IN the past decade an unassuming seaside house at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, has become a mecca for historians of photography.

Dimbola Lodge, perched overlooking Freshwater Bay, was the home of pioneering Victorian portrait photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Since the early-1990s the building has become a venue of international importance in photography.

Industry notables including David Bailey and Lord Lichfield have been visitors, as well as Koo Stark and the photographer wife of film legend Charlton Heston, Lydia Heston.

It was in 1993 that the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust obtained a grant from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts to buy an unoccupied house at Freshwater, which was under threat of demolition by developers. The trust later added neighbouring Dimbola thanks to financial support from Olympus Cameras.

Cameron House, as it was later called, and Dimbola had been two adjoining cottages purchased by Cameron and her husband in the 1860s. She named them Dimbola Lodge after her family tea estates in India.

She later said: "I turned my coal-house into my dark room and a glazed fowl house I had given to my children became my glass house. The society of hens and chickens was soon changed for that of poets, prophets, painters and lovely maidens, who all in turn have immortalised this humble little farm erection."

Cameron's portraits of notable Victorians and ordinary people established a reputation and place in photography history which endures to this day.

The trust established in her name has created a venue at which her remarkable work can be displayed, complemented by an on-going series of national and international exhibitions.

Today, as well as the museum, Dimbola Lodge features a popular restaurant and shop for visitors to enjoy.

Modern Dimbola is a far cry from the times when Julia Margaret Cameron made her mark on the fledgling art of photography in the middle of the Victorian age - but seeks to re-create some of the spirit of her old home.

The Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, a registered charity, was set up in the late 20th century to help establish a museum, galleries and photographic study centre. Its aim has been to bring greater understanding of Cameron's internationally-renowned work and to recreate the Victorian spirit which offered a warm and friendly welcome to all.

In one of her last letters before she died in 1879, Cameron wrote to Lady Tennyson, and said: "It is a sacred blessing which has attended my photography; it gives a pleasure to millions and a deeper happiness to many."