HAIL THE HOP HARVEST!

WALKING AND GOOD ALE go together rather beautifully, and rarely more so than in September because it’s the hop harvest. Nowhere is it more of a thing than in Kent, whose hops have been the secret ingredient at the heart of great ales since the 16th century.

So this month CW salutes hops, hop festivals (the biggest being Faversham, 1-2 September) and oast houses: the cone-shaped, cowltopped kilns that were used across Kent (and other counties, but famously Kent) for drying out hops. Here are three of special interest…

OLDEST OAST:

The oast at Godwin House near Cranbrook (inset) is thought to be Britain’s earliest surviving oast house, dating back to the early 16th century. You can even stay in it: www.godwinhouse.co.uk

WORKING OAST:

Very few are still working, but one is at Scotney Castle, near Tunbridge Wells. Here the National Trust runs a traditional hop farm (with a September hop and honey festival) using an oast house for drying. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/scotney-castle

AMAZING OAST:

Caring Wood in Maidstone won 2017 RIBA House of the Year, and was inspired by oast houses. Grand Designs legend Kevin McCloud (a keen walker, as it happens) said it looked like “a collection of oast houses on steroids”. bit.ly/caringwood

VINTAGE INDUSTRY The famous triple oast at Great Dixter near Rye. Hops were laid on the floor of the oast, to be dried by a fire beneath the floor. The heat would then be drawn out through the cowl by the wind.