New art gallery Hill & Hill in Fletching is a family business with a small - but sweet - difference. For visitors can expect to be greeted by husband-and-wife Louise and Adam Hill, their 10-month-old daughter Beatrice and their friendly spaniel Monty.

The family affair came about quite by accident, laughs Louise, a screen print artist who studied at the University of East London. “It has all been a bit haphazard,” she admits happily. “We didn't plan on having Beatrice when we bought the building and started renovations, so she has just had to fit in.”

Louise and Adam, who runs a Sussex advertising agency, bought the former butcher's shop, dating from 1750, in the heart of the beautiful village around three years ago with the intention of transforming it into the intimate gallery it is today, its low beams and displayed works set off perfectly by the white painted walls and ceilings. With planning permission granted, they set about the renovations, made somewhat easier by the fact that they live in the house next door, and first opened the gallery last year.

Then Louise unexpectedly fell pregnant with Beatrice. “I thought I'm not going to stop it all, we can;t just stop life,” Louise recalls. “We had to crack on - and when Beatrice arrived, I thought I could do it all. But it was a bit much and so we closed the gallery last September and opened again in May. It can be difficult having customers and a baby. We need to be selling paintings!”

On sunny days, Beatrice plays happily in a shaded playpen on a pretty decked terrace through the back door of the building, a connecting gate to their own garden next door giving Monty access and Louise the means to stop him greeting customers and browsers too excitedly. This summer's wet weather has meant that Beatrice can more often be found with Louise in the little office behind the gallery when she's not attending nursery.

The relaxed atmosphere includes offering customers a glass of fine wine from the wine cellar on special wine evenings planned each time a new artist exhibits at the gallery.

It was the idea of bringing exclusive and exciting contemporary works by local, national and international artists to the country that motivated the couple to create their gallery, inspired by their mutual passion for art.

Already, Louise has sold a painting by avant garde Lancastrian Joe Joe Hesketh, described as the Tracey Emin of the north, for £12,000, and among other exhibited artists are Andy Tuohy, who creates contemporary images inspired by classic 20th century art and illustration and whose clients include the De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea, Charles Foster Hall, an Englishman living in France inspired by great British watercolourists, and self-taught illustrator Anna Koska, who combines her portrayals of life on canvas with her works on more than 100 books for chefs and writers. The quirky and creative limited-edition Giclee vintage-inspired prints, some humorous, some macabre, were created by Pulp Magic partnership of Irish artist Marion McConaghie, who studied in Brighton, and Andrew Prince, a senior creative in an advertising agency, and the screen printer Maria Rivens has been a featured artist at the gallery.

Hill & Hill Gallery, Churchgate House, High Street, Fletching. Phone 01825 722083 or visit www.hillgallery.co.uk .