The British have always had a soft spot for eccentrics and if they also left behind a folly such as the ones that dot the Hampshire landscape as a legacy for future generations then so much the better.

Luttrell's Tower near Calshot stands in the grounds of Eaglehurst Castle and was designed and built in the 1780s for Temple Simon Luttrell, friend of the Prince Regent, by Thomas Sandby.

With its gothic windows, crenellated walls and immense cellars, Luttrell's Tower is said to have been the centre of much smuggling activity in past decades.

The pyramid-shaped Farley Mount monument has been a Hampshire landmark for more than 250 years and commemorates the deeds of a horse.

Underneath the monument lies the skeleton of a horse that was notable for the fact that it leapt into a 25ft chalk-pit with its master on its back in September, 1733 and both survived.

The horse, then with the name Beware Chalk Pit, went on, a year or so later, to win a race at Worthy Down. The master called Paulet St John was grateful to the steed for noticing the drop that he had failed to spot.

Sway Tower rises 218ft out of the New Forest and was built by the Victorian judge Andrew Petersen with a 40-strong workforce.

The judge reckoned he was visited in a dream by none other than Sir Christopher Wren who told him to build the structure out of concrete.

Tthen there is the Pepperbox, the hexagonal building on a hill-top outside Salisbury on the Southampton road, which is 500ft above sea level and was built in the 17th century by Giles Eyre.