Mereworth, a settlement listed in the Domesday Book, is found in the heart of Kent. Dating back 500 years, Mereworth boasts a long association with fruit and hop growing, with some of the first hops in the country planted here. Brewer’s Hall used to be a working farm and our Oast itself would have been filled with pickers bringing in hops from the fields to be dried, cooled and pressed, whilst apples were collected from the neighbouring orchards. It is reported that George Orwell was even amongst the hundreds of pickers to have graced our oast, in its former days of preparing the ingredients for many of England’s finest drinks. With the scaling down of hop-growing in recent years, Kent has now made a name for itself with its suitability for viticulture – it seems the future is in grapes!