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Thread: In the Hop Garden

  1. #191
    Pub researcher (unpaid) rpadam's Avatar
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    Default Hedgerow hops

    Of course, hops don't restrict themselves to hop gardens, and wild - or perhaps feral - hops abound in many hedgerows (and now growing vigorously).
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    Many hedgerow hops are male, unlike the ones with the cones in the hop gardens which are all female, and historically these self-sown plants would have been removed by local growers since unseeded hops could command a premium.
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    However, there can be serendipity here too, such as the new variety of wild hop discovered in Sussex and now used by Harvey's for one of its brews: Wild Hop.

  2. #192
    This Space For Hire Wittenden's Avatar
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by rpadam View Post
    However, there can be serendipity here too, such as the new variety of wild hop discovered in Sussex and now used by Harvey's for one of its brews: Wild Hop.
    I think this was selected by Mr Cyster of Northiam, a well known hop grower,from material growing in a hedge that bordered a former garden. The same remarks apply to Epic hops, selected in Sandhurst by the Nicholas family.https://www.charlesfaram.co.uk/product/epic/
    "At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.

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    My local micro brewer has started doing a series of one hop beers as he has found it easier to get hops due to the lack of breweries brewing.Might this affect the prices of this years hops?

  4. #194
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    Quote Originally Posted by london calling View Post
    My local micro brewer has started doing a series of one hop beers as he has found it easier to get hops due to the lack of breweries brewing.Might this affect the prices of this years hops?
    My neighbour is going around with a face full of chisels,so probably yes.
    "At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.

  5. #195
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    Default A bit unusual, and the very odd?

    This unusual oast is currently under conversion (albeit paused by the current plague...), with a pair of former kilns featuring 'modern' (as in mid-20th century) longitudinal ridge vents. Old maps and 1949 aerial photographs also show a roundel at the back, but that seems to be long gone, and whatever the final result looks like, it certainly won't be of the picture postcard variety.
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    So, a bit unusual, but nothing like as odd as what can be found further back and off to one side of the same site…
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    This very undistinguished 1950s(?) concrete portal frame building, stripped right back to the basic structural elements, is also under conversion to residential use, but what was it? The answer is the hop-picking machine shed, but one wonders what the future owner would make of its humble origins, having paid a £zillion for the privilege?
    Last edited by rpadam; 08-05-2020 at 09:44.

  6. #196
    This Space For Hire Wittenden's Avatar
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    Thought at first the 2nd was a "Conder" grain store, especially with the cockloft,but on reflection they were usually of monocoque (?) construction rather than portal frame, and so virtually impossible to convert. We are seeing some weird and wonderful developments!
    "At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.

  7. #197
    Pub researcher (unpaid) rpadam's Avatar
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    Default Mathurst Farm

    Quote Originally Posted by Wittenden View Post
    Thought at first the 2nd was a "Conder" grain store, especially with the cockloft,but on reflection they were usually of monocoque (?) construction rather than portal frame, and so virtually impossible to convert. We are seeing some weird and wonderful developments!
    Here are the sale particulars: Mathurst Farm Oast and Hop Picking Machine Shed.

  8. #198
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    Default Hop pickers' accommodation

    We have had hop pickers' huts before (see post 131), but how have things changed over time?
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    The ones shown in (1) and (2) are of the most basic tin shed variety - it seems incredible now that a whole family would share each section of these for a few weeks every September, even until relatively recently in some places.
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    Some farms had huts at least partly built of brick or block, such as the lighter ones shown in (3), and remarkably still used by families of former hop pickers as annual holiday accommodation until a couple of years ago (long after the associated hop gardens had disappeared). However, despite appearances, those shown in (4) are actually tin sheds, albeit with brick frontages added in the 1970s to smarten them up a bit. On the other hand, the brick building shown behind the trees in (5) is much older, being a Grade II hop-pickers' kitchen dating back to Victorian times. So what about today?
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    These contemporary 'mobile' homes shown in (5) are still used by hop pickers at harvest time... so progress?

  9. #199
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    Default Abraham Darby look away now...

    Ponds like these abound in the higher ground along the Kent / East Sussex border, wherever you walk through the orchards (and mostly former) hop gardens.
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    They are typically found on sandstone outcrops, mined for ironstone, and together with the (then) ample supply of timber for making charcoal and wooden carriages, plus plenty of streams for the hammer mills, this area was renown for making cannons for the Royal Navy from Tudor times.

    So the High Weald was the first beating heart of industrial Britain - sorry Coalbrookdale!

  10. #200
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    Default Rural oddities?

    You do see some odd things when out and about on one's once-a-day exercise, including these two exceptional items of vital 'street furniture' on two country footpaths...
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    So, (1) a 'kissing gate' for those really wanting a kiss, and (2) a stile for those really needing a step up?
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    And, on the edges of playing fields, perhaps (3) should be sub-titled "Dun Rollin'" and what on earth is the kit shown in (4)?

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