LIQUID Amber is not one contemporary art gallery but two, 40 miles apart, one in the AA Hotel of the Year for 2009-2010 in Helmsley, the other in a farm building at Hessay that previously housed Get Ahead Hats.

The artwork for sale will rotate between the two galleries run by Jill Rhatigan, owner of the Feversham Arms, where the first gallery opened officially this week after a soft launch.

The second gallery is housed in a converted 18th century stable block with vaulted ceilings at the home of Jill’s parents at Dutton Farm, two miles from York city centre on the A59 between York and Harrogate.

It is undergoing a similar opening programme, now being open a few days a week before the full-scale launch on April 12, from when it will be open daily except Sundays and Mondays.

It was Dutton Farm that inspired the name of Liquid Amber. “There’s a liquid amber tree in the garden outside the gallery, hence the leaf on the logo – and my dad is big on nature and farming and wildlife,” says Jill The two galleries have grown out of Jill and Simon Rhatigan’s love of art. “We’ve always collected art for the hotel, the spa and my home, and we love original artwork that is very approachable. Every time we travel, we bring pieces back, so there’s a lot of art in the bedrooms and on the hotel walls, as we’ve had the hotel for seven years now,” says Jill.

“I’ve always wanted to start a gallery and I decided that through the hotel I could make art galleries more accessible, as sometimes formal galleries can be too posh, stuffy and intimidating and people can feel they should know more about art. But I don’t think you should feel like that.

“It’s like choosing wine. You grow more confident and develop your knowledge, and that’s the pleasure you get from art as well.”

Jill set her gallery project in motion over Christmas and the New Year with an exhibition of oil paintings of sheep in the snow by Ilkley artist Christine Harris. “We filled one room with 12 pieces to see how it went and every one sold in two weeks,” says Jill.

She spent January and February collecting the “right art”, travelling around the country, visiting Bath, the Cotswold and the Cork Street galleries in London and acquiring art directly from artists, while also investing in gallery fittings and lighting to show off the work to best effect.

“I think it’s great for the hotel because it differentiates us from other hotels, and for our residents it’s handy to think you can view quality art, which you don’t often do when you go away,” says Jill. “The other good thing is that people can buy together as you both have to love a piece of fine art as you’re buying it for life.”

On show at the hotel and farm is artwork in a variety of media by British artists, some up and coming, others Royal Academicians or established Yorkshire artists. Among those exhibiting in the hotel launch event are Lucy Pratt, who exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition last year; Londoner Damian Callan; and Yorkshire equestrian painter Melanie Wright, who favours racing scenes in pastels and watercolours.

Anthony Yates has contributed a collection of nude oils, while Jean Feeney, who was born in York but now lives in the Highlands, is showing scenes from the West Coast of Scotland painted in metric oil.

Jill will run seasonal shows at the two galleries and home consultancy will be available too. To complement these exhibitions, the artists’ work can be viewed online at www.liquidamberartgallery.co.uk, a new website that will present news of current and upcoming shows, as well as recommendations of new pieces of art.

“In time, I hope that my customers become my friends and patrons of Liquid Amber and that my love of art could rub off just a little on the audience,” says Jill.