40 Gorgeous Garden Follies

This unusual garden folly entitled Pooh’s House by Home and Garden Design is actually a two-story structure with the top floor a children’s playhouse (note the main entrance by the dwarf Hinoiki cypress) and the bottom floor a storage area for pool equipment since the base aligns the edge of an outdoor pool. 

A garden folly is usually considered a building or structure that is designed for decoration with no other purpose than to add a touch of whimsy or extravagance to the surrounding landscape. In Europe, follies tend to be towers, temples, rotundas, aviaries or fake ruins but in the U.S. they often serve as functional outbuildings as well as architectural accents in the garden. Here is an example of a folly in the Gothic style from Haddenstone that adorns a private estate in Northamptonshire, England.

A folly constructed of stained grade B redwood with a painted finish features a roof with copper shingles (not visible here) and houses a bench swing. The structure by Greg Hebert Landscape Architect is a visual terminus on the garden axis with a pathway of bluestone pavers which lead to the main entrance and mailbox.

This magnificent folly which once housed living accommodations but is now deserted is a familiar sight on the estate surrounding Highclere Castle in Hampshire, which is the setting for the popular TV series, Downton Abbey.