George Clarke admits ‘this is insane’ after exploring ‘fantastic’ garden space

It seemed as though George Clarke was lost for words in the most recent instalment of his Channel 4 show. On Wednesday night’s episode of Amazing Spaces, viewers saw George venture to Buckinghamshire.

The 50-year-old was meeting Will Hardie for inspiration on his latest ambitious project, building a cabin in the sky via a scissor lift. Admitting the idea was initially a “wine-inspired” whim, George confessed there was no reason for it other than making something for fun.

Stating England has a history of fun architecture he touched on the follies around the country. Although he touched on the many beautiful ones around the nation, George revealed there are also some that are more on the unusual side.

Walking through the woodland to an opening, the Channel 4 star was met with a huge folly in the shape of an intricate three-tiered wedding cake. Will said: “What do you think of that?”

Clearly taken aback by the sight of it, he simply replied: “Oh my god. It’s a massive cake!”

Created by artist Joana Vasconcelos, the 12-metre-tall sculpture was covered in shades of pink, blue, yellow, green and white. There were also various small sculptures covering the folly to give the illusion of icing.

Getting a closer look, George tapped the folly as he commented: “Oh my god. I mean look at it. Shells, fish, urns, cherubs.”

Will revealed there were 25,150 tiles of 90 different styles on the folly as George simply replied: “Shut up!”

However, the surprises didn’t end there as once they were inside, the elaborate decorations continued.

As Will laughed at George's surprise, the Channel 4 star quipped: “What on earth have you brought me to? This is off-the-scale nuts.

“If Willy Wonka was going to build a temple-like folly, this would be it. Welcome to ‘Wonkatechture’”.

In the middle of the ‘cake’, twin staircases cork skewered their way up to the top tier viewing deck which George explained was the same height as the scissor lift folly he wanted to create.

Passing Will on the stairs, he added: “This is insane!”

However, despite the incredible folly that had been created, it wasn’t quite what he was looking for when it came to his own project.

Whilst at the top, he commented: “I think it’s the most fantastic piece of whimsical architecture I’ve ever seen. But, whether it’s right for our scissor lift, I don’t know.”

George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces is available to watch on 4OD