Here, I think, is a supreme folly.
And a pointless architectural thingy with a bike nearby. The folly, of course, was going to Castle Howard on the way home from work yesterday. To say it was raining would be a considerable understatement.
Having got there, I thought I'd do the job thoroughly, though. And as you travel along The Avenue, you encounter the following further follies:
Carmire Gate:
Completely functionless - you can just walk around the wall, and in true Yorkshire fashion, there is no actual "gate". Its only function is to catch out unwary lorry drivers.
Then we come to the Gatehouse.
Arguably this isn't very foolish at all because people live in it. It used to even have a postbox inside,
but the Post Office decided it was too dangerous for people to use it - or more probably, for posties to empty it - and sealed it up. Traffic shoots through the arch at quite a lick.
In this shot, you get a Bonus Folly: you can see The Obelisk in the distance through the arch.
Turning right, we come to Folly Bridge (surely a folly with that name. It's true it carries a footpath and tractors over a lake, but the lake itself is artificial), with to the left, the Temple of the Four Winds:
and to the right, the Mausoleum:
While back over one's shoulder is The Pyramid.
Yes, it
is still raining.
Now if all that ain't folly, I'd like to know what is.