A Kentish lass

An oast house

Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus Archive

Oast is oast

I was born in Egerton. I lived on a farm, we had cows, crops and fruit. We had an Oast house, my dad used to sleep in there when the hops were being dried to keep the fire lit.  They used brimstone to keep it going.

Picking hops

We didn't have hop pickers but they did on the next farm. They used to come down from London and they stayed in the 'hopping huts'. They'd cook on a fire outside and have a sing-song.

Farmtastic

The farm house was big and cold, there was a big kitchen with a stone floor. There was a well, a washhouse  and a copper to heat the water.  A few years ago I went back, it is still a farm.

Baking day

Every Friday was baking day, mum made cakes and put hundreds and thousands on top. Mum was a good cook, she taught once a week in the local school. I can't make puff pastry like she could, she made cream horns. We grew Victoria plums - our looked like pears. You can't get cherries like you used to.