Little Sparta

A lovely morning unpacking my presents was followed by a quick visit to a garden centre where my mother bought me my birthday present in the shape of a beautiful mosaic on slate made by Caroline Blake. IYou can see it at the bottom of this blog. I love the colours in it and also the fact that buttons and beads are incorporated into the mosaic! And it sparkles!

Then in the afternoon we returned to Little Sparta. It was a first visit for my mother although John and I had been there before and it was high on my birthday wishlist to go again. Fortunately the weather kept on smiling down at us although it was very windy. No rain though and occasionally sunshine.

To quote from the leaflet produces by The Little Sparta Trust the garden is described as follows:

"Set in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh, Little Sparta is Ian Hamilton Finlay's greatest work of art. Imbued with various levels of meaning, the Garden is created from the artistic fusion of poetic and sculptural elements with those of the natural landscape which is shaped and changed to become an inherent part of the concepts realised at Little Sparta".

You can take photographs in the garden if you obtain a special permit which I did the previous time we visited but you still cannot publish them even then, so this time all photography took place outside the garden. It can only be reached by tracking up the side of a steep hill which today also was against the wind so quite a hard task but coming down again was much easier with the wind in our backs and going downhill. The wind also made for fantastic cloudscapes!

Artists' away day

This has been a really stressful week so today I took a day (0r rather an afternoon ) away from it all and John and I went and visited Little Sparta, which is only 30 minutes drive from our home. The sky looked very threatening at first but it turned into a beautiful and sunny afternoon!

Little Sparta used to be the home and garden of the artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, who was also a poet and philosopher. He died in 2006 and since then the estate has been handed over to a trust that is trying to preserve it in its entirety. In 2005 it was voted : "the nation (i.e. Scotland!)'s greatest work of art.

The gardens are only open at selected times and the entrance fee reflects the fact that it costs a lot to keep this kind of place going but oh, it was so worth the effort. The garden is a work of art and as such is copyrighted so the picture seen above is taken outside the actual estate but it gives you some idea of the beauty of the surrounding countryside, which can be seen from various viewpoints when you're in the garden.

You can see more of the garden on the Little Sparta website.

Ian Hamilton Finlay was influenced by the classical world, the French Revolution but also the Second World War and the sea (lots of boating references so John found it very interesting too!) The garden is adorned with sculpture, and also poems carved in stone and leads its visitors to contemplate about life in all its aspects.

It is a very substantial place and the fact that you have to walk for about half a mile from the car park also helps to maintain the peace and quiet. If you are interested in the philosophy behind the garden, there is a wonderful book available about it with stunning photography:

Little Sparta; the garden of Ian Hamilton Finlay, by Jessie Sheeler.

I'm sure I will be back!!