Follies come into their own in autumn. In July they compete with everything else — the beaches, the beer gardens, the long bright evenings that make a stone pineapple feel like an indulgence. By October, with the light low and the crowds thinned, a building whose only real purpose was to be looked at becomes exactly the right place to spend an afternoon. Scotland is unusually well supplied with them. Here are five worth the drive.
The Dunmore Pineapple, near Airth
The Dunmore Pineapple stops people mid-sentence. It sits at the end of a walled garden near Airth, a stone fruit roughly the height of a small house, its leaves carved in courses of masonry with a care that borders on obsession. It was built in the eighteenth century for the 4th Earl of Dunmore as a garden building and a fairly loud statement about where he had been and what he had seen.
The pineapple is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and let as holiday accommodation by the Landmark Trust, so you will not be wandering through the rooms unless you have booked them. The exterior and the walled garden are the point, though. In autumn the garden is sheltered and quiet, and the low light rakes across the carved stone in a way it never does in June.
Getting there: it lies off the A905 near Airth, a short drive from Falkirk and easy to pair with a morning at the Falkirk Wheel or a walk along the Forth. Parking is limited, so arrive early or late. Check the Trust's site before travelling — seasonal opening varies and there is usually a charge for the garden.
McCaig's Tower, Oban
Oban's skyline has a Roman amphitheatre on it, or something very like one. McCaig's Tower is a two-tiered ring of granite arches on Battery Hill, begun in 1897 by the banker John Stuart McCaig. His plan was ambitious: a monument to his family that would also keep local stonemasons in work through the winter and, in time, house an art gallery and museum. He died in 1902 and the money stopped with him. What remains is a hollow, open-topped circle looking out over the town, Kerrera and the sound beyond.
It is free, open to the public, and one of the best places in Scotland to stand with a flask while the weather does something dramatic. Autumn suits it: the summer ferry traffic has thinned, the town is easier to move around, and the sun sits low behind the granite.
Getting there: the walk up from Oban town centre takes about fifteen minutes and is steep in places, with steps at the top. Wear something with grip. If you are staying in town this makes an easy pre-dinner outing, but take a torch if you head up after dusk.
The National Monument, Calton Hill, Edinburgh
Edinburgh's most famous folly is a part-built Greek temple on a hill in the middle of the city. The National Monument was begun in 1826, modelled on the Parthenon, and abandoned in 1829 when the money ran out. Twelve columns and a fragment of architrave are all that was ever finished. Locals have called it Edinburgh's Disgrace for nearly two centuries, which is a fairly affectionate insult.
Autumn is the season for it. The hill is quieter once the festival crowds have gone, the birch and rowan on the slopes turn, and the view takes in Arthur's Seat, the Forth and the tight jumble of the New Town. Go an hour before sunset and you will watch the city light up below you.
Getting there: access is free. Walk up from Waterloo Place or from Royal Terrace; the paths are paved but uneven in places. Parts of the monument have been fenced during conservation work at various times, so check before you build a whole trip around it. The Nelson Monument and the City Observatory are a few steps away.
Ossian's Hall, The Hermitage, Dunkeld
Ossian's Hall is a small stone building in woodland above the Black Linn Falls, near Dunkeld, and it is one of the strangest rooms in Scotland. Built in the 1750s for the 2nd Duke of Atholl, it was designed as a surprise: you step into a dark, mirrored, painted chamber and the waterfall appears, reflected and multiplied, framed by the walls.
Whether the trick still works depends on the mirrors and the light, but the setting alone justifies the trip. The Hermitage woods are full of Douglas firs and larches, and in late October the colours are extraordinary. After rain the falls are loud enough to feel through the floor.
Getting there: the car park is off the A9 just north of Dunkeld, with a waymarked walk of roughly a mile and a half there and back. Paths are muddy after rain, so boots beat trainers. The site is cared for by the National Trust for Scotland; parking arrangements and any charges change with the season, so check ahead.
Dun na Cuaiche, Inveraray
Above Inveraray Castle, on a ridge of hill, stands a small square tower with a pointed roof. Dun na Cuaiche was built in the mid-eighteenth century as part of the designed landscape around the castle — a deliberate eye-catcher, meant to be seen from the house and the policies below, and to reward anyone who climbed to it with a view down Loch Fyne. It is a folly in the purest sense: useful only for looking at and looking from.
The walk up takes about an hour at a steady pace through mixed woodland. In autumn the hillsides above the loch turn rust and gold, and the tower, which can look rather plain from the town, becomes a genuinely good place to sit and eat a sandwich.
Getting there: waymarked routes leave from near Inveraray Castle and from the town. Some paths cross estate ground where an admission charge applies; the route from the town side avoids that. The final section is steep and greasy underfoot after rain, and the top is exposed, so take a windproof layer.
Practical notes for a folly autumn
Five small things that separate a good day out from a soggy one:
- Waterproofs, not just a jacket. Scottish autumn rain rarely announces itself politely. Trousers as well as a coat make a real difference on woodland paths.
- Boots with grip. Leaves, mud and wet stone steps are the three main hazards on this list.
- A torch. After the clocks go back, darkness arrives before five o'clock across most of Scotland. Folly-hunting is often a late-afternoon activity.
- Cash and offline maps. Rural car parks can be coin-only or rely on apps, and mobile signal disappears in exactly the glens you want to visit. Download maps before you set off.
- Check opening times the day before. Follies are odd buildings on private or charitable estates. Seasonal hours, conservation work and private bookings all change the picture at short notice.
- Midges. Early autumn can still be biting, particularly in damp woodland at dusk. Once a proper frost arrives, the problem largely disappears.
Making a trip of it
You can pair these without much driving: the Pineapple and the Falkirk Wheel in a day; Calton Hill on any free afternoon in Edinburgh; Dunkeld and the Hermitage as a half-day from Perth; Inveraray and Dun na Cuaiche as a full day in Argyll, ideally with a stop for lunch in the town. Mid to late October is the sweet spot — colour still on the trees, crowds gone, and the first frosts clearing the air.
Book accommodation early if you are heading for Oban or Inveraray at half-term, and be realistic about daylight. Two follies in a day is plenty. Three is a rush, and rushing rather defeats the purpose of a building that exists purely to be admired at leisure.
Photo: LoboStudioHamburg / Pixabay
