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Stage 1 - Grosvenor Rocks
Stage 2 - Marnock Lake
Stage 3 - The Swimming Pool
Stage 4 - The Hub
Stage 5 - The Wetlands
Stage 6 - Folly Shaw
Stage 7 - Roundabout Wood
Stage 8 - The Community Orchard
Stage 9 - The Oast House
Stage 10 - Our Lost History

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Oast houses were first documented in the 17th century, with early versions adapted from barns. By the 18th century these had developed into the distinctive tall buildings with conical roofs, found in Kent and Sussex. At first the kiln roofs were square, then conical in the belief that this was more efficient.

Hops were introduced into Kent at the end of the 15th century, probably from Flanders. Using hops in beer improves the taste, balancing sweetness with bitterness and adding other flavours, and they also have an antibacterial effect. Their cultivation expanded rapidly, and the 19th century was the golden age of the hop industry.

The hops are the flowers or seed cones of Humulus lupulus, a vigorous climbing herbaceous perennial plant. Only female plants are commercially cultivated, and they are grown in a 'hop garden', with shoots twining up wires attached to poles (usually chestnut).

The plants start to flower on side shoots in late June, reaching their full height towards the end of July. Hops are harvested in September, when the whole hop bine, including the string, is cut down and the seed cones are separated. Freshly picked 'green' hops have a moisture content of some 80%, which needs reducing to about 10%.

Drying the hops takes 10-15 hours and they need moving periodically to aerate them, with a wide flat wooden paddle. Once dried, the hops were moved to the barn section for cooling, then packed into 'pockets' and stored, before being sold to breweries.

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As Tunbridge Wells grew more housing was needed and the Dorking Charity Estate began selling land for development. The railway came through Charity Farm in 1845, cutting two fields in half. In 1887 John Stone-Wigg brought 4 acres, which became part of Grosvenor Recreation Ground. Over the next two years further land was sold, becoming Rochdale Road, Auckland Road, Stanhope Road, Vernon Road and Dorking Road. By 1897 much of the farm had been lost to housing.

As more housing was built near the farm, the local population increased, causing challenges for the tenant farmers. Reports in the Kent & Sussex Courier show theft, wilful damage, trespassing, poaching and assault. It wasn't all bad news, as once the hay was harvested the fields were used for events. St Barnabas school held children's parties and there were cricket matches.

In 1930 Councillor Edward Jeffrey Strange bought part of the farm and offered to donate 18 1/2 acres (7.5 ha) to the Borough Council as an extension to Grosvenor Recreation Ground. Then in 1931 he offered to sell the council an additional 6.6 (2.67 ha) acres of land. This included the 2.2 acres (0.89 ha) that now form Charity Farm allotments on King George V Hill.

Cllr Strange donated another 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land in 1936, to improve the Hilbert Road entrance, which included the original farmhouse and the oast house. The farmhouse is on Hilbert Road and this Grade II listed timber-framed house is one of the oldest in Tunbridge Wells. This final gift of land brought the total extent of Hilbert to 26 acres (10.5 ha).

The last tenant of the farm was Mary Ann Copper, who left in 1936 and a long tradition of farming on the site came to an end. The oast house remains as a link to this agricultural past.

Plans for the development of Hilbert included botanical gardens, children's playgrounds, football and cricket pitches, a model yacht lake and tennis courts. But due to poor economic conditions in the 1930s and post-war austerity, Hilbert Recreation Ground was never formally laid out, apart from the paths and the football pitches.