Hop Farm

The Hop Farm Family Park is a 400acre Country Park in Beltring, near East Peckham in Kent, England, is over 450 years old, and has the largest collection of oast houses in the world.HistoryUntil 1997 The hop farm was known as The Whitbread Hop Farm and was owned by the Whitbread brewery. Originally a working farm, the brewery opened it up to visitors and it proved a popular attraction.As Whitbread were seeking to move out of the brewing trade, they began looking for new owners in the 1990s.In 1997, Mohamed Al-Fayed wanted to buy The Hop Farm to stable his Shire horses, and another rival wanted it for a rare breeds centre, but Brent and Fiona Pollard were successful in their purchase, at a cost of 2 million pounds (beating their nearest rival by £5000). Unfortunately, due to mis-management, the business was in trouble; turnover was around £700,000 a year and in 1995 losses were £1.5 million. In their first year the Pollands reduced staff from 50 to 14 and suffered a drought, floods, a gas pipeline installation and the outbreak of foot and mouth disease. However they broke even, and in subsequent years their profits grew. In 2006, The Hop Farm was sold to Kent Attractions Ltd and in 2007 sold again to Peter Bull. In 2012, The Hop Farm underwent radical management restructure in an effort to halt a five-year slide in visitor numbers, however in 2013 the company went into liquidation. It was later rescued by another company from within The Hop Farm group of companies.