The Welsh Folly Book contains the stories of sixty strange buildings spread across Wales. In Pembrokeshire, Orielton Banqueting Tower stands derelict with no windows or doors. It's one of the strange buildings with no obvious purpose. Walkers using the nearby footpath pass by, unaware that it was designed as a sumptuous three storey picnic house and a destination for carriage rides. The tower’s gaily decorated rooms, bright fireplaces and fancy ceiling were abandoned more than a hundred years ago after the owner bankrupted himself trying to impress his friends. Travellers using a small country road in Flintshire, at the other end of Wales, turn a corner and find themselves passing beneath a two storey house complete with battlements. Dry Bridge Lodge, as it is known, straddles the road. This folly, built by Edward Pryce Lloyd, 1st Baron Mostyn, enabled him to visit a lady friend in the nearby village of Whitford, without being seen from the public road. The folly house conceals a gateway leading from his lordship's estate to the village. Dry Bridge Lodge is still occupied today although Lord Mostyn's private gate is no longer used for journeys to Whitford. In Conwy, fisherman Mr. Jones, a 6ft 3inch man, lived in the smallest house in Wales and slept with his feet sticking out of the window. His unusual building is now a regular stop for visitors from across the world. A Welsh folly on a grander scale is Portmeirion Village where, between 1925 and 1975, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis constructed follies on an epic, almost industrial scale. In building Portmeirion, Williams-Ellis produced one of the most extravagant and beautiful follies in the world. In the 1960s his Italianate creation was used as the location for the cult television programme ‘The Prisoner’. Today, the follies at Portmeirion are a popular tourist attraction visited by thousands of holiday-makers every year. Wales is a land of strange buildings and follies. Perhaps the strangest folly is the gravestone John Renie of Monmouth carved for himself to trick the devil. What he created was an intricate ‘acrostic puzzle’ containing 285 letters arranged to read, ‘Here lies John Renie.’ If he fooled the devil isn't clear but the puzzling tombstone is an entertaining reminder of the folly of man. Sir Charles Woodall, a shipping tycoon from Manchester, lived in Tan y Coed Hall, Colwyn Bay during the 19th Century. He was a passionate pipe smoker, a habit that his wife thoroughly disapproved of. When she banned him from smoking in the house, the magnate decided to build a sanctuary where he could escape from being nagged and puff away contentedly. The unusually shaped folly that resulted was completed in 1894. Sir Charles’ new smoking room was a three sided folly castle complete with corbelled turrets and arrow slits, presumably to deter his wife should she try and visit. In Swansea there is another of the strange buildings, a folly tower built by a brewery magnate, where American Rocky Marciano, the only heavyweight boxing champion of the world to remain undefeated throughout his career, once lived. Today the folly tower is a quirky bridal suite and the centre piece of an hotel. Written in an entertaining style The Welsh Folly Book recounts the stories and histories of sixty of the most interesting follies in Wales. Discover who erected these strange buildings and why, what secrets lay hidden in their pasts and how they have been treated over the years. For years, folly hunters have researched odd and strange buildings but never before have the secrets of so many Welsh follies been told so comprehensively and entertainingly in one book. The author says, ‘Every folly has a tale to tell and researching them has been entertaining. Nearly all tell us something about the special people who built them, as if the follies themselves are a window into another age or world, one which is well worth exploring.’

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