A husband and wife duo from Branscombe have opened up their first venture together with a picture framing and gallery business.

Tom and Emily Gladstone were joined by Exeter Town manager John Harvey to cut the ribbon at the Attic Gallery in Castle Street Studios in Exeter.

The couple admit they are taking a gamble by setting up during a recession, but have been buoyed by the response so far to Tom’s framing out of his Seaton workshop.

Emily said word of mouth in Beer, Branscombe and Seaton had helped the business, but is hoping the move to Exeter will open them up to a wider audience. She said: “The opening event for the whole studios here was great for us as the other businesses all brought friends and customers so straight away we got a much wider scope of people seeing our work.”

Emily, a trained ceramicist, will use the gallery space at the studios while Tom creates frames, as they try and balance the new venture with looking after their 16-month old son. She added: “Tom has been working full-time in Beer until the start of this year, and when the chance came up to move to the business to Exeter it seemed like the perfect opportunity.”