It is not often you get a recommendation to go to a business park to visit some art work, but that is exactly what is to be found at Edinburgh Park. Located out at South Gyle, across the road from the large, busy shopping centre, this is possibly one of Edinburgh’s best kept artistic secrets
Among all the stunning new offices that are located out there, numerous artworks have been erected, from poetry in the bus shelters, stained glass windows in the station, and a delightful enclave of statues showing the heads of 20th century Scottish poets. A range of Scottish artists, from Eduardo Paolozzi, Tim Stead, Ian Hamilton Finlay to younger lesser known names, such as Anthony Morrow have contributed work to Edinburgh Park.
The Scottish poets are located along a delightful walkway bordering a little lake of water, complete with ducks and moorhens. Each head is on a plinth and clearly named, with a biography on one side of the plinth and an example of the poet’s work on the other. As a gentle and uplifting walk it could hardly be bettered – a stroll among pleasant surroundings, statues to admire, and some poetry to mull over.
All this has made the area Britain’s largest urban sculpture park. And to top it all, you can have tea at the Ritz -that’s the name of the local bar/bistro. You can’t help thinking that the 7000 people who work out here are fortunate indeed to be based in such pleasing surroundings.
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