The winds of the five counties on the horizon whistle around your head as you climb the hill to Faringdon Folly, a 100ft-tall Gothic tower built in 1935 by the ‘last great eccentric’ Lord Berners in honour of his companion Robert Heber-Percy.
This strategic hilltop within the Vale of the White Horse was once the site of a Celtic ring camp, a medieval castle occupied by Queen Matilda, a Cromwellian battery and a Home Guard observation post.
Since the 1780s, it has been topped with a four-acre woodland of broadleaf trees in a ring of statuesque Scot’s pine planted by Henry James Pye — a local landowner dubbed ‘the worst Poet Laureate in English history’ and, reputedly, about whom Sing a Song of Sixpence was written. Every winter this century, a powerful beacon has been lit at the top.
See more of Secret Britain
Falls of Glomach, Ross and Cromarty: Britain's most isolated, and perhaps most spectacular waterfall
Annunciata Elwes's Secret Britain series looks at Falls of Glomach, one of the highest waterfalls in the UK.
Thorney Island, West Sussex: The beauty spot accessed via a secret button through a barbed wire fence
The beaches of Thorney Island, next to Chichester Harbour, are our Secret Britain selection today.
North Meadow, Cricklade: An ancient field where half a million wildflowers create a wall of colour
The spectacular North Meadow, in Cricklade, Wiltshire, is a Secret Britain sight we should all enjoy at least once.
Gwennap Pit, Cornwall: 'The most magnificent spectacle this side of Heaven’
Annie Elwes kicks off our series on Britain's secret places with a look at Gwennap Pit.
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How to make a gloomy city garden into a haven of colour and natureTiffany Daneff discovers how to transform a typically dark London back garden into a light-filled green haven that is always in use. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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The world's hairiest animal, Saturday Night Fever and winning the lottery twice: Country Life Quiz of the Day 21 February 2025Have a stab at our Quiz of the Day. Good luck!
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St Patrick’s Chapel ruins, Heysham: The mythical Lancashire ruins with a heavenly viewAnnunciata Elwes takes a look at St Patrick’s Chapel ruins, a Morecambe Bay landmark.
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Suisnish, Isle of Skye: The atmospheric ruins of a Clearance villageBeauty now reigns in a tragic spot where hundreds of villagers suffered during the Clearance
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Covehithe beach, Suffolk, where the cliffs crumble like cakeThe most eroded beach in Britain has a post-apocalyptic feel.
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Clydach Ironworks, Monmouthshire: Ruins in the gorge that inspired ShakespeareAn oasis of quiet now stands where the steam hammers thudded at this Welsh ironworks, in a river valley that may have moved Shakespeare to write A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
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Royston Cave, Hertfordshire: A mysterious site full of sacred energyOur Secret Britain series continues with a Hertofrdshire cave whose true nature remains unknown.
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John Bunting War Memorial Chapel, Scotch Corner: The painstaking transformation of rubble to War MemorialAnnunciata Elwes celebrates the effort that turned a derelict house into a memorial.
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The Garden of Cosmic Speculation: The surreal space where Lewis Carroll and Willy Wonka meet Capability BrownSurrealism, philosophy, nature and gardening come together at the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, as Annunciata Elwes explains.
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The Airman’s Grave, Ashdown Forest: A touching and little-known memorial to victims of war and fateA wartime tragedy in East Sussex's Ashdown Forest is among our Secret Britain picks, as chosen by Annunciata Elwes.
