Inspired by a folly which he had seen in Ireland, Joe Donnelly decided to build an eye-catcher on a patch of waste ground near his home. It was constructed between 2011 and 2015, and once the building work was complete Joe, with his grandson Aidan, created a garden around the folly. During lockdown Joe and Aidan (the latter by now working in horticulture) used their time to redesign the planting around the sham ruin.

The folly echoes the genuine ruins of nearby Kilwinning Abbey, below. The abbey was established in the late 1100s as home to a community of monks from Kelso Abbey, but was abandoned after the Protestant Reformation in Scotland in 1560. History tells that the abbey was pulled down by a ‘Protestant mob’, but the dramatic wall and gable of the south transept were left standing.

The folly at Kilwinning continues a Scottish tradition of such simple, but extremely effective, eye-catchers in the landscape. At Blair Atholl in Perthshire stands The Whim, built in the middle of the eighteenth century as an object to be viewed from Blair Castle in the valley below.

And on the Mellerstain estate in the Borders is the wonderfully named Hundy Mundy, thought to have been erected in the 1720s as an eye-catcher from the mansion. The tale is told that the folly takes its name from a Pictish Princess called Hunnimundias who lived nearby. The Flâneuse often experiences frissons of excitement when visiting follies, but she was surprised to feel such a powerful surge when visiting the Hundy Mundy: it turns out that she was leaning against an untagged electric fence when trying to get a good photograph.

High on a hillside in Easter Ross are the equally exotically named Gates of Negapatam, also known as the Fyrish Monument. The folly was erected in 1782 by Sir Hector Munro, the 8th Earl of Novar (1726-1805) who had served in Madras and, as the story goes, modelled his hilltop monument on that city’s Gates of Negapatam.

The Kilwinning folly might stand in a slightly less palatial plot, but it is every bit as impressive. The planting around the folly is constantly evolving, with old roses, herbaceous plants, grasses and bulbs adding interest.

The folly can be seen from the road, but as it is a private garden the Flâneuse won’t reveal the exact location: intrepid folly spotters will find it. For more on Kilwinning Abbey click here.

The Whim at Blair and the Fyrish monument can be reached via public footpaths. The land around the Hundy Mundy is now a tranquil woodland burial ground but respectful visitors are welcome.

Thanks to the Scottish Correspondent for sharing news that the Fyrish Monument’s lonely hilltop setting is threatened by plans for an onshore wind farm. There’s more here.

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