A PRIVATE sculpture park that has showcased an exhibition of human urine and a room made of chocolate is challenging some of the UK's most feted venues for the title of UK Museum of the Year.

Jupiter Artland is based the grounds of a country estate in Edinburgh displaying work by some of Britain’s leading artists.

Now it will compete against some of the world's leading museums including the Victoria and Albert(V&A) in London and others for the prestigious £100,000 annual prize.

Jupiter Artland, founded in 2009 by Nicky and Robert Wilson, is set in 100 acres of woodland and meadow, and features art works - temporary and permanent - from some of the art world's leading contemporary artists, as well as a large land form created by Charles Jencks.

It was launched after the Wilsons - Robert Wilson is the chairman of Nelson's, the homeopathic healthcare company - bought the house in 1999.

They collected art and placed in it the house's grounds, which can now be visited by the public for part of the year, and artists represented include Andy Goldsworthy, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Jim Lambie, Tania Kovats, Cornelia Parker and Natha Coley.

Temporary shows have included Anya Gallacio's work Stroke, a room made from chocolate, and, this summer, Helen Chadwick's Piss Flowers.

Jupiter Artland, which opens from May 14, now includes a gallery room inside the house, the Ballroom, and has a busy education schedule.

In the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year, it has been shortlisted with the Arnolfini in Bristol, the Bethlem Museum of the Mind in Kent, the V&A and the York Art Gallery in Yorkshire.

Nicky and Robert Wilson said: "We are so proud to think that a place as unconventional and off the beaten track as Jupiter Artland could be recognised with one of the UK museum sector’s most significant honours.

"In magical woodland and wide open landscape, we present unique, one-off commissions and world-class contemporary art – offering an extraordinary environment for discovery, freedom and enjoyment.

"The next generation is at the heart of everything we do: our education programmes have grown significantly and focus on teaching children simultaneously about the arts, the landscape and nature, helping us to achieve our ambitious goal to reach every child in Scotland."

In a statement they added: "Our annual commissions and exhibitions nurture early career artists, often giving them an entirely new platform for their work. We are incredibly grateful to our team for their enthusiasm and commitment. It is so exciting to consider what we could achieve in the coming years."

The Art Fund awards the Museum of the Year prize annually to "one outstanding museum, which, in the opinion of the judges, has shown exceptional imagination, innovation and achievement."

The prize of £100,000 is given at an awards dinner in London on July 6.

The judges for Museum of the Year 2016 are: Gus Casely-Hayford, curator and art historian; Will Gompertz, BBC Arts Editor; Ludmilla Jordanova, Professor of History and Visual Culture, Durham University; Cornelia Parker, artist; and Stephen Deuchar who is chair of the judging panel, Director, Art Fund.

Mr Deuchar said: "Each one of these five museums is outstanding - not just for the collections they display, but for the people who work there, and the visitors whose lives they can change.

"Whether reaching audiences of thousands or millions, the best museums turn objects into culture, put audiences at the heart of their work, and engage with issues of the moment."