Return to the Farm, Ronald Lampitt

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Towards the end of the film there’s a parade of cattle for judging and the Holstein Freisians are outnumbered. The drive for greater milk yields meant that soon they would be ubiquitous and this would change how farms such as this would work and look. Mixed farms became specialised and, ultimately, larger and less diverse. somewhere in the Kentish Weald in the 18th century. (Enclosure was the process by which common land and strip farming in open fields was brought into private ownership and the landless – who relied on access to commons to graze animals – were forced from the land.) Yet we can see evidence of the medieval and later landscape of open fields, shared by the tenants of the manor: there’s a hump in the field to the left of the farm. This is surely the headland, where ploughs once turned between two fields, now ploughed out.

thatch, stonework, porticos and a random juxtaposition and size realationship, but at its heart, it is not. The same concept could have been used featuring a really exciting range of modern archetecture. Now that would have been something. But who knows perhaps in aPlants and How They Grow by Frank Newing & Richard Bowood. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird Books), 1965. The poster depicts a village in the Dales, accompanied by lines from A E Housman's poem, 'The Merry Guide'. Keen’s attempts to convince the directors initially fell on deaf ears so, undeterred, he decided to produce a prototype, non-fiction Ladybird book, aimed at the older child. His choice of topic was one that interested him personally – British birds – and he wrote the text himself. His mother-in-law and wife, both talented amateur artists, were asked to produce the illustrations.

A weekly magazine, each John Bull cover illustration took several weeks to complete and provided a steady income stream at a time where commercial illustration was more perilous employment than most. However, Lampitt enjoyed other successful relationships with other companies, including for Medici cards, Readers Digest, Look and Learn magazine and the Whitbread calendar. Although born in the West Country, Lampitt lived most of his life in Sidcup and loved the Kent countryside. He was a good friend of Roland and Edith Hilder, who had previously illustrated ‘Wild Flowers’ for Ladybird, and together they formed a sketching club, going out for long walks in the countryside around Shoreham, armed with sketch pads.

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Frank Hampson created the character of Dan Dare and was at the forefront of The Eagle magazine for many years. The hedges are mostly of single species – hawthorn waiting for its May blossom – interspersed with trees. These are elms. For many years I have been collecting original artwork, artefacts and stories about these artists and their world and I am delighted that The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge has given me the opportunity to share this fascinating story for the first time. You can see more of Ronald Lampitt’s work, along with other Ladybird book ‘golden-age’ artists, at the exhibition The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Book Artists Ronald Lampitt saw all this and recorded it for Treasure Magazine. It can be dated, just by what it shows, to a February day in the late 50s [the picture was published in 1963 but may have been produced a few years earlier] but the details it includes show the past and present of this small farm and hints at its future.”

This is the story which is being told for the first time in Kent this summer at the Ladybird Artists exhibition at The Beaney in Canterbury. Even where the machines themselves are invisible their presence is felt: the sheep are hemmed in by square bales of straw, providing some shelter from the winter winds. This is the story which was told for the first time in Kent this summer at the Ladybird Artists exhibition in Canterbury and has sinced travelled to different locations around the country. It is still touring. Although born in Worcester, he adopted Kent as his home, living in Sidcup for 50 years, until his death in 1988. The Kent countryside figures prominently in his art and illustration and at weekends he used to go out sketching with his friend, artist Rowland Hilder who was a Kent native. However, he also illustrated railway posters in the 1950s and 60s for destination including Bexhill-on-Sea, Harlech Castle and St Michael's Mount in Cornwall.

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Initially I wanted to find out more about the history behind the books, which itself is a remarkable story. The company that was to become a phenomenon in children’s publishing had an unlikely start as a diverse local print and stationery business in Loughborough, Leicestershire. came across these 1950’s John Bull magazines with covers illustrated by Lampitt. They exemplify his Betjemanesque vision of an England Ronald never got that 'proper job'. Self-taught as an artist, he began to take on work as a commercial illustrator. Shortly before the war, in 1938, he married Mona Deverson, six years his junior. What to Look for Outside a Church by P. J. Hunt. Loughborough, Wills & Hepworth (Ladybird Books), 1972. Ronald never got that ‘proper job’. Self-taught as an artist, he began to take on work as a commercial illustrator. Shortly before the war, in 1938, he married Mona Deverson, six years his junior.