Sometimes you visit a place that makes you feel like you’ve stepped through a doorway into a different universe. Often it’s because of unbelievable natural beauty, but sometimes it’s down to much more man-made spectacles. Jupiter Artland, one of the UK’s best sculpture parks, is an example of the latter.
This private garden, which is only a half-hour drive from Edinburgh, features 120-acres of weird and wonderful sculptures. It’s home to works from world-renowned sculptors like Tracy Emin, Anthony Gormley and Anish Kapoor, as well as hundreds of other large-scale artworks – such as a series of hills and hedges meticulously landscaped to look like the cellular process of mitosis when looked at from above. As we said, this is the sort of place where reality gets a bit wobbly.
Up to now, Jupiter Artland’s one shortcoming has been that it shuts between September and April. But that’s all changing, as the park has announced that for the first time ever it will remain open to the public throughout the 2025/26 winter season.
This September, when Artland would usually be about to shut its gates for the year, it will instead be readying itself to welcome three new exhibitions from artists Tai Shani, Georg Wilson and Florence Peake.
Tai Shani, a Turner Prize winner, will set up ‘The Spell or The Dream’, a massive sculpture depicting a figure resting in a sort of glass-coffin. In contrast, Peake’s work, titled ‘To Love and to Cherish’, is a painting on the floor which was created naturally by four dancers covered in paint as they moved through the space. Finally, Wilson will display a series of her bright, folkloric paintings in Artland’s gorgeous ballroom.
All of these will be on display from October 11. As if that wasn’t enough, the park is making the most of being around for Christmas for the first time, putting on festive afternoon teas, holiday workshops, and chestnut roasting on selected dates.
Nicky Wilson, who founded Artland, said that this is ‘a special new moment in our programme’, adding that ‘it will afford visitors an entirely new type of experience on site, as the colours and light change into Autumn and Winter hues’.
Between November and February, Artland will operate on a reduced timetable, only open from Thursday until Sunday as opposed to the usual daily. Just make sure to buy a ticket before you go, as it can get very busy. Entry is £11.80 for adults, £10.80 for 65+, and £7.50 for kids.
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