The Faery Tale Castle: Strawberry Hill House Flower Festival 2025

The UK’s most sustainable flower festival returns this September, transforming Strawberry Hill House & Garden into a faery-tale realm where imagination runs wild.

For one magical weekend, The Faery Tale Castle will burst into bloom, as over 50 of the UK’s pioneering floral artists conjure up spellbinding displays inspired by folklore and fairy legends, from 12 – 14 September. 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 organisers.

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.

A rich programme 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 Elkington, “elevating each other and showing guests the extraordinary possibilities of botanical art.”