Jupiter Artland

With lock down now easing, some Scottish venues are begining to open. The zoos opened on last Monday (and I would definitely have gone except that they've been fully booked out!) and other outdoor places including Jupiter Artland.

Set across 30 acres, this outdoor art installation has been on our radar for years, however, they didn't allow dogs. There was an annual "Dogs love art too" day where they were permitted, but guaranteed we were working, so had never been. It was actually an article in my works weekly cares pamphlet - a guide of ways to keep good mental health across the pandemic, with resources for things to do and places to seek help and reassurance, it coined a phrase I have used often during lock down which is "that it's OK, to not be OK" - that put me onto it. The article was about what was starting to open, and there it was in print, dog memberships. Instantly taken by the idea of Missy ha ibg her own membership to a place, we looked into it and decided to risk it and get ourselves passes. We are resigned to the fact that day trips will be restricted for a while to come yet, and that any holidays we take will be last minute staycations.

And I am pleased we took the risk. We prebooked our time slot, checked in at tge gate and arrived to find 2 other cars in the car park. Despite the dull drizzly day, we spent almost three hours there and only managed half of it - and boy did we have a laugh at the notice that said it would take 2 hours to do the whole thing! We have booked in again next week to finish it!

Some exhibits were visually stunning, like the Living Cells (first photo), some are emotive and are designed to create conversations and others are quirky and fun. The Dr Who-esque weeping girls gave us the heeby jeebies, but the kids seemed to love them. 

As a critical worker in the water industry, the above 100 years of water tickled me. Each volumetric and flask is from a different river in the UK, we'll, apparently. They were very clean rivers otherwise, most in Scotland are brown from organic carbons and humic acid! 

A grand day out!