Robert and Nicky Wilson bought Bonnington House, a Jacobean manor house within an 80-acre estate, in 1999. Within a few years, the formal gardens, fields and woodlands surrounding this historic house began to suggest the perfect milieu for Nicky Wilson's long-held ambition to create a sculpture park. Nicky, herself a sculptor manque since the birth of her four children had always been deeply influenced by Ian Hamilton Finlay's Little Sparta, some thirty miles as the crow flies, from Bonnington. Here, she believed, in this ancient place with reputed Knights Templar connections, art and nature, home and family, livestock and the footfall of those interested in contemporary sculpture could all co-exist. She and Robert, as serious collectors, knew many leading contemporary artists. Why not provide them with the opportunity to create new works in their grounds? They couldn't find any reason not to. So Jupiter Artland began to take shape.
