Words by Garrick Webster

Yorkshire Tea is a brand that stands out in the market for its quality, and for its packaging. Whereas other options often come in flat coloured boxes – red, or gold, for instance – the Yorkshire Tea box is a work of art – literally. You can put the kettle on and pore over a finely painted scene in the Dales, with details as subtle as the spots of lichen on the dry-stone wall.

Image ©Turner Duckworth

This beautiful imagery was painted by the leading British wildlife illustrator Andrew Hutchinson back in 2011. With its tag line ‘Let’s have a proper brew’, Yorkshire Tea is a brand that prides itself on doing things properly, so when the time came to refresh the product’s packaging, branding agency Turner Duckworth turned to Andrew once again. He’s a Yorkshireman himself, but more importantly the agency knew they could rely on Andrew for his attention to detail.

“The brief for this job was to refresh the existing design without spoiling an already popular image. Because of this, any alterations had to be made very subtly. The idea was to give each of the variations of Yorkshire Tea – Decaf, Hard Water and the Original – its own unique identity,” says Andrew.

Image ©Turner Duckworth

Image ©Turner Duckworth

Fine tuning the product range

To achieve this, Andrew was commissioned to paint small additions and alterations to the original artwork based on the box colour for each product in the range. The Original box has a red surround, while Decaf is blue and the Hard Water box is colour coded green. Freshly painted elements using these highlight colours would be digitally inserted into the scene to create three separate variants of the same original artwork.

“For Decaf, blue bells, a blue rucksack and flask and a blue tit were chosen, whereas for the Hard Water, green ivy and a green tractor tie in with the colour theme. And variations were made in the foreground of each box by replacing the lamb with a different one on the Decaf and with rabbits on the Hard Water,” says Andrew.

He continues: “Only a couple of tiny alterations were made to the Original box – a cricket ball and a robin. Customers do study these images very closely and I think part of the idea was to give them some new elements to look for.”

Andrew paints traditionally using acrylic on a hot press watercolour board, which seems to suite the ‘proper’ theme perfectly. The artwork was then scanned by his wife, Louise, before being sent on to the designers at the agency as digital files.

The original landscape is an idealised, non-specific setting in Yorkshire, which Andrew imagined based on his knowledge of the countryside in the county. For the refresh, Turner Duckworth suggested a list of elements to incorporate into each of the three variant boxes, but were open to Andrew’s suggestions, particularly on the wildlife.

Reflecting life in the Dales

“One of the elements they were keen to incorporate was a tractor in each image, reflecting the relevant brand colour,” he says. “Another aspect that the designers were keen to change was the cricket pitch. So, while the original box has a village cricket match in progress, the Hard Water design has dog walkers and hikers crossing the pitch and on the Decaf box there is a tractor mower doing some pitch maintenance.”

Consistency was key. Firstly, the tone of the original artwork had to be maintained across the new additions, so the lighting and colour had to be perfect. “I hope the warmth of the colours and intimacy of the design creates this comfortable feel,” says Andrew.

Secondly, everything had to be painted at the same size as the original artwork, one quarter up. For example, Andrew couldn’t paint the tractors at A4 or A3 size then reduce them down – the brush strokes needed to match those across the entire scene. This meant the vehicles were painted no larger than a thumbnail.

“Although I am a miniature painter, something like an ivy leaf, a bluebell and even some of the figures were so small I could not have done them without using a large magnifying lens,” says Andrew. “I particularly enjoyed working on the ivy that drapes over the wall of the Hard Water box and was particularly pleased that it sat so well in the picture.”

As with the original brief all those years ago, the collaborative process was supportive and open-minded, and once Andrew’s roughs had been approved, the designers at Turner Duckworth trusted him to get on with the painting.

Naturally, Andrew himself enjoys a cuppa while he paints. “I drink Yorkshire Tea and always have a brew when I am working. Tea-time usually starts at 10:30 when everything stops for Ken Bruce’s Popmaster quiz,” he says. “I was delighted with this job and it’s always a special thrill when you see your artwork on the supermarket shelves.”

There’s an Easter Egg in the artwork for nature lovers as well. Look carefully and you’ll be able to spot a tiny little stoat in one of the panels – Andrew’s signature and a personal touch that the designers loved. The new box art will be rolled out during 2026.

Read more on this project on the Turner Duckworth website.