I love follies. Even the word sounds fun and fanciful. Which of these have you visited? Perhaps the oddest are the Sorrelsykes follies near West Burton - one looks like a rocket, another a guillotine and the third one a pepper pot. The 4-storey Culloden Tower is a well known landmark near Richmond, built around 1746 - its name refers to the famous battle.
Some follies were supposedly built to create work during times of high unemployment, or simply because the land owner had been inspired buy something beautiful on their own travels and wanted to create their own version 'just because'. Visit Masham to see several intriguing follies including Druid's Temple on the Swinton Estate or enjoy a walk at nearby Hackfall to find Fisher's Hall, and the diminutive Banqueting House, which was designed to look like a ruin.
The Forbidedn Corner - Official started life as a private folly built on the Tupgill Park Estate near Middleham, but gradually expanded to include other curiosities and eventually opened to the public.
If you Visit Settle, you'll come across the beautiful and remarkable Settle Folly building, which houses The Folly Museum and Coffee House, Settle. Interestingly, the one building named as a folly, isn't! It was build in the 1670s and then left empty for a while when the owner died, and become known as the folly...
