In the 1980s follies played a part in promoting a new breakfast cereal: special packs of Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain contained picture cards featuring ‘Gardens to Visit’. The twenty cards were illustrated with views of gardens in Britain and Ireland, all of them open to the public, and five follies or quirky garden ornaments were among the cards to be collected. As the blurb on the box announced ‘Most of us are enchanted by the magic of a beautiful garden’.

Nutri-Grain was launched in 1987 and, as well as publishing the collectable cards, the marketing team promoted it via recipe leaflets: a ‘cosy supper dish’ of trout stuffed with Nutri-Grain was one suggestion. But the Flâneuse digresses…

Once you had the full set of cards you could send off for a folder in which to display your collection…

The album had an introduction by Clay Jones, then chairman of Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time and co-presenter of Gardeners’ World on BBC2. He wrote that ‘no matter where you live in Britain, there is sure to be a magnificent garden not far away’ (although the cards didn’t actually reflect this – only one was in Scotland, one in Wales and two in Ireland and the majority were in southern England). Acclaimed writer and photographer Heather Angel provided most of the photographs, including all of those featured here, and wrote that she hoped ‘this series will stimulate a greater interest in our gardens’.

The cards are small, only 58cm x 75cm, and the print quality is not the finest, but the Flâneuse would still have been very happy to discover these wonderful photographs in her cereal box…

Card three featured the Pagoda Fountain at Alton Towers in Staffordshire. The autumnal view was accompanied by text describing the ‘magical sight and sound’ of the water falling onto the tiered copper roofs and cascading down causing the copper bells to tinkle.

Number five in the series showed the Gothic Temple at Painshill in Surrey, which had been returned to its former elegance after a major restoration only a couple of years earlier. The card explained that work continued to bring Painshill back to life, and that the park deserved to be better known. Work has continued at Painshill since 1987, and the magnificent grotto, described on the card as damaged during the Second World War, once again sparkles and surprises.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal in North Yorkshire was the focus of card eight, and in particular the Temple of Piety complete with its much-photographed reflection in the Moon Pond. The card encouraged collectors to visit and find the ‘spectacular’ surprise view of the ruins of Fountains Abbey.

Card seventeen in the set had a view of the Chinese House and Bridge at Shugborough, in Staffordshire. The card praised the ‘Chinese shrubs’ planted to complement the garden building, and recommended seeing the other ‘notable monuments’ in the park.

The only Irish garden was Mount Stewart in County Down in Northern Ireland. The card didn’t feature the famous Temple of the Winds, but instead showed the Dodo Terrace, where quirky concrete sculptures were placed in the early twentieth century.

All of the gardens remain open to the public, although if visiting the follies at Alton Towers you might be distracted by a different kind of folly – the screams of those riding the Toxicator (‘take hold and brace yourself’) or Nemesis Reborn (‘more uncontrollable than ever before’).

Thanks to Cherrill S for introducing the Flâneuse to the cards, and thanks to you for reading. As ever your thoughts and comments are welcome via the box at the foot of the page.

As with all good serials, there will be a wait until the next episode, but the Flâneuse will be back with a snap, a crackle and a pop in 2026. Until then, wishing everyone happiness whatever your plans for the festive season. Goodbye for now, or should that be Cheerios? (Apologies, but it is the season of the corny Christmas cracker joke).

Legend has it that centuries ago local ploughboys built a tower on Greygarth Hill to mark the spot where the last wolf in the region was killed. It’s a great story (but probably a myth) and the tower that stands on the spot today commemorates Queen Victoria.

A ‘Greygarth Post’ is shown on the tithe map of 1838 so historically there may have been a standing stone, or cairn, on top of the hill. This mount was used by the surveyors working on the first edition ordnance survey map in the 1850s, and it seems likely that this post was used as the triangulation point by the surveyors, as the trig point is noted but no stone or monument is marked. It must have been a reasonably substantial structure until it ‘came to grief’ in a storm in February 1893. The following year there were plans to restore the ‘Grey Garth Pinnacle’, making it three feet taller, with a weathercock on the summit and ‘comfortable seats’ at the base. Local grandees subscribed the funds.

