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.

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

Built by the Reverend Hudson Heaven in 1896, St Helens church stands as a beacon on the top of the island with a commanding view over the Bristol Channel. Located within the village, the vestry pro ... Read more

A tiny, circular tower standing on the boundary of a cricket pitch, Prospect Tower was built around 1808. Approached along an avenue of walnut trees, Lord Harris called it his “whim.”

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.

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.

45a Cloth Fair is a fine Georgian house close to Smithfield Market.  It is an oasis of relative calm in central London.

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.

Bramble Villa is in the St John’s Valley and has stunning views over the sea towards Devon. Lundy’s beauty, community and way of life make it a world apart.

Brinkburn Mill sits next to the River Coquet at the bottom of a thickly-wooded valley. A mill has been on this site since medieval times, with the present building dating to about 1800.

The views of the coastline from the verandah of Castle Bungalow are magnificent. This 1920's Boulton and Paul bungalow has snug wood-lined rooms and lattice windows.

Castle Keep South is the largest of the three cottages built round a small courtyard and sheltered from the outside world.

A cosy timber building in the atmospheric hamlet of Coombe, Chapel Cottage arrived in Coombe in about 1860 on wheels. Enjoy fine views over idyllic orchards that lead down to a stream.

This 18th-century tower gives striking views of the historic market town of Richmond. Inside, three single octagonal rooms are decorated in an elaborate cocktail of classical and Gothic styles.

There can be no more romantic, remote or secluded cottage in Cornwall than this one, named after the creek on the Helford River near which it stands down a track in deep woodland.