Mona Farm's art collection in Braidwood includes works by Ben Quilty, Guy Maestri and Peter Lundberg

So imagine getting up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet and having the same experience.

Braidwood's Mona Farm has one of the most significant collections of contemporary art in the region. The Homestead, an original convict brick Georgian house built in 1853, is now home to more than 50 artworks scattered throughout five bedrooms, living and dining spaces and, yes, you'll even find artworks in the bathrooms.

Come in through the main entry and there's Ben Quilty's The Last Day. Adam Cullen's Ned Kelly takes up space in a living room, Bill Henson's in a bedroom, five pieces of Janet Laurence's series Arcadian Loss - Our Tarkine stretches down a hallway.

It really is like your own personal art gallery.

Belinda and Bill Pulver bought Mona Farm in 2018, turning the working farm into a luxury venue.

Now there are seven onsite accommodation options, each with their own style and art collection. In the latest option, the intimate Shearer's Quarters, you'll head to bed under the watchful eye of Adam Cullen's Old Job New Australia.

Belinda is a landscape architect by trade, and has always had a love of design. She had a hunch that using art and sculpture across the property was a quick way of activating the house as a luxury destination.

"We started the journey with sculpture," she says. "It was a way to draw people through the gardens."

The first piece they bought was The Folly. Bill went to school with artist Stephen King and his 11-metre-high structure built from stringybark sits adjacent to the lake.

King came up with a list of other artists he thought the Pulvers should look at and one of them was Swedish/American Peter Lundberg.

You might've seen Mona's landmark sculptures as you've driven down the Kings Highway to the coast. The Mona O, at four metres, and Dancing Man, at 13 metres, were built on site in 2018.

"Peter came down, and over about six months, he excavated these giant holes, poured truckloads of concrete into steel frames in the earth, where it's white he'd lined them with black plastic, and where it's brown it's actually the Mona earth," says Bill.

"And then he literally pulled them out of the earth."

Whether the Clydesdale horses, Wiltshire ewes and Highland cattle have an appreciation for the work gone into them, we'll never know.

"We'd like to think the animals are part of the art here too," Bill laughs. "That they each play their role in making every paddock or location on the property a destination in itself."

Belinda says the experience of making the art so accessible has provided numerous benefits.

"It started as something of a passion project, the ability for us to use art as a vehicle for business," she says.

"There are very few places we've been to, anywhere in the world, where there are original artists on the walls.

"Some people might think it's crazy to let thousands of people through the property and the gardens with access to the original artworks.

"But we've just found people respect the art so much, there's so much joy in finding original pieces.

"We might not have five-metre white walls, with gallery lighting, we can't provide the same situation as the National Gallery or anything, but on the other hand we're making it more accessible."

They're proud that they can champion contemporary artists, and help expose members of the public to works they might not otherwise get to see.

"Having become more closely engaged with artists since purchasing Mona we've realised what a tough industry it is for them," says Bill.

"I feel for artists and the gallerists, it's a difficult industry to make money in. Art is one of the few things in life you can buy and enjoy forever. So much of what we do or buy or build is disposable or deteriorates but with art, you have it forever."

The Pulvers have built relationships with several artists, who often come and stay on site to install their works. Ben Quilty has come to stay, and there are several pieces of his work hanging in The Homestead. Another favourite is Guy Maestri who won the Archibald in 2009, with works including little oil paintings of birds and landscapes.

"It's really interesting to see how these artists progress over the years, and they love it that we've maintained this connection with them," says Belinda.

"We truly believe Australia has some of the most exciting art in the world."

Bill admits it's been a big learning curve for him. The former Rugby Australia chief executive officer grew up in Tamworth, where his only exposure to art "was a print of a landscape over the fireplace".

"I credit Belinda with all my education, but can I tell you, when you learn to love art, it is addictive," he says.

I tell him I'm addicted to an artwork that hangs just inside the back door of the Homestead. Flowers by Chinese artist Zhuang Hong Yi, made of intricately folded rice-paper flowers in different colour combinations, appears to change colour as you walk past.

I could spend days just pacing back and forth in front of it. There's another piece by him in the living room, and another in The Stables.

"And another one right here behind me in our own home," Bill says. "We do like him too."

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