Kenwood House reopens in London: first look inside Much of the work has been practical and often invisible. £5.95m funding - including a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and support from the Wolfson Foundation - has been used to re-slate the roof, seal the building against weather, restore paint finishes and install an accessible lift. The portico has been sand-painted to look like stone, as it was in the late 1700s. The rest is pure pleasure. When Murray bought Kenwood it was a simple villa with a fine view of London. It needed to be grander, to reflect his stratospheric legal career, so he hired Adam, the starchitect of the moment, with his team of talented painters, plasterers and builders. There are some restored Adam pieces: look left as you enter the hall, the table and wine cooler are good examples, as are two lovely seats in the antechamber decorated with lions" heads and paws. Other period items have been added, including casts of "Flora" and "A Muse," also in the antechamber, taken from statues at Syon House in west London. The glory is the Library, or Great Room, built to display the Earl of Mansfield's books and now again tricked out in cherub pink, baby blue and white, with 19 ceiling paintings on paper by Antonio Zucchi still in perfect nick. Later gilding is now concealed under removable paint. The library steps and a little desk sit as if waiting for an earl to appear. Less ebullient but equally impressive are the rooms housing part of the Iveagh Bequest; 63 paintings from the Earl of Iveagh's famous collection of Old Masters and British paintings. These rooms look south over the parkland and lake, at the moment ablaze with autumn colours. Look for four lovely paintings by Angelica Kauffman, including a self-portrait. The rest of the bequest - including works by Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Vermeer, Gainsborough, Constable and Turner - dazzles in the unrestored North Wings. And though the upstairs rooms look a tiny bit faded now, they still hold the Sutton Collection of Tudor and Stuart portraits and charming cabinets of buckles, miniatures and jewellery. Kenwood's rebirth - the latest in a number of 18th-century London houses to be restored in the past few years - has revitalised this corner of Hampstead Heath. Take the bus to Kenwood to see the new results, lunch at The Brew House, then skirt the famous lake and walk south to join the kite-fliers on Parliament Hill: a perfect London day. Kenwood House (020 8348 1286; english-heritage.org.uk/kenwood) reopens on Thursday 28 November. 10am to 5pm. Admission free. Company of Cooks (0208 341 5384; companyofcooks.com) runs the popular Brew House café from 9.00am to 6pm (4pm October to March) and there's also a small garden centre. The York & Albany hotel in Camden, London NW1 is a has Dine and Stay packages, including breakfast and dinner, from £199 a night for a double room (020 7387 5700; gordonramsay.com/yorkandalbany). One Fine Stay (020 3432 8740; onefinestay.com) offers nights in private houses and flats from £199 per night. Strawberry Hill (020 8744 1241; strawberryhillhouse.org.uk) was the Twickenham home of wit and collector Horace Walpole. It reopened in 2012 after a £9m restoration, with icing-white crenellations, spires, Gothic windows and fabulous glass. The house is currently closed for the winter season, but will open from December 7 to 11 for seasonal events and afternoon tours. It re-opens for the 2014 season on March 1. Gift Aid admission £8.40 adults, £7.40 over-60s, £5/25 children 5-18. Tours extra. Chiswick House (020 8742 3905; chgt.org.uk) was England's first neo-Palladian villa, built by the third Earl of Burlington in 1729 to house his art collection. A major garden restoration finished in 2010. Open April 1 to October 31, groups November 2 to December 21. Closed Thursday, Friday and Saturday. £5.90 adults, £5.30 concessions, £3.50 children 5-15. Hogarth's House, Chiswick (020 8994 6757; hounslow.info/arts-culture/historic-houses-museums/hogarth-house) is a Grade I listed brick house that belonged to the English artist and satirist William Hogarth. After two restorations and a fire it reopened in 2011, complete with the great man's palette and mulberry tree. Open Tuesday to Sunday 12 noon to 5pm, admission free. Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain runs at the British Library, London NW1 (near St Pancras Station) from November 8 to March 11 2014. Adults £9, under 18s free, other concessions available ((0843 208 1144; bl.uk)