Little Sparta
Stonypath, Dunsyre
ML11 8NG, UK
4 June - 27 September 2026
Opening hours: Thursday - Sunday, 11:00 - 5:00 pm (last admission 4:00 pm)
Ian Hamilton Finlay’s poetic garden in the Pentland Hills reopens to the public on 4 June 2026. Little Sparta welcomes visitors June - September each year, respecting Finlay’s intention that the garden should be experienced when the trees and plants, all integral to the artwork, are in full leaf.
Located an hour from central Edinburgh, the garden is a celebration of the idea that art doesn’t only belong in galleries, and poems don’t always live in books. It is one of the treasures of the 20th century and is often, for very good reason, described as Scotland’s greatest work of art.
Finlay moved to the farm of Stonypath in 1966 and, in partnership with his wife Sue Finlay, began to create what would become an internationally acclaimed garden across seven acres of a wild and exposed moorland site. It contains over 270 artworks set into what Finlay described as ‘specific landscapes’: distinct areas within the garden, each with its own character and mood.
Significant grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Art Fund - the UK's national charity for the arts - together with generous donations, have enabled the Little Sparta Trust's acquisition of 'The Temple of Apollo'.
"This is a hugely important moment, not only in securing one of the most remarkable artistic landscapes of the late 20th century, but in laying the foundations to widen its reach and support its long-term conservation and restoration. We are now embarking on the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the Trust's history, with the aim of opening Little Sparta to a wider public and introducing a new generation to the ideas and vision that shaped this remarkable place [...] The generous funding we have received does more than secure the future of the Temple of Apollo. It provides the foundation for an ambitious development programme that will create learning and education initiatives, artists in residence, training in lettering and stone carving, and partnerships that support skills development and employment in South Lanarkshire [...] Little Sparta has much to teach us about art and landscape and humanity's relationship with the natural world."
- Magnus Linklater, Little Sparta Chairman, The Scotsman, May 2026
For further information, including directions on how to get to the garden, please visit the Little Sparta website via the link below.
