Faringdon Folly Tower

The tower rises up out of the Oxfordshire countryside like something from a fever dream - all red brick and deliberate strangeness, perched on a hilltop near Faringdon with views that stretch for miles. This is Faringdon Folly, built in 1935 as an eccentric's caprice, and it's the sort of place that makes you grateful people have money and odd ideas.

You can walk right up to it across National Trust land (the grounds are free to explore), though I'd check locally about climbing inside the tower itself - access varies. The real draw is the walk there. The path from Faringdon itself takes about forty minutes across farmland and opens onto views of the Cotswolds that justify the leg work. It's not a laborious hike, more a proper countryside meander that makes you feel you've properly earned the spot.

Historically minded visitors will get the kick of it - the tower was built as a pure vanity project, exactly the sort of thing that gets the British excited about eccentricity. Kids might find fifteen minutes enough unless they're keen walkers; it's more about the journey than the destination itself. Photography types should come on a clear day; haze kills the views entirely.

The Real Campsite and Faringdon Grange are both within easy striking distance if you're basing yourself in the area. Pair this with a walk round Coleshill village nearby - there's proper Cotswold charm without the crowds of Broadway. Best visited in late afternoon when the light gets low and the folly casts a decent shadow across the fields.