Park in a Skip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The young London based artist Oliver Bishop-Young has had the brilliant idea of creating mini landscapes in that most prosaic of urban artefacts, the builder’s skip. Seen here is one of his most popular and successful designs, a park in a skip, featuring a park bench and a tree.

Other of Olly’s designs have included a water garden in a skip, a skateboard park in a skip, a swimming pool in a skip and a sitting room in a skip. You can find out more about Olly and his work at his web site www.oliverbishopyoung.co.uk  email:olly@oliverbishopyoung.co.uk

Dutch folly to rent – in darkest Essex

The Dutch House, Rayleigh, Essex

The thatched octagonal Dutch Cottage in Rayleigh, Essex, is thought to have been built in 1621 by immigrant settlers who helped drain the land. Since 2005 it has stood empty after pensioners Ann and Derek Jolly upped sticks and left after 20 “happy years”.

Despite resembling a doll’s house, the octagonal seventeenth century home – which measures just 20ft across – has all the mod cons, including a fully fitted kitchen and shower room. The listed home, in Crown Hill, Rayleigh, is thought to be one of only a handful of Dutch Cottages left in the UK – and the only one used as a council house.It is also the only house still owned by Rochford Council after it transferred its stock to a housing association.

Tamara Burton, a spokeswoman for Rochford Council, said the house, which has already generated a lot of interest, is not restricted only to people on the housing register or waiting list and can be rented for just £75 a week.

But whoever is lucky enough to get their hands on the listed property will not be in for a quiet life – because a condition of the tenancy means the new dweller will have to show tourists around the historic abode.

Inside it is surprisingly spacious with the open-plan living space set around a central construction of the chimney.The kitchen is at the back of the cottage and there is also a shower room. The bedroom is accessed by a steep stair case and, at a squeeze, it could fit a double bed inside.

Former resident Mrs Jolly, 71, who moved out of the house with husband Derek in 2005, said it was a privilege to live in there.She said: “We loved it because we felt very close to Rayleigh’s history.

“We were talking about it all the time and we were conscious it was a privilege to be looking after one of Rayleigh’s monuments and having something beautiful to look after.” 

The cottage was given to Rayleigh Urban Council in 1964 by its owner and has remained in trust ever since.A plate above the door is inscribed 1621 but surveyors, architects and historians who have studied the cottage say it could have actually been built as late as 1740.

Tours of the cottage would be made by prior arrangement, Mrs Burton said. It is opposite the King Canute Public House. Essex. TQ8090 : The Dutch Cottage, Rayleigh

 

The Dutch House, Canvey Island, Essex 

There is another similar cottage on Canvey Island in Essex. TQ7783 : Dutch Cottage Museum, Canvey Island

Shed on top of the world

image by hyperfocusing.jpg

This shed, perched precariously on a ridge on Whistler Mountain, in British Columbia in Canada recently caught our eye. More information has been hard to find. If anyone knows anything about who built it and how it got there, indeed why it has been put there, please let us know.

Folly Fancier

A"butt-er" class of goat shed

Goat tower in Illinois (those are real goats)

Farmer David Johnson of Findlay, Illinois built this magnificent structure for his 11 Swiss mountain goats, who unfortunately didn’t have a peak worth climbing within hundreds of miles. The tower contains 5,000 handmade bricks, 276 concrete steps, a copper turret and is 31 feet tall. “There are only two other goat towers in the world, and mine is the tallest,” Johnson says proudly.

Find this and hundreds of other unusual buildings at www.ohiobarns.com where site owner Mike MacCarter has collected a veritable Aladdin’s cave of unusual buildings.

 

 

Ocean Views from the (Concrete) Treetops

Okinawa Tree House restaurant (Photo credit: Flickr)

Purely decorative follies do not spring up like trees, so here is a functional folly which has done just that – the Okinawa treehouse which is poised in a banyan tree (or maybe it is a gajumaru tree). Whatever. The tree is in fact  concrete.

Back in the late nineteenth century the French were making trees out of cement and a good example of has survived at Oakworth Park in Yorkshire. But I have not seen such a bizarre and impressive modern version as this before.

