Audio: Thomas Barrett's Study at Lee Priory

NARRATOR: The room you are standing in with its distinctive pointed arches came from Lee Priory in Kent and was designed in the Gothic style - the cutting edge of fashion in the late 18th Century. The great collector and man of letters Horace Walpole took upon himself a personal crusade to champion this style. He had his house at Strawberry Hill redesigned in Gothic mode and his ideas were taken further by his friend Thomas Barret at Lee Priory - to Walpole's delight.

WALOPLE: I found Mr. Barrett's house complete, and the most perfect thing ever formed! Such taste, every inch so well finished, and the drawing room and eating room so magnificent! The small spire which crowns the dome of the Library, and the turrets of the entrance front, when beheld through the trees from a distant point, excite a strong feeling of monastic seclusion. I think if Strawberry were not its parent, it would be jealous.

NARRATOR: Walpole was always encouraging his friends to sample the delights of Lee Priory for themselves.

WALPOLE: I wish on your return, if in good weather, you would contrive to visit Mr. Barrett's at Lee, it is but four miles from Canterbury. You will see a child of Strawberry prettier than the parent, and so executed and so finished!; Mr. Barret, I am sure, would be happy to show his house to you…

NARRATOR: If these visitors were ever less than enthusiastic, Walpole was quick to spring to Lee Priory's defence… .

WALPOLE: So far from the position being insipid, to me it has a tranquil cheerfulness that harmonises with the house, and seems to have been the judicious selection of a wealthy abbot, who avoided ostentation, but did not choose austere gloom… It is the quintessence of Gothic taste exquisitely executed…