Spread out in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh, the garden at Little Sparta was created by artist and poet Ian Hamilton Finlay over decades, with his wife Sue. Derek Brown, a Gardenista reader, takes us on a tour.
Ian Hamilton Finlay was a “concrete poet,” intensely interested in words and the application of words.
Sue Finlay wrote of her devotion to the garden and of “tending the poems” just as one would tend plants.
A reminder of war, one of the leitmotifs of the garden.
Photograph by Andrew Lawson, courtesy of Frances Lincoln.
Finlay also relied on the help of the best stone masons and letter carvers.
A poem etched into a wooden path, photographed by Andrew Lawson.
A visit to Little Sparta is to be a part of something which is “deeply personal and engaging,” says Derek Brown.