This treehouse is a restaurant, serving Asian food. It is located on Highway 58 at the entrance to Onoyama Park in southern Japan where it overlooks the ocean. Visitors ascend via a lift inside the trunk.

Sealed with a (Marmite) Kiss

There is a shortage of follies to report here at present so I thought we might look at some folly-esque public art. Follies are not to everyone’s taste  -  so what could be more of an acquired taste than a Marmite statue?

Following on the success of last year’s Guinness flavoured Marmite, the company brought out a limited edition “I Love You” Champagne flavoured Marmite for Valentine’s day on February 14th 2008.

To publicise it the manufacturers commissioned sculptor, Jeremy Fattorini to recreate Rodin’s celebrated sculpture, ‘The Kiss’, in Marmite. The work was ‘unveiled’ in London’s Greenwich Park.

Fattorini took nearly two and a half weeks to sculpt the 7ft replica statue which was coated in 420 jars of Limited Edition ‘I Love You’ Champagne Marmite. The artist said: “It will be interesting to see if this gains more popularity than the statue at St Pancras. I’m sure that Marmite will once again polarize the nation – you’ll either love it or hate it. It’s a good thing I like the stuff, as I was licking my fingers as I created it!”

Have those Druids been at it again?

Standing stone at Brierley, overlooking South Kirby Hillfort (photo by Mothy)

Local folklore had a stone circle located on Ringstone Hill near Brierley in South Yorkshire, overlooking South Kirkby Hillfort. It disappeared many years ago but recently there were reports that it might have been rediscovered, guarded by a nearby standing stone.

Exploration on the spot revealed that the nine stones were a little too similar in size to be the real thing and on further investigation it emerged that they were placed there, not by Druids or Ancient Britons but by the SESKU (South Kirkby, South Elmsall and Upton) Regeneration team in around 1990 as part of the regeneration landscaping of a former colliery landscape that surrounds the village. Today they provide a place from which to view the local landscape and act as a feature on the Ringways Path.

Still, as Mothy, a contributor on Julian Cope’s Modern Antiquarian web site (http://www.themodernantiquarian.com), says ” Whoever built this was certainly aware of its position in the landscape. It’s a cracking spot.”

Location: The new Ringstone stone circle is on the NE edge of Grimethorpe Grid Ref: SE 430 105. Mothy on the Modern Antiquarian also gives instructions on how to find it, as follows:

” Setting out from the South Kirkby Hillfort car park, walk or drive up Holmsley Lane towards Brierley. Turn right at the junction and then into the lay-by immediately in front of the waste recycling centre. To the right of the WRC is a gateway with car park (no signs).

“At the back of the car park is an ornate gateway and a standing stone can be seen behind it on the horizon. The gateway says “SESKU Environmental Group” and there is an image of a presumably celtic couple (see photo above).

“This is the Brierley Gap entrance to the Ringways Path, a 13 mile environmental project and pathway in the area. Go through the gateway (ignoring the graffitti and trying not to trip over the burnt out remnants of various fridges, bedsteads, computers, etc) and walk up the field to the circle.

“There is one standing stone and nine recumbent stones, seven of which are laid to form a circle, the other two being inside the circle towards the area of the standing stone.

“The site immediately overlooks South Kirkby Hillfort (see photo) to the West, and the area of Ferrybridge Henge is visible to the North (see photo -look for the plumes of smoke on the horizon – this is Ferrybridge C powerstation.

Nearest Town: Barnsley (9km SW)

OS Ref (GB): SE426099 / Sheet: 111

Latitude: 53° 35′ 1.05″ N

Longitude: 1° 21′ 23.21″ W

Is it a shed, is it a tower? Who cares, it’s a folly!

Shed-tower-folly by Jayne Tarasun, 2007

What better way to start 2008 than with a new folly design by a new folly builder, the self styled folly-smith, Jayne Tarasun of Cornwall? 

