Painter and wood-engraver John Nash moved to Essex in 1944 and fell in love with the Stour Valley, which became a source of inspiration in his art. An accomplished printmaker, Nash helped found the Society of Wood Engravers in 1920, and produced a number of woodcut or -engraved book illustrations for Private Press publishers such as the Golden Cockerel Press in the 1920s and 1930s.

Set up in 1945 by Brenda Rawnsley, the School Prints scheme commissioned well-known artists to create lithographs, which would then be printed in large numbers and sold cheaply to schools for display in classrooms; the aim was to give 'school children an understanding of contemporary art'. Each lithograph had a drawn frame so that the print could be pinned to the wall. In the spirit of post-war optimism, artists responded enthusiastically. The scheme was a unique attempt at giving children access to original works of art in a period of austerity but ended in 1949 because of financial problems. Many of the prints depict a familiar world of everyday rural or urban life, some presenting a version of the pastoral idyll and others scenes of entertainment or leisure.