National Hop Collection Moves Home

national hop collection

The National Hop Collection, which preserves historic varieties of hops and provides the resources to breed new varieties, is to expand after moving to a larger garden with support from Britain’s oldest brewer, Shepherd Neame

The collection was originally established at Wye College in Kent, but after the college’s closure in 2007, it moved to land provided by Shepherd Neame at Queen Court Farm in Ospringe, near its historic brewery in Faversham.
It was accredited as a National Hop Collection in 2010, and has grown significantly during the past 14 years, so more space was needed. A new site at Homestall Farm in Faversham was identified, owned by local hop grower Antony Redsell, and after months of preparation the move took place on Thursday April 27 2023.

The relocation project has been led by Dr Peter Darby, who founded Wye Hops which oversees the collection, holding the position of Director of Research until his retirement in 2020.
Dr Darby led a team of 10 in moving the collection to Homestall Farm, including Wye Hops’ new Director of Research Klara Hajdu and Farm Manager Peter Laslett. Once all the hop plants were at the garden, they laid them out in lines, noting the variety and position, and then put them in the ground before covering them in mulch to suppress the weeds. New strings will now be put in place reaching upwards from the ground to horizontal wires across the field, so the hop bines can grow up them over the coming months.

Dr Darby said: “I am incredibly proud of everything we have achieved with the collection, so when the opportunity arose to move it to a bigger site where it could be enlarged and improved, I wanted to get involved as it felt like a fitting way to finish my work with Wye Hops.
“We were grateful to receive such generous support from Shepherd Neame, which pledged not only to fund the move but to continue providing a significant annual contribution to its establishment and maintenance for at least the next five years.”

Due to the additional room available at Homestall Farm, the collection has already been able to expand from 250 to approximately 360 historic varieties of hops, mostly British varieties, with its oldest, the Golding, dating from 1790.
The collection has four plants of each variety, placed in pairs in different places so if there is an issue in one area of the garden which could cause damage to one set, the other set will hopefully remain safe.

More information about the National Hop Collection is available HERE