In an unpredictable world, what better escape room to retreat to this summer than the whimsy of an off-grid garden folly? Whilst they lack (by design) the practicality of a garden office, follies offer a most welcome and decorative escape from the everyday. A beautiful garden structure with no other purpose than to delight, a folly might just be the aesthetic we need in 2026.
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If you were to draw a pink fairy tale castle, Craigievar Castle in the Scottish Highlands might be the one you would base it on. Proportionally it is near perfect. Turreted and surrounded by verdant Aberdeenshire countryside, it is framed with an avenue of beech trees and a stupendous, ancient monkey puzzle. Whilst the castle is moderately powerful-looking, it is most undeniably pretty. Which is perhaps why when Walt Disney saw a picture of it, he is said to have been inspired by it for his Cinderella castle.
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Welcome to 16th century Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire. If you are curious about the heritage of Scottish tower houses, passionate about topiary and painted ceilings inspired by the Renaissance, you won’t be disappointed. My anticipation for coming across something special at Crathes was piqued further when an American tourist commented that the gardens at Crathes Castle “were way better” than the gardens he had just visited at *Balmoral.
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18th-century Inverary Castle in Argyll makes a statement not only with its prominent position on Loch Fyne but with the powerful decorative message it portrays as the ancestral seat of Clan Campbell. Over the centuries, the castle’s interior decoration has been shaped by clan wars (1300 medieval weapons alone decorate the 21m high hall), by devastating fires and a marriage in the 1950s between the 11th Duke of Argyll and heiress Margaret Duchess of Argyll that infamously ended in scandal.
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A very Happy New Year to you. I hope you had a restful and peaceful Christmas. As is the blog’s tradition, this is the day that I share patterns of interior design directions that have caught my eye for 2025. This year, heritage design, along with bucolic evocations of the countryside, are top stories for interiors. From designer high street collaborations to independent designers and a burgeoning wealth of influential vintage and antique dealers, 2025 is shaping up nicely.
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Charis White Interiors 