Deep in the woods sits this octagonal folly – with a real surprise inside. The ceiling and walls of the main room are festooned with shells, while in the basement is a cold plunge pool.

This very clever scale model of a French chateau sits on a hill above the River Trent in the middle of the Lincolnshire countryside.

Listed Grade II*, the dairy was conceived to represent a tiny Italianate chapel topped with a bell tower, and with four corner pavilions.

Houghton West Lodge is one of four houses that guard the approaches to Houghton Hall,  one of England’s finest Palladian houses and once home to Britain's first Prime Minister.

The tower was built as a folly in 1821 with a pretty sitting room on the first floor. The third floor was added in 1943 by the Germans as an observation point, with views in every direction.

The Pigsty’s classical design was supposedly inspired by Squire Barry’s travels around the Mediterranean in the 1880s and offers striking views of Robin Hood’s Bay.

The Summerhouse stands in beautiful woodland on the Shuttleworth Estate. The outstandingly fine brickwork of this foursquare folly is likely to date from the early 18th century.

A Georgian folly within an outstanding Picturesque garden, the Ruin was built in about 1766. On the edge of a steep wooded gorge, it was one of several buildings scattered across the gardens.

This tiny pavilion was a majestic grandstand for the enclosure in front. It is a mature expression in miniature of all that was best in Tudor and Jacobean architecture.

Whiteford Temple is an ornamental granite folly with views towards the Tamar Estuary. It was built in the 18th century for Sir John Call, a military engineer who had made a fortune in India.

Bridge Cottage is an idyllic thatched cottage situated in Peppercombe, a steep and wooded valley through which a stream runs down to a meadow before tumbling to a beach in a fine waterfall.

This eighteenth-century Gothic summerhouse sits beside the River Esk near Carlisle. Remote and peaceful, the three large windows in the main room give striking views over the river.

Originally a geological shop and museum, the Egyptian House in Penzance is a rare survivor of Egyptian-style architecture. This first floor apartment is one of three.

Designed and constructed by James Mansergh and Robert Rawlinson, work began on Appleton Water Tower in 1877 to provide a clean water supply to the Sandringham Estate.

This Gothic folly sits on the edge of the Gibside estate. It stands in the highest part of the park in a grassy clearing, looking down on an octagonal pool with views over the Derwent Valley.