As summer turned to autumn The Folly Flâneuse was reminded of a jolly jaunt to Jupiter Artland, a sculpture garden just outside Edinburgh, on a glorious day a year ago. A highlight was Pablo Bronstein’s Rose Walk, a pair of pavilions terminating a 25 metre long rose garden, their white-painted tracery magnificent against a clear blue sky. 

The Rose Walk was commissioned by Jupiter Artland in 2017. The pavilions, described as ‘imposing and elaborate follies’, lead the visitor into a small rose garden, which is enclosed by the trelliswork fences which link the two kiosks. Light streams in through the seemingly fragile, but actually incredibly solid, structure, and the standard roses are clearly very content.

Leaving the Chinese pavilion and heading towards the Gothic is like walking down the aisle of a church, and the Folly Flâneuse was soon humming the Bridal Chorus. The airy structure also reminded her of Sir James Hall’s Willow Cathedral. Hall’s theory, first published in 1797, was that early gothic architecture sought unconsciously to emulate the natural shapes of nature – the straights and curves of trunks, boughs and twigs becoming the columns, arches and tracery of the gothic. Bronstein’s site-specific Rose Walk likewise unites architecture and nature.

The gardens and parkland of Jupiter Artland surround the private home of founders Robert and Nicky Wilson, and are also home to sculptures and pavilions by artists including Antony Gormley, Anya Gallacio and Ian Hamilton Finlay, as well as a wonderful sweeping landform by the late Charles Jencks.

Pablo Bronstein, an Argentinian artist now based in London, works in a number of genres, but almost always with architecture as an influence. In 2014 he created a ‘monument to architecture’ for the Folkestone Triennial. His Beach Hut in the Style of Nicholas Hawksmoor pays homage to the great baroque architect, whose style was echoed in the design of the now lost monumental lighthouses which once stood on the south coast.

The convivial visit to Jupiter Artland was organised by The Folly Fellowship, which exists to protect, preserve, and promote follies, grottoes, and garden buildings  http://follies.org.uk

Right now, we all need something to look forward to, so put Jupiter Artland in your diary for 2021 https://www.jupiterartland.org

The 2020 Folkestone Triennial has been postponed until 2021, so something else to dream of  https://www.creativefolkestone.org.uk/folkestone-triennial/folkestone-triennial-2020-the-plot/

Not folly, but definitely landscape ornament, The Folly Flâneuse was surprised  to find two ziggurats on a recent damp, but exhilarating, jaunt to East Anglia. Built more than two centuries apart, both were influenced by the architecture of Mesopotamia where the ziggurat was a temple in the form of a stepped pyramid, each level raising it closer to heaven. 

The earlier structure was built in around 1790 by Samuel Boycatt and takes the form of a most unusual church tower. Boycatt was the rector of St Mary’s and is said to have rebuilt the church tower, in the form of a stepped ziggurat pyramid, based on a drawing sent home from Mesopotamia by his son William, who was on the Grand Tour. The tower was to be the family mausoleum, but also proclaimed the importance of the family from afar and became a landmark for sailors on the River Waveney which passes close to the church. The Boycatt name had become Boycott by 1841, and entered the British language soon after when William’s descendant, Charles Cunningham Boycott, increased the rent of tenants on the Irish estate he managed. In response he was ostracised, or as it came to be known, boycotted.

Further north is Gunton Park, a wonderful estate with stunning mansion, Robert Adam church, and acres of deer park. It is also home to one of The Folly Flâneuse’s favourite hostelries, The Gunton Arms. Owned and restored by art dealer Ivor Braka, it is furnished with an amazing selection of artworks from his collection. There are pieces outside in the park too; deer saunter nonchalantly past a lone Gormley figure, and show little interest in a Caro. Often a group can be seen close to a Sol LeWitt structure, a five metre high four sided pyramid built of concrete blocks. LeWitt designed a number of such structures from the 1960s onwards and, like Boycott, drew some inspiration from ancient Mesopotamia.

The Folly Flâneuse does not usually address matters of exact location in these pages, as the thrill of the chase is an essential component of folly-spotting, but in this case a word of warning is required. Check a map. Burgh St Peter parish church is not in the village of the same name but a good two miles away.