The Hop Farm Country Park
The Hop Farm Family Park is a 400-acre (1.6 km2) Country Park in Beltring, near East Peckham in Kent, England, is over 450 years old, and has the largest collection of oast houses in the world.
Until 1997 The hop farm was known as The Whitbread Hop Farm and was owned by the Whitbread brewery. Originally a working farm, the brewery opened it up to visitors and it proved a popular attraction.
As Whitbread were seeking to move out of the brewing trade, they began looking for new owners in the 1990s.
In 1997, Mohamed Al-Fayed wanted to buy The Hop Farm to stable his Shire horses, and another rival wanted it for a rare breeds centre, but Brent and Fiona Pollard were successful in their purchase, at a cost of 2 million pounds (beating their nearest rival by £5000). Unfortunately, due to mis-management, the business was in trouble; turnover was around £700,000 a year and in 1995 losses were £1.5 million. In their first year the Pollands reduced staff from 50 to 14 and suffered a drought, floods, a gas pipeline installation and the outbreak of foot and mouth disease. However they broke even, and in subsequent years their profits grew. In 2006, The Hop Farm was sold to Kent Attractions Ltd and in 2007 sold again to Peter Bull. In 2012, The Hop Farm underwent radical management restructure in an effort to halt a five-year slide in visitor numbers, however in 2013 the company went into liquidation. It was later rescued by another company from within The Hop Farm group of companies.
A life-size recreation of a period village with street scenes, shops and genuine artefacts on display from the Victorian era to the 1970s.
Based upon the farm's original use to produce hops, the museum is located in the park's collection of oast houses and features exhibits and a film about growing and harvesting hops.
The main event was the annual War and Peace Show. First put on in 1982, it has grown to be the largest military vehicle show in the world, with 10,000 enthusiasts and over 3,500 vehicles attending. It moved to Folkestone Race Course, only to return in 2017 to it's natural home at The Hop Farm.
...
Wikipedia