The Garden of England

Kent is known as the Garden of England because it produces a lot of the fruit and vegetables which are eaten all over the country. The soil and climate make ideal growing conditions. It is also the main area for growing another kind of fruit called hops. You cannot eat them because they are very bitter, but they are an important flavouring for Britain's most popular alcoholic drink - beer! It is said that they also have medicinal properties, and local people sometimes put them in their pillows to sleep on as a cure for headaches!

The hop plants grow up poles and along an overhead framework like vines. The fruit is harvested in early autumn, and in the past people used to come from London in large numbers to pick hops. They often used to come in family groups and stay in specially organized accommodation.

They did not think it was hard work, for it was like a holiday with pay. Nowadays, most people in the area have jobs which include paid holidays, so it is not such a popular activity. And, as you might expect, a machine has been invented that will do the job!

Near the hop gardens are the oast-houses in which the hops are dried. They are of a very unusual design and are a very familiar sight in Kent.

These days, farmers have found that it is more economical to dry the hops in factories. Many of the oast-houses have been converted into fashionable houses.

Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, Gillian White: Spotlight on Britain; Oxford University Press, 1985, page 32

Kent is known as the Garden of England. Which area of your country do you think could be called its garden?