A millionaire landowner has defied the recession by having an extravagant 65ft folly built on his 1,700 acre Rushmore Estate in Dorset. William Gronow-Davis has spent tens of thousands of pounds on the structure, thought to be the tallest folly to be built in Britain in more than 100 years.
A millionaire landowner has defied the recession by having an extravagant 65ft folly built on his 1,700 acre Rushmore Estate in Dorset. William Gronow-Davis has spent tens of thousands of pounds on the structure, thought to be the tallest folly to be built in Britain in more than 100 years.
By the very definition of a folly, the building is useless and serves no purpose. But to Mr Gronow-Davis it “finishes off” his garden and adds to the spectacular vista from the drawing room of his mansion home one mile away. Although the gardens of Rushmore are a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty of parts of it are Grade II listed, the hulking structure was given planning permission.
The folly was to originally incorporate five mobile phone masts and was to be funded by O2. Planners viewed the need for the new aerials outweighed any conservation worries. But the mobile phone giant pulled out of the deal and Mr Gronow-Davis decided to go ahead with the proposed folly which still had valid planning permission. The design of the folly is in an Indian Mogul style to reflect the fact Mr Gronow-Davis was born on the sub-continent.
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