Youth Hostel

I remember this Youth Hostel from the early nineteen sixties when my friend Dave Brabham and I cycled from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, via the Tilbury ferry, to Hastings We were only about 13. You could do that back then without your parents being put on some sort of register. Happy, analogue, days...

Looking back difficult to believe that at 14 or 15 cycled all over Cornwall, IOW with a mate. Main thing was the low level of car traffic.... It would be impossible now.

Recently I stumbled across on eBay a postcard that mentioned a Manor near Goudhurst that used to be a Youth Hostel back in the 1960s.
I Stayed in this old house/manor back in September 1965 to early October 1965 with a mixed group (girls/guys) of Aussies, New Zealanders, Canadians, and I think the odd Irish persons as we were all employed to work on one of the local Hop Farms.
Before this all I could remember that the place we stayed in back in 1965 was an incredibly old house with a narrow staircase (which I had to duck my head to go up) which led up to the bedrooms. A community kitchen was downstairs and a lounge nearby.
I can also remember it was a long walk on the weekends from the house to the pub in Goudhurst and the name always stuck with me “Star and Eagle” but getting back was a bit of a stumble and fun when there was a mixed crowd of us.
After a day’s Hop Pulling it was great to get back and crash out or chin wag with fellow travellers.
I got the cushy job of driving the tractor.
Good memories of good days free of hassles and authority

My partner and I stayed there in October 1972 - we had to phone ahead to have the warden open the hostel for us. It was pretty cold, and no one else was staying there, but the warden warned us that there was a poltergeist named Fred, who sometimes broke crockery in the kitchen. At the time we weren't married, and the warden put us as far away as possible from each other, at different ends of the men's and women's dorms. I chose an upper bunk and snuggled under as many blankets as I could muster, but just as I was drifting off to sleep I heard the rattle of chains, and the creaking of a heavy door. I became wide awake with thoughts of ghosts, but when nothing materialized I finally got to sleep, and only the next morning found out that what I heard was the warden letting his dogs out through the heavy oak doors last thing at night. A memorable overnight!