Tag: Blott Kerr Wilson

architecture, Pembrokeshire, Shell House, Summerhouse

The Shell House, Cilwendeg, Pembrokeshire.

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Image: Roger Clive-Powell.

Walking through a glade on the Cilwendeg estate, in Pembrokeshire, one suddenly encounters the prettiest of buildings: one would not be at all surprised if Hansel and Gretel skipped around the corner. The monochrome exterior, with stepped parapet, conceals a vibrant interior with walls and ceiling decorated with shells and minerals, brightly coloured glass in the windows and a floor inlaid with animal bones and teeth. By the end of the twentieth century this curiosity was neglected and the ceiling had collapsed, but an exemplary restoration means that the building is once more an absolute delight.

architecture, Folly, garden history, landscape

Pavilions in Peril part I: Pavilions Preserved

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In 1987 Save Britain’s Heritage (SAVE), the charity which campaigns to save historic buildings from needless destruction, published Pavilions in Peril, a report which considered the great number of garden buildings in Britain that faced an uncertain future. Author Julia Abel Smith researched 54 case studies, including a number of groups of follies, across England, Wales and Scotland. The Folly Flâneuse recently revisited the report, and was delighted to find so many buildings had been rescued.