Artist Jayne has brought the concept of the folly tower into the 21st century, reviving this unique and celebrated slice of British eccentricity and fusing it with contemporary design principals and traditional, sustainable materials. Using cedar, oak, copper and glass, each structure is a tower of tranquillity, designed to engage the senses, enliven the spirit and offer a platform from which we can establish a reconnection between our landscape, our skyscape and ourselves.

Each folly follows a particular design, 5ft square by 10ft high, and has a mezzanine level where owners can sit and relax and read or just look out of the window into the branches of a neighbouring tree.

• Materials include chestnut frame, cedar shingles, copper roof and laminated safety glass in French doors and windows
• Design includes secure 5 lever locked front door, ladder to mezzanine-level platform. Fully lined and insulated
• Planning permission not usually required

Design templates can be adapted to individual requirements. Price on application, includes initial site visit (to assess positioning), delivery and erection. A bespoke design service is also available for function and site specific space.

But what to call it – I suggest a she-tower – a combination of shed and tower -which also reflects the female identity of its designer.

About Jayne: After starting her career in furniture making, constructing bespoke commissions, Jayne Tarasun went on to study Fine Art at Cheltenham College of Art, where she specialized in printmaking. In 1995 she won the Gane Travel Scholarship, which allowed her to study in Barcelona. Jayne has exhibited extensively throughout the UK and she currently works from her studio in Cornwall.

In 2006, Jayne embarked on an MA course in design at UCF, where the seeds of her Folly business were starting to germinate. One year later she decided to focus her energy into `Folly-Smith’ designing, manufacturing and exhibiting her first prototype in Autumn 2007. This has been viewed by thousands of people and is on display at the Trevarno Gardens in Cornwall.

Jayne also designs bespoke, site specific follies tailored to her clients needs.

Contact details:

Jayne Tarasun, 2 Post Office Row, Gweek, Nr Helston, Cornwall TR12 6TU tel: 01326 221750 emailjayne@tarasun.co.uk

http://www.folly-smith.com

Stumpery adrift in the landscape

The Stumpery  – a driftwood cave by Phil Game

Follies echo the zeitgeist of their time. In the 18th century follies were the playthings of rich men and often built to flaunt their wealth and education in a showy display of conspicuous consumption. Shell grottoes are a good example of this, costing thousands and taking years to create.

Today when every concerned citizen is trying to save the planet and minimize their carbon footprint what better statement than a grotto made of recycled materials? Pictured above is a cave constructed entirely of drift by garden folly builder Phil Game.

Built for the Chelsea Flower Show in 2006, the  cave was 8 metres long x 3 metres wide and 3 metres high  – all made from driftwood stumps. Inside is a long bed bench made from one piece of oak and dressed with hops and lavender. The Stumpery now belongs to former Beatle Ringo Starr.

Phil can be contacted at Pure Folly

Eerie fusion of past and present

Often today it seems the line between follies and works of art in public places, is increasingly blurred. With fewer opportunities to build permanent follies, in urban environments, artists and architects are constructing temporary sculptures and fanciful buildings which reference the past and the future to stir our imagination.

One such artist is the Auckland based “tactile archivist” John Radford,  a man haunted by the ghosts of destroyed buildings. Radford has made it his occupation to document the buildings of old Auckland just before the bulldozers move in. The spirit of these old buildings are evoked in TIP, a sculpture/folly/ruins collection in Ponsonby’s Western Park which was his initial response to the redeveloped city. TIP comprises replicas of details of three buildings demolished in the Eighties, embedded in the ground.

But even there things are not what they seem. The installation includes Teatube,a “hidden interior work” located within VIC, the sculpture closest to the park’s  northern corner on Ponsonby Road.  Through a 2 inch window viewers can glimpse the Sky Room inspired by the tea room at the top of the  Milne & Choyce Building, a department store demolished in 1984. “It was the most lavish interior that Auckland has ever had.”

Disembodied bits of Auckland city sit within this mythic interior and replicas of an aged elevator engine sit in the tunnel alluding to floors below or above. 

Find out more about John Radford and his work at http://www.johnradford.co.nz/index.php/Artists-CV.html (To find out more about Teatube look in the heading “Interior Interior Works”).