And welcome back everyone….

2020 really has been the hardest of years for schools and the pre-school sector so it is very positive news that children are starting to return to their classrooms this Autumn.

Whilst schools, teachers and parents have gone to a huge effort to make sure children continued to achieve through this most difficult period, there is nothing to beat that feeling of learning together, plus the camaraderie and friendships that grow from this collective environment.

We applaud all your hard work over the last months and now too, with the huge amount of effort involved, in getting the children safely back to school.  The last thing you all need is extra work and stress!

So for this reason we have redesigned our whole School Tea Towel and Giftware service to make it as simple and easy as possible to use.

Once you have all settled back in it could be a very nice time to celebrate this feeling of togetherness again with a school tea towel or any other of our lovely giftware products and bring a smile to everyone’s faces.

Thank you for all your hard work and efforts on behalf of our nation’s children – you are wonderful – every one of you!

Best wishes and good luck everyone from the whole Countryside Art Team.

Firstly a little about us

Back in 1975 Countryside Art were the first company to have the idea of printing school children’s drawings on to tea towels when the pupils of Eresby Special School in Spilsby used to visit our first workshops for design and printing work experience.  (If you would like to see more about this period in our company’s history you can read about it on our ‘About Us’ page).

Now over 45 years later Countryside Art is well established as the UK’s leading supplier of top quality giftware to many of the country’s top organisations such as National Trust. The British Museum, Cadbury, Chatsworth House, Royal National Lifeboat Institution…we could list hundreds more.

We’ve been relentlessly copied ever since by other companies but our school tea towels plus our other superb quality school giftware products still remain ‘The Original & Best’

We approach every aspect of the production of our school giftware with exactly the same care and attention we provide to all our top customers.  For instance, one day our designers will be working on a new design project for The British Museum, the next day preparing your full colour bag design for print. 

Producing a tea towel, or any of our other best-selling products, is a great project in which to involve the whole school. 

This is all you need to do

Step 1: Send off for as many artwork kits as you need for your project.

Step 2: Follow the easy instructions contained in the kit to create your design (kit instructions are also available in the ‘Downloads’ section of the website as well as the order form, choice of borders and price list). 

Step 3: Return your completed order form and design/s in the same box.  Let us know if you want to receive a visual, or bypass that stage then leave the rest to us.

Step 4: We will confirm receipt of your order (send a visual if requested) and then in a short time dispatch your beautiful, top quality, school giftware to sell to all your happy parents and children.  We invoice you when the goods are despatched and then you have 30 days to pay.

Sounds simple – and it is!

Throughout every stage of the process our very helpful Sales Team and Designers are on hand to assist with any queries you may have.  So please do call us on   01790 754 806, email sales@countrysideart.co.uk, or get in touch via our Contact Page – we are always happy to help in any way we can. 

We have also included a list of FAQs covering the main questions we are asked. 

How To Use Our School Artwork Kit

It is very easy and we’ve produced a video on how to use our artwork kit involving the kind assistance from one of our local schools, Halton Holgate C of E Primary School. 

Specific Colours

If you have a specific colour we are very happy to mix to individual pantone colours or match by eye to supplied swatches or items such as school uniform colours etc.

Please ask our Sales Team for advice

Our tea towels are superb quality, colour-fast and will last and last.  Our reproduction of the children’s artwork is very accurate to their original drawings as we are experts in holding on to every last detail. 

We produce single colour and full colour tea towels on top quality bleached 100% cotton which is woven to our exacting specifications and finished here in the UK (sewn size 48cm by 76cm approx.) 

We have a wide selection of decorative borders in single and full colour to choose from which are available as a downloadable pdf and also shown above this page too. 

 The maximum number of drawings per tea towel is 300.

We know these tea towels are an item which are treasured and held on to for years.  We have been sent back tea towels from as far back as the early 80s and they are still looking really good despite often being used a great deal.  We are now printing the artwork from the grandchildren of pupils we featured on our original school tea towels. 

Light-weight Flat & Gusseted Calico Bags

Very useful calico shopping bags made from 150gsm unbleached calico - great for slipping in a coat pocket or car glove compartment.  Both bags feature medium length handles for carrying by your side or slipping over your shoulder.

Never be caught shopping without an eco-friendly bag again – the kids will be proud of you!

Available with single colour or full colour printing.

Printed one side as standard or can be printed both sides for a small additional cost.

All the decorative borders featured above can be used for all these bags.

Light-weight Calico Bags – Single Colour

Flat & gusseted bags – available in unbleached calico only 

Top Left – low cost gusseted unbleached calico bag – printed one side only

Size: 37cm by 37cm with a 9cm gusset approx. and medium length calico handles (58cm long approx.)

Maximum number of drawings (one side only) 110

Bottom Right – low cost flat unbleached calico bag – printed one side only

Size: 38cm by 38cm approx. with medium length calico handles (58cm long approx.)

Maximum number of drawings (one side only) 110

Low Cost Calico Bags – Full Colour

Flat & gusseted bags – available in unbleached calico only 

Top Left – low cost gusseted unbleached calico bag – printed one side only

Size: 37cm by 37cm with a 9cm gusset approx. and medium length calico handles (58cm long approx.)

