Eccentric Circles fountain by Geoffrey Aldred

Ancaster stone

The inscription ‘Ave aqua aeternitatis. Aqua salus aeterna’ means ‘Hail, water of eternity. Water, the eternal preserver’. The tiered fountain, inspired by Max Ernst’s fountain at Amboise, Loire, combines symmetry and asymmetry.

“I call it Eccentric Circles as, despite being classical in structure, it appears random and off-centre – a bit crazy. The lettering too is classical yet informal in style. This combination of the formal and offbeat reflects the life and work of Edward James, poet, gardener and patron of surrealism, who was deeply interested in memorial art.”