There is going to be a wonderful chance to step back in time when a hop-picking festival comes to Kent in September. Traditionally, a grand knees-up like this would have been held once every year to celebrate the end of the harvest.

The recreation of the traditional festival will be held at the old Whitbread Hop farm which has been a working brewery until very recently and is unmissable with its group of 32 white coned oast houses.

Hops have been grown on the site since the 1570s. Hops are, believe it or not, closely related to cannabis. The plant yields resins and oils and gives beer its bitter taste and distinctive aroma and helps to preserve it. The plants grow on bines which are trained up 10ft-high trellis work of wires and strings.

Hilary Hefferman, a historian who has written three books about the traditions of hop picking said the poor of London looked forward to the hop-picking season all year even though it meant working from 8am to six in the evening everyday. She said this went on until the 1960s and she still meets a lot of people who are eager to talk about those days.

She said: "The amazing thing is they wish it were still happening. It was a holiday because it got them out of the smog and into the clean air of the country. They couldn't afford a break so any break away from the daily grind was welcome."

You can take part in traditional festivities which the hop pickers would have enjoyed, look around the hop garden and pull a hop bine as it would have been done for hundreds of years. If you would like a real, detailed insight into the life of a hop picker it's definitely worth heading for the Hop Story Museum which is a permanent feature of the park.

The two-day festival is a big family day out. There's a Punch and Judy, coconut shy, country games on the lawn, demonstrations by the shire horse which would have been traditionally used to transport beer, as well as a chance to see the animal farm.

Some of Kent's finest ales will be available to sample, along with a rural market selling the finest Kentish wares and you can listen to the old-fashioned Victorian organ music the hop pickers would have enjoyed.

August 14, 2001 11:32