Maximum number of drawings (one side only) 110

Bottom Right – low cost flat unbleached calico bag – printed one side only

Size: 38cm by 38cm approx. with medium length calico handles (58cm long approx.)

Maximum number of drawings (one side only) 110

Value Gusseted Canvas Shopping Bags

A great value sturdy bleached 10oz canvas bag with medium length handles for carrying by your side or slipping over your shoulder.

We are able to offer these canvas bags at a ‘value’ price because the bags are pre-sewn to our specification by a fully accredited over-seas supplier.  (Details of whom can be seen on our Ethical & Environmental page).

These bags provide a heavier-weight alternative to our light-weight calico bags (also made by the same supplier).

Available with single colour or full colour printing.

Printed one side as standard or can be printed both sides for a small additional cost.

All the decorative borders featured above can be used for all these bags.

Value Gusseted Canvas Shopping Bags – Single & Full Colour

Gusseted bags – available in bleached canvas only  

Top Left – low cost gusseted bleached canvas bag – printed one side only 

Size: 37cm by 37cm with a 10cm gusset approx and medium length canvas handles (58cm long approx.)

Maximum number of drawings (one side only) 110

Heavy-weight Flat & Gusseted Canvas Tote Bags

Our heavy-weight UK-made 10oz canvas flat and gusseted tote bags are amazingly good quality. 

Everyone comments on how lovely they look, how well made they are plus the fact they last for years too.  Made here in or UK-based factory it’s why they are the most eco-friendly of our bags.

These UK-made tote bags are printed on both sides as standard.

With this option it does not cost any more to print either the same design, or different designs, on each side of the bag: these bags are printed as a flat panel and then sewn afterwards in our in-house sewing unit.  

Our UK-made bags are available with both single and full colour printing.

These UK-made bags all now come as standard with medium length heavy-weight cotton webbing handles which can be carried by your side or put over a shoulder – so very useful.  (Please note images depict short handles).

All the decorative borders featured above can be used for all these bags.

Deluxe UK-Made Canvas Bags (Single Colour)

Flat and gusseted bags - available in bleached and unbleached canvas 

Top Left – gusseted canvas bag (bleached version shown) printed both sides as standard 

Size: 37cm wide by 37cm high with a 10cm gusset approx. – with medium webbing handles as standard (58cm long approx. – image is showing short handles)

Bottom Right – flat canvas bag (unbleached version shown)  – printed both sides as standard

Size: 35cm wide by 40cm high approx. – with medium webbing handles as standard (58cm long approx. – image is showing short handles)

Maximum number of drawings per side 110

Deluxe UK-Made Canvas Bags (Full Colour)

Flat and gusseted bags - available in bleached and unbleached canvas 

Top Left – gusseted canvas bag (bleached version shown) printed both sides as standard 

Size: 37cm wide by 37cm high with a 10cm gusset approx. – with medium webbing handles as standard (58cm long approx. – image is showing short handles)

Bottom Right – flat canvas bag (bleached version shown)  – printed both sides as standard

Size: 35cm wide by 40cm high approx. – with medium webbing handles as standard (58cm long approx. – image is showing short handles)

Maximum number of drawings per side 110

Adult & Child Aprons 

Our generously sized adult and child sized aprons feature adjustable neck loops and D rings and are available with single colour or multi-colour prints.

Our aprons are printed on to a heavy-weight 8oz cotton drill in both bleached and unbleached finishes.  

Size Adult Apron: 60cm by 85cm approx

Size Child Apron: 41cm by 66cm approx 

Good news too – we can reduce the one design to fit both adult and child aprons so no need to supply the artwork twice. 

Maximum number of drawings per apron 375 

Left - child apron on 8oz bleached drill

Right - adult apron on 8oz bleached drill 

Left - child apron on 8oz bleached drill

Right - adult apron on 8oz bleached drill 

Calendars

Superb quality full colour A4 spiral bound calendars in full colour – individually presentation bagged

Our calendars are available in either 6 or 12 page formats with a printed front cover and printed on heavy-weight 160gsm paper in full colour. 

With a selection of colourful page layouts to choose from (on our Downloads page), up to three school dates per month can also be added free-of-charge.  We can also add extra sheets with school dates etc if required. 

Supplied individually presentation packed in a clear polypropylene bag. 

Maximum number of drawings per page 30 plus more drawings can be added to the front cover too

Jotter Pads

These are a really popular product with schools coming back year after year for orders 

Available with single colour and now full colour printing too.

Each A6 approx. sized jotter pad contains 100 sheets of 80gsm paper with each sheet printed with the same design.

The jotter pads are available on white or cream paper and are supplied individually presentation packed in a clear polypropylene bag. 

Maximum number of drawings per jotter pad is usually 46 (but up to 60 can be fitted in if required).  Or these jotter pads are also ideal for school logos too.

Bone China Mugs – featuring a selection of different types of designs

Earthenware Mugs – featuring a class and a logo only design

Bone China Mug – featuring the school logo plus an inner rim print