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Paddock Wood
Paddock Wood photos
Displaying the first of 23 old photos of Paddock Wood. View all Paddock Wood photos
Paddock Wood maps
Historic maps of Paddock Wood and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Paddock Wood maps
Paddock Wood area books
Displaying 1 of 24 books about Paddock Wood and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Paddock Wood
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Paddock Wood.
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Paddock Wood Huts
Not sure how long I went with my grandparents, then when they passed away my parents, but I was born in 1941 and I know we were still going there until we migrated to Australia in 1961. We 'lived' in the first hut on the right as we walked over a small bridge onto the common, double storey, and mattresses of straw which I think was provided to fill the 'ticks'. I can remember 'The Brown Brothers', jumping into bales of straw and getting scratched which stung like blazes when we went to the communal showers every night. We used to walk through the back of the common to the Medway with our fishing sticks. I remember the canteen where of a night everyone would congregate and buy a cuppa from Sid and his wife (I'm not sure of his wife's name, it could be Hazel) and talk about what they picked that day. Our 'kitchens' where we cooked in iron pots hanging from a steel rod in a big... Read more
Hop Picking
I too remember as a child visiting Paddock Wood with my nan, every year we would all pile into the back of a lorry and set of to the hop field. What wonderful memories, days I will never forget. We all came from Chiswick. Is there anybody else out there from the Chiswick area who went hop picking? If so, get in touch, thanks.
My Road
The year i was born in this road. 119 Maidstone Road, the Woods residence. Side by side next to my granparents fish & chip shop. I always remember that the house to right of the phone box was always deralicet? Did something happen in that house?
Hop Picking
Paddock Wood, in particular Beltring, the home of the famous Whitebread Oasts, was the centre of the Hop Gardens of Kent.
The Gardens were set out with rows of elevated wire tressles which were supported at intervals by poles.
In the spring, from each hop plant, which was cut back to ground level every year, the shoots were trained up, known as "twiddling". A new hop twine which was tied to a metal hook in the ground up to the overhead wire. There were usually four shoots per plant. By midsummer's day the shoots would reach the wire and flop over the top.
In early September the hops would be ready for picking.
Hop picking in Kent was carried out mainly by London families that came down for a working holiday. Some farms had hop pickers' huts in the Hop Gardens for the use of these families. Some families used to bring their own wallpaper to make it their own "home". Cooking and heating water was carried out on... Read more
Kent memories
Family Holidays
My grandparents lived in Brenchley for many years, and all our summer holidays in the 1950s and 1960s were spent there. We lived in London so I really looked forward to the summer! My grandparents lived near Castle Hill, and on the last evening of the holiday we all used to go to the Castle pub, my brother and I sat outside and drank lemonade and packets of crisps. Sometimes my father would go and watch the cricket, my grandparents' cottage was opposite the field! My brother and I went back for a visit 2 years ago, we stayed at the Bull, it was like going back in time.
Cherry Picking
I have great memories of Matfield Green. My mum and dad would pack up all our kit, put it into a large van then we would be taken from Lewes in East Sussex to the cherry orchard in Matfield Green. The cherry orchard was on the Crittenden Road just up from the owner's house which was Mr Thomsett. We had great adventures there and I will never forget them, like swimming naked in Matfield Green pond which had a little island in the middle. My father passed away June just gone so I am going to go to Matfield Green to have another look at the orchard but I know the cherry trees have gone and it's just a field, but I will always remember Mr Charly King driving around the orchard to pick up our picked cherries. The families there were the Arnolds (us), the the Harrises, the Carters and lots more, but I cannot remember them all. There was also Paul the German, and I remember the milkman... Read more
Hop Fields
Horsmonden - the end of my hop picking days. I was born in east London 1939 and hop picking was four weeks in the country, camp fire cooking in the evening, a sing along and down to the Gun or the Town House on Saturday evening. Then came 1960 and I was called up for National Service spending two years away.
I have now retired and acquired a PC. I have found the internet to which I am
new to and found your site. Lots of memories came flooding back and I can
find a use for some spare time. Thank you for a new interest.
Brian
