Fine dining meets Fine Art in north Norfolk this month where a painter and sculptor has set up studio in her local pub's restaurant.

As guests tuck into lunch or sup a pint at the Walpole Arms, in Itteringham, over the next three weekends they will be able to watch artist Lisa Treadwell chiselling away at her elegant wooden sculptures and explaining the technique she uses for creating detailed water colours of insects and other wildlife.

Ms Treadwell, 43, who lives in Itteringham and is a regular at the pub, asked whether she could move in as part the current Norfolk Open Studios season.

She has set up a gallery in half of the barn-conversion restaurant beside the award-winning gastro pub, near Aylsham, and will be on hand to talk about her work and demonstrate this weekend, and on May 27-30 and June 3-5.

'It's a brilliant opportunity,' said Ms Treadwell, who gained a first-class honours degree in scientific and natural history illustration and has had a painting shortlisted in a category of the BBC's Wildlife Artist of the Year awards.

'The pub gets a lot of people coming to eat here from all over Norfolk and I've built up a small following too so hopefully it will be a good thing for both of us.'

Alan Sayers, who owns the Walpole Arms with his wife Cheryl, said they were pleased to give customers an opportunity to see how good Lisa's work was, and, as the village pub, to offer space for community use.

If the open studio event went well, Mr Sayers said they would be interested in hosting an autumn craft fair featuring the work of local people.

Ms Treadwell who has experience working with both the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and the Broads Authority, takes photographs of wildlife including adders and her favourite subject, dragonflies, and uses them as references for her paintings which feature their intricate markings and vein tracery.