It takes a bit of work, and it flies in the face of art critics’ expectations. “Retired farmer Stephen Dale is challenging the assumption that modern art is best appreciated by city dwellers. A run of exhibitions staged by the 74-year-old at the free public art gallery he set up two years ago in Checkley, near Hereford, have now drawn big names from the art world and proved the scale of an appetite for the unexpected in the countryside.”