Best of British week: Ladybird prints

As regular Wee Birdy readers will know, I'm a sucker for childhood nostalgia, and the new Ladybird prints are no exception. My family spent some time in England before I was born, so by the time I came around my mum had collected a considerable library of Ladybird books. As a toddler I loved the books from the 1970 "Learning with Mother" series, and many of the illustrations by Ethel and Harry Wingfield spark some of my earliest and most vivid memories.



The illustrations are unique in that they not only reflect the new-ish approach to creative play with children, they also superbly capture the quintessential style of British middle-class domestic life in the late '60s and early '70s. And I love that so many of the activities they championed (like hanging shelled pea-pods on a line or rowing cardboard box-boats) were original, imaginative and inexpensive. It's not surprising so many other Generation X bloggers, now parents themselves, are going nuts for the new full-colour prints and canvases available online from the Ladybird archives.

For me, so many of the illustrations resonate strongly in my memory. I have no idea how many times I pored over illustrations like this, pointing out particular details to my mum and no doubt replicating the same activities ourselves. But I'm pretty sure I've hung my fair share of pea pods in my time.



Prices for full-colour prints start at £7.50.