Watching Graeme Black and his Staffordshire bull terrier amble from the front door of Wood End, his Grade II-listed Georgian house, with its far-reaching views over the Yorkshire Dales and a serene-looking Lake Semerwater below, along through a grassy meadow towards the exquisite Thorns Gallery that Black and his partner, the designer Jonathan Reed, have cleverly created from an old cowshed, you would imagine the artist was born and raised here.

Yet Black has only been living here since 2017. For many years, before nature fully captivated him and he took up painting permanently, a life of tranquillity surrounded by drystone walls, fells and untamed woodland was something he only got to experience for the occasional weekend.

Black was born and raised on the east coast of Scotland and only discovered the pull of north Yorkshire through Reed, who had grown up in the county. But for most of their careers, the two men spent too much time on airplanes. Reed, who initially worked for Hackett and Polo Ralph Lauren, went on to become a successful interior designer creating homes for everyone from David Bowie to Jordanian royalty, while Black spent many years living in Milan as a senior designer at Giorgio Armani and then creative director of Ferragamo.

But here is where they now live and work. Reed has an office and Black a studio behind the main house. The gallery, which opened earlier this year, is a short stroll away. This doesn’t mean they lead a slower pace of life, however, just a more rural one. Reed is still designing – Thorns Gallery bears all the marks of his signature craftsmanship and attention to detail – and Black is constantly evolving his work with trees. From oils and acrylics to watercolours and even tapestries – created in partnership with Stephens Tapestry Studio in South Africa – the artist is always exploring new ways to celebrate the landscape around him and the energy that lives inside a tree as well as the bark outside. He is now exploring a way to capture the same magic using mosaic.

A trusted companion throughout the renovation of the house, the conversion of the cowshed, and in his studio each day, is 12-year-old Lewis. He was a rescue dog – rehomed by the couple when only six months old – and is a loyal and friendly presence at Wood End.

“He plays a major role in my life,” Black says. “He’s wise. And he’s my fiercest critic in the studio when I do something bad,” he laughs. Lewis curls up on a rug in front of the wood burner each day while Black works at the easel. “He gives me love, loyalty and attention. Every day, he makes things good for me,” Black adds.

And Black does the same for Lewis. He’s given a rescue dog a better life. And it doesn’t appear that life could get better, or more beautiful, than the one the three of them have here. The day the MR PORTER team spent at Wood End, creating the film here with Black modelling some easy, elevated off-duty pieces from our own label, Mr P., left us all wondering why we were catching trains back to the hustle, bustle and cement of city life.