The Grove Farmyard

John Aldridge 1905 - 1983

Summary

A farmyard with gate and ramshackle fence in foreground, farmyard buildings and farmhouse on the left, trees and open land to the right. Grove Farm is in Great Bardfield in the Essex countryside where John Aldridge moved in 1933. He lived next door to the artist Edward Bawden (with whom he collaborated in designing 'Bardfield' wallpapers) and close to artist Eric Ravilious. Aldridge's interest in rural places was in part a reaction to the rapidly expanding cities of the modern world. Aldridge celebrated the importance of locality and recorded Grove Farm on the eve of the Second World War.