Tag: National Trust

architecture, bridge, eyecatcher, Folly, garden, Grotto, Rustic shelter, Summerhouse, sussex, Temple

Woolbeding, near Midhurst, West Sussex

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The Tulip Folly, designed by Philip Jebb, is named after a tulip tree that was felled by the storm in 1987.

The Folly Flâneuse is away, so a brief post this week to accompany some holiday snaps.

Pavilion and cascade in the Bannerman-designed woodland garden.

Woolbeding is a pretty Georgian house set in the rolling Sussex countryside. It was given to the National Trust in 1957 by the last private owner, Alice Leila Lascelles, a descendant of the 1st Earl of Harewood. In the 1970s Woolbeding was leased to Simon Sainsbury, of the supermarket family, and with his partner Stewart Grimshaw he laid out the beautiful gardens and created a new pleasure ground. Sainsbury’s interest in the arts is well known, and the heritage world has benefitted hugely from funds provided by The Monument Trust which he founded in 1965. Following Sainsbury’s death in 2006 Grimshaw continued with their plan to gradually return the garden to the National Trust, although the house remains private.

River God with cloak of shells

Garden designer Lanning Roper worked with the couple in the 1980s, and at the turn of the 20th century Julian and Isabel Bannerman became involved, their designs include the Long Walk which culminates in a woodland garden packed with follies and features.

Woolbeding remains a private garden but visitors can pre-book on limited days in the summer months https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/woolbeding-gardens

architecture, Folly, garden, landscape, North Yorkshire, Summerhouse, Temple

Rievaulx Terrace: A Tale of Two Sketchbooks

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The Ionic Temple with Winged Mule by Fiona Bowley.

Not far from Helmsley, in North Yorkshire, are the dramatic ruins of a Cistercian abbey. Named after the valley of the river Rye in which is sits, Rievaulx Abbey is backed by a huge wooded cliff which rises high above the stonework. Look up and you can just see a glimpse of a classical temple, one of two which ornament the curving grassed terrace which overlooks the abbey.

architecture, Buckinghamshire, Column, Folly, garden, landscape

John Piper and Stowe, Buckinghamshire.

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A brief post this week as The Folly Flâneuse has been racing around at a somewhat faster pace than her usual omnipercipient strolling. However, the lovely images by John Piper will make up for the paucity of words.

After the Easter heatwave the weather broke just as The Folly Flâneuse arrived at Stowe – the photo above shows the view from the grotto, which gave some much needed protection from one of the heaviest of the showers. On the plus side, no-one else was about, and The Folly Flâneuse had Stowe all to herself.

architecture, Folly, garden, landscape, Summerhouse, Temple, West Yorkshire

Temple of Venus & Bacchus, Bretton Hall, West Yorkshire. And a ‘Hammock of Love’ …

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'Summer House at Bretton' J.C.Nattes, 1805 (detail). Courtesy of Barnsley Museums, Cannon Hall Museum Collection.

In the 1760s Sir Thomas Wentworth* (1726-1792) of Bretton Hall, near Wakefield, set about landscaping his park. Initially, he employed Richard Woods, a professional landscape designer, but soon decided he could manage just as well on his own. In the 1770s he added to his grand design without recourse to even the most eminent landscaper of the age: Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. A second lake would, he told friends, be completed without the help of ‘Capability or any such pretending Rogues’.

Cumbria, Folly, London, Summerhouse

John Ruskin and Folly

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Born 200 years ago this month, on 8 February 1819, John Ruskin was a polymath; an artist, writer and critic who believed that culture should be available to all, not just the elite. As a new exhibition in London beautifully illustrates, Ruskin had strong opinions on most subjects. As he thought the architecture of Palladio ‘virtueless and despicable’, and the Houses of Parliament ‘effeminate and effortless’, we can probably assume that garden ornaments such as classical temples and gothic towers would not be his ‘thing’.

Bath and North East Somerset, Folly, Monument, Tower

Ralph Allen’s Sham Castle and Monument, Bath, Bath and North East Somerset

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Ralph Allen of Bath, is well-known for his elegant Prior Park house and gardens and for the magnificent gothic sham castle, one of Britain’s finest follies, which he had erected on the skyline above the city in 1762. The sham castle and Prior Park remain popular attractions in Bath, but a quirky tower erected in Allen’s memory is sadly lost. 

Folly, North Yorkshire, Tower

Octagon Tower, Malham, North Yorkshire: Spot the folly.

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Thomas Lister (1752-1826) of Gisburne Park, in the West Riding of Yorkshire (but now Lancashire), inherited the Malham shooting lodge from his father in 1761. The centrepiece of its surrounding estate was Malham Tarn, a natural lake said to be the largest in Yorkshire. The water had been criticised by travellers in search of the picturesque: ‘The Tarn has nothing beautiful in its shape or borders, being bare of trees, and everything else to ornament it’, wrote William Bray in a work published in 1783. Although surrounded by crags the rocks were deemed too distant from the waters edge, and the tarn tame, especially in comparison with the sublime limestone masses of Malham Cove and Gordale scar, just a short ride away, which tourists saw on the same day. 

North Yorkshire, Temple

Temple on Round Howe, Richmond, North Yorkshire

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Clarkson’s History of Richmond, revised in 1821, recounts that Cuthbert Readshaw created a ‘highly romantic walk’ by the Swale in 1760. Cuthbert Readshaw, who died in 1773 was a merchant who lived in the Bailey (ie the market place) in Richmond, and according to his will he was in ‘the business of wine and spirits and other branches of trade’.

To access the walk 18th century visitors would have travelled downhill from the town centre and crossed the river via the Green Bridge. Promenading along the south bank of the River Swale they would have encountered the picturesque scene of leafy Billy Bank Wood (aka Bordel Bank) and occasional artful outbreaks of the craggy rock face behind. Tucked in the woods was the cleft or cave known as Arthur’s Oven, conjuring romantic images of ancient and wilder times.

Folly, Obelisk, South Yorkshire, Temple, Tower

National Trust take on role at Wentworth Castle, South Yorkshire

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Some great news. A joint statement from Barnsley Council, the National Trust and the Northern College was issued early this morning announcing that the future of Wentworth Castle now ‘looks more secure’. The three bodies have been in discussion since the site closed in April 2017, and now plan on ‘working collaboratively’ towards a reopening in 2019. Wentworth Castle is the only Grade I listed Park in South Yorkshire and has an outstanding collection of follies and landscape buildings, including Stainborough Castle pictured here. The house (which houses the Northern College and is not currently open to the public), the gardens and the landscape buildings were restored at great cost, largely thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund, to secure their future. This new alliance must build on that work to ensure that Wentworth is enjoyed by the people of South Yorkshire and beyond.

The full press release is here:

https://www.barnsley.gov.uk/news/new-partnership-set-to-secure-the-future-of-wentworth-castle-gardens-in-south-yorkshire/