KYQ4: Jupiter Artland

Wednesday 26 July 2017

Jupiter Artland

After our visit to The Garden of Cosmic Speculation at Portrack earlier this year, we were intrigued by an invite to visit Jupiter Artland near Kirkliston in West Lothian. It had opened in 2009 as a venue for art installations and includes landscaping by Charles Jencks similar to his central attraction at Portrack. It was chance to spend more time with grandchildren and children of the extended family.

The five children from 2 to 10 delighted in walking around the 100-acre estate on gloriously confusing trails through forests, fields, art installations and with several water features to fall into. The estate was inhabited by peacocks, pigs, donkeys, and llamas. The Jencks landscape features were an open invitation to climb and explore. There is a grotto of amethyst crystals capped by obsidian, a ballroom in the Jacobean House that is filled with popcorn that the children can play in and some VW Golf and Tiguan chassis painted black but with wood burning stoves replacing the engines. What it all meant was unimportant but it did stretch our imagination.

Adults delighted in happy children and to keep them going we had an illicit picnic on the boardwalk by the pond that allowed us to watch the coots feed their young just as we fed our young. The original mansion has a collection of older outbuildings that have been converted and augmented by a collection of modern sheds and buildings that provide a quirkiness and charm. This was art for all ages. We spent 5 hours there and left with the firm intention of returning.