The Forbidden Corner is a folly garden located in the Tupgill Park Estate, at Coverham in Coverdale, in the

Yorkshire Dales National Park The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England covering most of the Yorkshire Dales. Most of the park is in North Yorkshire, with a sizeable area in Westmorland (Cumbria) and a small part in Lancashire. The park was designat ...

. It is open to the public.

History

It was built in the 1980s by the owner of Tupgill Park, Colin Armstrong, with architect Malcolm Tempest, as a private pleasure garden. The Armstrongs had been living at the estate since the Victorian era. Colin Armstrong is a

British Consul British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

based in

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

in South America. It is based in the walled gardens of the estate. His son Nicolas Armstrong since has resided in Ecuador and is now British Consul and his father Mr Colin Armstrong received the OBE and CMG for services to the British ''monarchy'' The garden was opened to the public in 1997, with a £4.50 entrance fee. However,

planning permission Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

for public use of the garden was not obtained at the time. As of 2000, the gardens were visited by 80,000 people, and employed around 25 people. Retroactive planning permission for the park was rejected in 2000. The National Park's planners raising concerns about the environmental impact and pollution of the large number of cars entering the Park to visit the garden, and that the garden did not agree with the aims of a national park. A petition to keep the park open was signed by 10,000 people. An enforcement order to remove the structures and close the site to the public was overturned on appeal in 2000, on condition of restricting the number of visitors entering the site to 120 per hour. In 2014 visitor numbers reached 120,000 people and it was decided by Mr Colin Armstrong with his adopted son Leo Morris to open a restaurant which was called The Saddle Room . The Saddle room Restaurant started as a small family run restaurant but subsequently grew to welcome over 40,000 people through its doors and now has 7 cottages and 9 bed and breakfast rooms as well as a successful wedding venue. In 2022 the biggest changes took place within the Management team and Leo Morris became Director and Chief Operating Officer with a desire to take the family estate into a sustainable long term future.

Garden

The garden features statues, sculptures, towers, tunnels, a labyrinth (with revolving floor), a conifer dog's head, a oak green man, water fountains, as well as

grottoes Grottoes may refer to: *The plural form of Grotto (disambiguation) *Grottoes, Virginia, a town named for the nearby cave system Grand Caverns {{Disambig ...

. It also has a cafe and gift shop. It covers . It is set out as a

maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...

, and visitors are given a checklist of things to find on their visit. A brass rubbing sheet is also available to complete which 15 plaques hidden around the attraction. The garden was voted the best European folly of the 20th century by the

Folly Fellowship The Folly Fellowship is a UK charity and company limited by guarantee. It was created in 1988 by Gwyn Headley, Wim Meulenkamp and Andrew Plumridge as an amenity society to protect, preserve and promote awareness of Britain's follies, grottoes an ...

and best children's attraction in Yorkshire. It was rated as one of the top 10 follies by ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''. Admission is by tickets pre-purchased online or pre-booked from an office in

Middleham Middleham is an English market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire. It lies in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, on the south side of the valley, upstream from the junction of the River Ure and River Cover. ...

. As of 2018 the price for Adults is £12.50, Seniors £11.50, Children £10.50 and a Family (2 adults and 2 children) £44.

References

{{reflist, 40em, refs= {{cite news , url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1346134/Dales-planners-to-shut-garden-folly-to-deter-tourists.html , title=Dales planners to shut garden folly to deter tourists , date=2 July 2000 , author=David Harrison , work=The Telegraph {{cite book , author=Colin Armstrong , title=Behind the Forbidden Corner , year=2001 , publisher=Forbidden Corner , isbn=0-9541047-1-4 {{cite news , url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/the-top-10-pieces-of-foll_n_1087467.html , title=The Top 10 Pieces Of Folly Architecture , work=

, date=14 November 2011 {{cite news , url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1352933/Objection-to-garden-was-folly-says-victorious-estate-owner.html , title=Objection to garden was folly, says victorious estate owner , date=16 August 2000 , author=Paul Stokes , work=The Telegraph {{cite web , url=http://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/family-fun/The_Forbidden_Corner/991 , title=The Forbidden Corner , publisher=Day Out with the Kids , accessdate=3 August 2014 {{cite web , url=http://www.theforbiddencorner.co.uk/admission-prices-opening-hours/ , title=Admission Prices & Opening Hours , publisher=The Forbidden Corner , accessdate=22 May 2016 Amusement parks in England Tourist attractions in North Yorkshire Folly buildings in England Gardens in North Yorkshire Coverdale (dale)