Its is not clear if this work was carried out as soon after there appears to have been a change of plan. Instead of raising the pinnacle, a tower was constructed to mark the 1897 diamond jubilee of the reign of Queen Victoria. This ‘Greygarth Monument’ is shown on the Ordnance Survey map in 1910, and the photograph below shows it looking close to collapse, sometime in the middle of the last century.

In 1984 the derelict structure was rebuilt in a truncated form as a squat tower by Kirby Malzeard, Laverton and Dallowgill Parish Council and Harrogate Borough Council, and the short climb from the road is rewarded with a fabulous panorama. Just watch your step: the wolves may be gone but the hill is one giant rabbit warren. You could also climb the narrow ladder to the top of the tower, but as Gwyn Headley and Wim Meulenkamp pointed out in Follies, Grottoes and Garden Buildings, after the giddy ascent of all of ten feet the ‘view is similar’.

Dallowgill Moor was a favoured spot of the Marquess of Ripon of Studley Royal, and was much resorted to in the shooting season. Many distinguished guests, including George V (as Prince of Wales and as King) joined the shooting parties as the Marquess was famed for the quality of his sport and his hospitality. In 1923 he died on Dallowgill Moor after a day of shooting, and another monument on the moor marks the spot where he died. The stone remembers him as ‘the finest shot in England’.

Adding a much needed burst of colour to The Folly Flâneuse’s visit on a dank December day was the Crackpots Mosaic Trail. This series of plaques was introduced into the landscape in 1997 to celebrate the designation of Nidderdale as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Dallowgill is fairly remote with only a cluster of buildings nearby which includes a lovely Methodist chapel (rebuilt in 1885). The local congregation must have been small, but Methodists being hardy souls they cycled out from Ripon and the surrounding villages on high-days and holidays. In June 1894, after the annual service to celebrate the anniversary of the chapel’s completion, the party had ‘an enjoyable ramble after tea amongst the ferns and gnats’. Simple pleasures.

For the Crackpots Trail https://nidderdaleaonb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Crackpots-Mosaic-Trail_web2017.pdf

Thank you for reading. Your thoughts are always welcome – scroll to the foot of the page to get in touch. If you would like a folly story like this in your inbox each weekend click on subscribe.

The Folly Flâneuse can’t take the credit for this wonderful photograph but she can encourage you to get to Studley Royal before 4 November to see Folly!18, a collection of new follies dotted around the estate and complementing the Aislabie family’s 18th century towers, tunnels and grots. This is Polly by architect Charles Holland, a tongue-in-beak tribute to the Georgian mania for housing exotic birds within a landscape garden

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fountains-abbey-and-studley-royal-water-garden/features/folly-in-the-water-garden-at-fountains-abbey-and-studley-royal

The National Trust has applied for Listed Building Consent to place two replica busts in the Temple of Piety at Studley Royal.

Construction of the temple overlooking the Moon Ponds took place in the 1730s, probably under the direction of the stonemason John Doe. The architect is not known although the building is identical to a Palladio drawing of the (long since destroyed) Temple of Piety in Rome. This sketch was once owned by Lord Burlington, a friend of John Aislabie who owned Studley.

Confusingly, the structure at Studley was not originally known as the Temple of Piety but was dedicated to Hercules. Aislabie’s son William renamed the temple in honour of his late father, John Aislabie, in around 1747-8. At that date he commissioned the plasterwork specialist Cortese to add a bas-relief representing filial piety. This work illustrated an ancient moral tale in which a daughter manifested her love for her parent. The story told of a girl who visited her incarcerated father and secretly fed him her own breast milk to ensure his survival. When discovered, she was not punished, but praised for her devotion.

An inventory of 1768 shows that the building was used for refreshments, containing 6 chairs and a tea table but records don’t survive to confirm when the two busts were placed in situ. They are first recorded in 19th century guidebooks as the Roman emperors Titus, son of Vespasian, and Nero.

If you look hard you will find the original bronze busts on display at Beningbrough Hall in Yorkshire (also National Trust) where they were removed for safekeeping. They look rather forlorn and undignified perched on high ledges on the first floor landing. The resin replicas are on show in a better light in Fountains Hall on the Studley estate until the outcome of the application is known; Harrogate Borough Council’s decision should be announced in September 2018