Hertfordshire

architecture, belvedere, eyecatcher, Hertfordshire, Monument, Observatory, Tower

Stratton’s Folly, Little Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire

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View of the tower by John Varley, 1823. Courtesy of Chris Beetles Gallery, St James's, London. Full details below.

Just outside Little Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire stands a lofty circular brick tower which sits on an octagonal base. It was built towards the end of the eighteenth century by the Stratton family and has, appropriately, a tall tale attached. The eye-catcher was a popular subject with artists, and a number of very pretty views survive.

Arch, architecture, Banqueting House, country house, eyecatcher, Folly, garden, garden history, Hertfordshire, sham castle, Summerhouse

The Folly, Benington Lordship, Hertfordshire

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In the grounds of Benington Lordship, an early 18th century mansion near Stevenage in Hertfordshire, is a sham ruin on a grand scale. Constructed in the 1830s it combined the roles of eye-catcher, gateway, smoking room and banqueting hall in one rambling structure.

architecture, Banqueting House, country house, Folly, Hertfordshire, landscape, Summerhouse, Temple

Lady Amabel and Landscape Ornament at The Grove, Hertfordshire

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Lady Amabel Yorke was the elder daughter of Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, and his wife Jemima Campbell, 2nd Marchioness Grey, 4th Baroness Lucas. Their family seats were Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, and Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire, both of which had parks that were remodelled by Capability Brown with Amabel being privy to the design decisions. She was, then, rather well-informed on matters of landscape gardening, and her 37 volumes of diaries contain countless accounts of visits to the seats of her friends and family, where she sometimes notes follies and garden ornaments.