 I
will never forget the first time I went to North Wales and saw
the "Ugly House" on the A5 at Capel Curig. According to legend,
the "Ugly House", was built in 1475 by two outlaw brothers and
was a "House of the Night". Under ancient law, he who built a
house between sunset and sunrise, with walls, roof and smoking
chimney, could claim the freehold. It's certainly not Rome and
I think
the two brothers were called Bodge-it and Scarper. It's chunky stone and knobbly texture made it look like a
house made out of cookies, which brought back to me a picture
I use to endlessly gaze at as a child. This picture set in a
forest was the witch's house in Hansel and Gretel. But
the strangest thing about that was that I hadn't thought about
that picture since my childhood.
 Isn't
it great that buildings, especially strange ones, can
affect such things as memories? But I just love their oddities
and quirkiness and I found out that someone else does too:
Authors Gwyn Headley and Wim Meulenkamp.
Either "ugly houses", follies or grottoes - we all love these
peculiar buildings that show a bit of insanity on the part of
the builders who had to build overnight, or spent lavish sums
of money on something with no practical value. Whether a
grotto, a fake Gothic temple, or a pagoda, these stone
monuments were a statement of style and fashion in Britain's
past. Now this new book brings together in one volume over
1600 sites where follies, grottoes or garden buildings are
located in England, Scotland and Wales.
The book has subdivided the listings
by counties, making them easy to find. It has background
information for each entry, which will definitely interest
you. But please note that many of these follies are on private
land and cannot be viewed. Only by careful reading of each
entry can you distinguish easily between which are and which
aren't open to visitors, so don't forget to use your bookmarks
or post-it notes while reading.
Still, reading about the follies, even
if you are not visiting, is fascinating and I'm sure you folly
lovers out there can spend many an evening pouring over this
book.
Andrew Knutt
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Follies, Grottoes
and Garden Buildings