News

A new series called Restoration Man on Channel 4 started off on 21st March with the restoration of a Gothic folly - Bath Lodge at Orsmkirk, Lancashire. The building was believed to have been built around 1750 as a folly and was then used as a lodge, then stood derelict for many years until work started in 2008. It is now a house with a big modern extension. No longer available on iplayer, you'll have to wait for the repeats.

Lucinda Lambton is planning a new book called 'Palaces for Pigs' about animal buildings, not just for pigs. Her website has disappeared at the moment.

Linda Wade is showing a forthcoming book called Architectural Extravaganzas - the Follies of Eastern Europe on her site.

Nic Barlow is planning a new book on follies in America and he'd love to hear about any you may know about - you can see those he's collected so far on www.folliesofamerica.com. e-mail: nic

A model of Big Ben made from straw bales is currently on show in a field in Cheshire. This is the 11th model made by ice cream manufacturer Sunugburys. Read the article here .

 

 

A new Folly at the Rushmore Estate in Wiltshire has now been completed. It was featured on the TV news on 10th July and you can read about it here.  At 60ft high, this is a major new folly, and one which is quite unique. Excellent!

Dracup's Cave, a terraced house in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, concealing a wonderous interior and a curious terraced garden, was recently up for sale. Read all about it here.

The Guardian had an article on follies in its 'Secret Britain' supplement on Saturday 4th April. You can read it here

Images of England, (part of English Heritage), has a new article up on its website called Focus on Follies which is well worth a look. Also on this site are pages of photographs of listed historic buildings, which can be purchased in various formats. They include quite few follies including some less well known ones like Boot's Folly in Bradfield.

 

You may remember reading here about the sad loss of the public toilet block in Tenbury Wells during the floods of 2007. Well a competition has been held to design some new ones, and the winning entry is an interesting set of three small buildings looking like oast houses, each with a different roof shape. Read the Malvern Council press release. 

Update -The new design is already proving controversial - the civic society is objecting -see minutes of their last meeting at which they said "This is not the right use nor an appropriate location for such an ostentatious building. The
architects themselves describe the design “as a lightly humorous reference to Tenbury’s rich farming heritage”, we fear that the the association of humour, toilet blocks and Tenbury Wells will provide adverse publicity for the town that would not be welcome" !

It's also nice to see Tenbury Wells has adopted the Pump Rooms for its logo:

 

Lord Berners has a new album in the shops now! Recorded at two performances in 1929 and 1954 this work called 'Follies & Facades' by Edith Sitwell, William Walton and Lord Berners, has just been released on CD. The cover features Faringdon Tower. Berners CD

 


If you like Jonathan Meades's architectural programmes, you be pleased to find that most of them are now watchable on YouTube - of particular interest to folly lovers are the programme about Stowe Gardens - and that on Brighton Pavilion. Also , at long last, a DVD set of Meade's various programmes is available- see Amazon

Flickr -the website where you can post your photos for all to admire, has some specialist groups which now include one on Follies, one on Garden Follies (essentialy sculpture and odd ornaments), and the Landmark Trust. There is some lovely work here, and some are by our very own members, so go and have a browse!
You should also have a look at Gwyn Headley's photos in Photolibra.  Be warned that it may well reduce your excitment at finding an obscure folly if you already know what it looks like, and there aren't many that Gwyn hasn't photographed.

Robert Fidler has built a castle shaped house in Surrey and then buried it beneath a huge haystack for four years to evade planning laws. It is now under threat of demolition. See story in the Evening Standard

A folly I hadn't heard of before at Duddon Hall, Broughton in Furnace in the Lake District has recently been converted to a home. See this article in the Telegraph

The discovery of what is probably the world's oldest grotto, on which countless others were based, has been partially uncovered at Palatine Hill, Rome.  Read all about it here

A new castle, carved from 30 tons of oak, has been created for the Duke of Norfolk as an ornament in the grounds of Arundel Castle . It's already causing controversy! See West Sussex Today                                                                   

Gwrych Castle – a Grade I gothick castle and a structure of national importance – has fallen into disrepair over the last 17 years. However it will soon be restored to its former glory accommodating over 90 luxury rooms, a world-class health & beauty spa, a fine dining restaurant and banqueting, wedding & conferencing facilities See the full story at http://www.gwrychtrust.co.uk/html/latest_news.html

Richard Vobes, a DJ from Sussex, produces a daily radio show, downloadable from his web page, and also makes short videos. One of these is of Racton Tower - a short sample is available here and if you like it, you can download the whole thing for the paltry sum of £2.  He's also done one called Oddball Eccentrics, which is free and last for 13 minutes - it features Mad Jack Fuller (Brightling), Duke of Portland (Tunnels) and King George IV (Brighton Pavilion). Very professionaly produced, this promises to be part of a series on eccentrics, so keep watching.
New - a video showing Pulborough Castle and the Toat monument has been added today (20th July). He's a busy man!

National Trust have restored the Tower at Blickling, Norfolk and it is now available as a holiday home. It looks magnificent! See National Trust cottages

There are plans afoot to rebuild the 282ft tall water towers that once graced Crystal Palace in south London . Given that the original towers functioned only briefly in the 1850's to provide water for the fountains, and that they broke down so often they were redundant by 1870, then a plan to reconstruct them long after the palace was demolished is a story to bring cheer to any folly lover. See bbc news

Another tower in the planning, but this time an observation tower on Brighton seafront, unimaginatively called the Brighton Eye.  It has been passed by the planners and will stand 183m tall at the entrance to the old West Pier.  A doughnut shaped pod will rise vertically around a slim white tower.  Plans to rebuild the now very derelict West Pier are still lurking in the backgound with the revenue from the 'vertical pier' possibly being used to fund the 'horizontal pier'.
See west pier trust