Marble Hill Grotto

This was most unimpressive. The grotto is gated off and there were just old boards lain about on the ground. No sign of any shells lining the walls. It just looks like a viaduct workshop. The only saving grace was that it was free to visit.

Curious folly originally constructed as an interesting feature for the gardens of Marble Hill. Inside, the grotto was originally lined with shells, but currently only imprints of these remain. The landscaped gardens around the grotto have been recreated and now form an attractive feature of Marble Hill park.

A renovated “folly”, an 18th.Century landscaping affectation, considered as emblematic of good taste in the pursuit of an imagined “Arcadian Ideal” by the aristocracy and wealthy.
Here possibly Horace Walpole, Alexander Pope, hostess Henrietta Howard and fellow sybarites frolicked, exchanging witticisms in a secluded idyllic retreat.
The recreation and reinstatement of the grotto, surrounding gardens and pathways albeit long in anticipation, a noteworthy addition to the Palladian villa.