National Trust properties in West London
Apr 28, 2025
The National Trust is Europe’s largest conservation charity, looking after nature, beauty and history for everyone to enjoy. This is achieved with the help of millions of members, volunteers, staff and donors. These resources care and protect 780 miles of coastline, 250,000 hectares of land, over 500 historic buildings and gardens, and nearly a million works of art. Here are the national treasures closest to Chiswick.
Nestled on the banks of the River Thames, Ham House is largely the creation of the tenacious Duchess of Lauderdale and her husband the Duke in the late 17th century. Together they transformed Ham, originally built in 1610, into one of the grandest Stuart houses in England. Immerse yourself in the 17th century as you discover each ornately decorated room in turn. Discover well preserved interiors and private living spaces or join a garden tour.
Join one of the free tours, led by knowledgeable volunteers, to find out about the gardens and take in the seasonal highlights - March-November.
The interior of Osterley House is one of the finest and most complete by Robert Adam still in existence. The delicate decorations, friezes and furniture were designed by Adam specifically for each room. See the luxurious state apartments and modest family rooms as you discover the mansion, and some of Osterley's stories and secrets.
Osterley Park's formal garden was transformed during a six-year project from an overgrown wilderness back to its 18th-century grandeur with herbaceous borders, roses and ornamental vegetable beds. With bulbs springing to life in the garden throughout the year and garden buildings to explore, there's plenty to enjoy whatever the weather.
There are plenty of family friendly activities to keep the whole family entertained and create great memories.
This Grade II-listed Georgian terraced house was the home of Kenyan born novelist and civil servant, Khadambi Asalache.
Asalache bought 575 Wandsworth Road in 1981 and spent 19 years transforming it, decorating the floors, walls and ceilings with intricate hand-carved fretwork and paintings. Today, it is a source of inspiration for collaborators and creatives of all ages.
His fretwork patterns and paintings, with scenes of nature, abstract motifs and figurative details, are cut into intricate layers. Following his death in 2006, Asalache left 575 Wandsworth Road to the National Trust, which first opened to the public in 2013. Video tour.
Wandsworth Road delivers free workshops aimed at fostering social connections and inspiring creativity at every age. 575 Ways to Create and Connect uses the theme of ‘everyday creativity’, with each session exploring a different creative prompt and medium linking to the story of the house.
When you enter through the front door at 24 Cheyne Row to explore the home of Thomas and Jane Carlyle, you’re following in the footsteps of Dickens, Ruskin and Tennyson, who were among the 19th century literary greats to visit here. With many of the original fixtures and fittings still in place, including a decoupage screen made by Jane in 1849, this special home has a very authentic feel.
Thomas Carlyle was a famous author and his wife Jane a witty letter writer. They lived in a typical Victorian terraced house in Chelsea, London. Some of Carlyle’s most famous works were written in his attic study during the many years he lived at this house on Cheyne Row.
Thomas and Jane Carlyle moved from rural Scotland to London to seek their fortunes in 1834. At the time Chelsea was an unfashionable area to live in, but their home soon became central to Victorian intellectual life, with the company of both sought by the literary great of Victorian society. Dickens, Ruskin and Tennyson all visited the couple here.
IMAGE View from the Wilderness towards gates into the Kitchen Garden at Ham House, Surrey | © National Trust Images/Chris Davies https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london/ham-house-and-garden/the-garden-at-ham-house
