The Weald.
The second-largest parish and the one most likely to turn a meet into a tasting, on the grounds that they are surrounded by people who make things worth tasting.
The ground it covers.
Kent, East and West Sussex and the Surrey edge of the ridge. The boundary follows the landscape rather than the county line, which is why it looks wrong on an administrative map and right on a soil one.
It meets third Wednesday of the month, 7.30pm. A hop-drying oast near Goudhurst from May to September, and a scout hut in Tonbridge for the rest of the year.
Frances Otter is the warden. Third-generation hop grower. Runs the parish the way she runs a hop yard, which is briskly. The wardenship is unpaid, was not appointed by us, and can only be ended by the parish itself.
- 2,640
- members
- July 2024
- opened
- Third Wednesday of the month
- cadence
The details.
The parish
- Ground
- Kent, East and West Sussex and the Surrey edge of the ridge
- Members
- 2,640Register at 30 August 2026.
- Rank by size
- 2 of 12
- Opened
- July 2024
- Cadence
- Third Wednesday of the month, 7.30pm
- Venue
- A hop-drying oast near Goudhurst from May to September, and a scout hut in Tonbridge for the rest of the year
The warden
- Warden
- Frances OtterA volunteer member, not staff, and not paid.
- Day job
- Third-generation hop grower. Runs the parish the way she runs a hop yard, which is briskly.
- Confirmed by
- The parish, at a meet
- Can be stood down by
- The parish, at a meetNot by us. That is deliberate.
Everything on this page is the parish’s own, published by its warden. We host it and we do not write it.
What it actually does.
Hop yard visits
Three a year during picking. Members walk the yard and are then made to smell things.
Vineyard swaps
The Weald has more vineyards than any other parish and they compare notes with the cider people.
Orchard grafting day
February, in a barn, with a professional grafter and eighty rootstocks.
Bulk buys
The parish placed a joint order for netting last spring and saved about eleven per cent between forty members.
The next three things in the diary.
Published by the warden. If it says nothing is in the diary, nothing is in the diary.
Monthly meet — hop picking
Goudhurst oast, 7.30pm. The last one in the oast before it goes back to Tonbridge.
Monthly meet
Scout hut, Tonbridge, 7.30pm.
Grafting day
Eighty rootstocks, twenty places, first come.
Who runs it.
One volunteer and a register. There is no third layer.
Frances Otter
Third-generation hop grower. Runs the parish the way she runs a hop yard, which is briskly.
The parish
2,640 members, of whom about thirty-one come to any given meet, which is a completely respectable turnout for anything.
What members of this parish said.
It is the only room I have ever been in where four people argued about hop varieties for an hour and nobody was bored.
I read the minutes, I have used the lending list twice and I have never been to a meet. Nobody has ever made me feel odd about that.
Not in this one?
Placement is by postcode and moving takes a tap. Twelve parishes, all free.
