ON a hillside above a beautiful valley, in the far south-western corner of Dorset, the painter Brian Rice has found his home, overlooking the village of Hewood, where the painter Lucien Pissarro once lived. He and his wife, fellow artist Jacy Wall, live in an immaculate, lime-washed thatched house, originally a simple Dorset hall house built of cob, chert and flint. Long and low, it was extended at the beginning of the 17th century and accrued a fine chimney, arched stone doorways, mullioned windows and a date stone inscribed 1618.
In the attics, the couple has neighbouring airy studios; adjacent restored barns accommodate Mr Rice’s larger print-making and painting. A tunnel of hazel has been trained over the track that leads down from the road and, all around, sheep graze.…