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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The pinnacle of the English style of gardening, as fine today as it was a century agoCharles Quest-Ritson has just returned to Great Dixter for the first time in years — and it's 'the high point of all my garden visiting for a long time. I cannot recommend it too highly'.
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How the acrobatic buzzard survived persecution to become one of Britain's best avian huntersIt may appear lethargic, but no one could argue with the hunting prowess of the common buzzard when it transforms into a surging missile intent on an unsuspecting victim.
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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.
