The owner of a new art gallery in east Suffolk has welcomed the “amazingly positive” community response to her new venture.

Sue van der Meulen celebrated the official opening of the Stone Tile Gallery in Wickham Market yesterday with a reception for friends, customers and people living in the village.

A former London fashion buyer, Mrs van der Meulen is also a founding member of the Suffolk Punch Trust with which she was the general manager until last year. She says her latest venture is “an outlet for my passion for stone”.

“The Stone Tile Gallery specialises in using stone in the home, but that’s a bit flat and boring and so I thought it would be much more fun to have a gallery with local people doing small exhibitions too,” she added. The gallery, in High Street, is one of a number of new businesses to have opened recently in the village, and Mrs van der Meulen said the community’s response to the venture has been “amazingly positive”.

“Everyone has said how wonderful it is and how good it will be for the village,” she added.

It will open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday mornings, as well as by appointment.