A fabulous weekend of celebrations and family entertainment are promised to herald the renovation and re-opening of Marble Hill House.

At 10am on Saturday, the mayor of Richmond will officially re-open the English Heritage property and grounds, which have undergone an £8 million transformation.

The house is free to enter, however tickets for Saturday have already been snapped up by people keen to view the rooms which have been taken back to their original Georgian splendour.

In the surrounding gardens, an original ninepin bowling alley has been restored and, following its excavation, Marble Hill's 18th-century garden grotto will also be transformed to its 18th-century appearance for visitors to explore

The neo-Palladian villa was built for Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, best known as mistress to King George II, but a remarkable woman in her own right.

She attracted some of England's greatest writers and wits to the property in East Twickenham, including the poet Alexander Pope, who inspired the garden design, Horace Walpole, John Gay and Jonathan Swift.

During the weekend visitors will be able to tour the house, enjoy music and theatre productions in the gardens and take part in family-friendly activities.

Go along to enjoy yoga sessions, historic landscape tours and community games in the cafe.

There will be sports matches and tug of war taking place, as well as Shire horse rides and bowling alley demonstrations.

You can plant your own salad in the kitchen gardens and sow wildflower seeds.

On Saturday, there is a Teddy Bears Picnic with Ham Children's Centre at 11am, while there will be walking rugby on the tennis courts.

Visitors can look forward to Immersive Theatre with Richmond Shakespeare Society. And on the Sound Stage there will be performances from Richmond Brass Band, the Richmond Community Choir, the Strawberry Hill Choir and the Jazz Perrin Collective.

On Sunday, the many free activities include horse carriage rides, community games, a free mass bootcamp session, tug of war and landscape tours.

The restoration of the property would only have been possible with grants of £5 million from the National Lottery and an investment of £3 million from English Heritage.

Marble Hill will re-open to the public, five days a week - Wednesdays to Sundays.

For more information and to keep up-to-date, visit: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/marble-hill-house/