For more than 30 years, one of Scotland�s most admired and influential artists worked on a garden that not only contained works of art, but is, in itself, his greatest work of art.

For more than 30 years, one of Scotland's most admired and influential artists worked on a garden that not only contained works of art, but is, in itself, his greatest work of art.

Ian Hamilton Finlay's Little Sparta, his remarkable garden of art which borders the wild moorland of the Pentland Hills near Dunsyre in Lanarkshire, described as the "only original" post-war garden in the UK, is considered to be one of Scotland's best, if not best-known, cultural jewels.

However, yesterday the trust, which has owned and run the garden since Hamilton Finlay's death in 2006, said they need to raise more than £1m to ensure it, and its many works of sculptural art, has a safe and secure future.

Details of the campaign by the Little Sparta Trust to raise £1.2m in the next five years were unveiled as the final part of Hamilton Finlay's life's work was officially opened: a specially designed medieval walled garden with a pond edged by the artist's distinctive carved stones, called Hortus Conclusus.

Yesterday The Herald was allowed a sneak peek at the work, replacing a dangerously ruined barn on the garden site, a beautifully designed final addition to Little Sparta's mix of modern art, classical sculpture in stone, wood and metal, horticultural expertise and landscape gardening.

Even in the driving rain of yesterday afternoon, Little Sparta's mix of landscape and artefact, and its spectacular views of the Pentland Hills, makes it a unique location, where obtuse phrases carved on stone stand next to pretty ponds, a mini-aquaduct, models of Second World World battleships, references to Scotland's lost fishing fleets, and a finely made home for Roman geese beside an artificial loch.

Hamilton Finlay carefully planned the last detail, Hortus Conclusus, in the final months of his life and wanted its medieval plants and shrubs, plus its sky-reflecting pond, to be a "throwback to the kind of medieval garden that many Scots must have had hundreds of years ago," according to Magnus Linklater, the chair of the trust.

Mr Linklater, a journalist and former chair of the Scottish Arts Council, said that £1.2m was needed to make sure the garden and the house at its centre could be enjoyed and utilised to the full for the next 20 years.

The money will pay for the £60,000 annual bill to maintain the extensive garden in good order; help pay for a new panel of art and gardening experts to oversee the maintenance of the garden; fund a series of work to improve and update its infrastructure, in particular its many paths and walkways, including new and improved disabled access.

The funds will also pay for the refurbishment and cleaning of more than 275 works of art on the site, which is about 30 minutes by car from Edinburgh, as well as development of the small house and its 6000-book library for visitors.

At present, the garden is only viewable in the summer months, and around 4000 people see it a year. Linklater said that any more visitors - and it could accommodate up to 10,000 visitors a year - would damage its carefully judged mix of garden and art.

The Trust hopes to raise the required money from trusts, private donations, and from people who admire and love the garden, rather than approaching public sources of money such as the Scottish Arts Council or the Scottish Government.

"If we do not raise the money, and we very much hope that we do, we will very much have to rein back our plans for it in the future," he said. "Little Sparta will survive, but it will not be operating at its optimum, and we will just have to retrench and not work at a much larger scale.

"We did spend some time thinking about increasing the amount of people we allow to see the garden up to 10,000, but we decided that kind of number would do irreparable harm to the garden and the works of art. So we are spending a lot of time on our website, not only making it the best website for any work of art, but making it a perfect virtual' visit, so people can see it without mistreating its paths."

Little Sparta is reached on the A702 from Edinburgh as far as Dolphinston, turning to Dunsyre. From Glasgow you leave the M8 at junction six for the A73, then the A721 at Carluke, going on to Newbigging before turning to Dunsyre.

• More details at www.little sparta.co.uk
  
  Ian Hamilton Finlay 1925-2006
  
  
• Ian Hamilton Finlay was born in the Bahamas to Scottish parents in 1925 and was educated at Dollar Academy. He was evacuated to Orkney at the age of 13.

• His first book, published in 1958, was The Sea Bed and Other Stories, followed in 1961 by his collection of poems The Dancers Inherit the Party. In that same year he co-founded the Wild Hawthorn Press.

• In 1966 he moving with his wife, Sue, into a property at Stonypath in rural Lanarkshire, with extensive grounds that would eventually come to be known as Little Sparta.

• His works are held in major collections worldwide and more than fifty of his installations are on public display.

• In 1991 he was presented with a bust of Saint-Just by the Communist Party of France and in 2002 he was appointed CBE by the Queen in the New Year's Honours list.

• He had a few run-ins with Strathclyde Regional Council, notably over whether he should pay commercial rates on a ruined cow byre in his grounds, converted into what the council claimed was a commercial gallery - in his eyes it was a garden temple. He also won a case for libel in France.

• He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1985.

• The Little Sparta Trust was established in 1994 to preserve his garden and maintain it for the future. Trustees include John Leighton, director general of the National Galleries of Scotland.