Brown's Folly

The stone tower crowning Folly Hill near Bradford-on-Avon isn't much to look at from a distance - just a squat, circular structure squinting out across the Avon Valley. But climb up there and you understand why an 18th-century clothier threw up this eccentric monument: the views are genuinely spectacular. On a clear day you're looking across miles of rolling countryside, the kind of landscape that made Wiltshire worth fighting over.

It's an easy walk from Bradford-on-Avon itself - the nearest town - though the final push gets steep enough to earn your breath back. Most people allow an hour there and back, which gives you time to circle the tower and wonder what Brown was thinking. Was it vanity? A folly in the truest sense? A marker for his textile mill down in the valley? Nobody's entirely sure, and that ambiguity is rather the point.

Walkers will get the most from it, particularly those already exploring the Avon Valley. The approach isn't a trudge - there's actual countryside to cross, proper fields rather than manicured paths. It's free to access and works brilliantly as a half-day excursion if you're staying at Marsh Farm Caravan Site five miles south. Families with children aged eight and up will manage it fine, though younger kids might find the final slog tiresome. Visit on a weekday morning and you'll likely have the views entirely to yourself.