterior shot courtesy of Wikipedia:

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And to finish off the day, we took in the country home Sandycombe Lodge of J. M. W. Turner, where there was an inspiring watercolor exhibit of “Turner’s Kingdom: Beauty, Birds, and Beasts,” and very unlike the large and dramatic landscapes we associate with him. Celebrating Turner’s 250^th [just like Jane!], the house, designed by Turner, is a small retreat that Turner lived in with his father.