Oast houses in Ickham

Oast houses can be seen all over Kent. They were built to dry hops which are grown in this area and were used in the beer making process. Once hops have been picked they need to be dried on the same day. The hops would be taken to the oast house and laid on a lattice floor with a fire underneath it so they would dry out. The top part of the oast house is like a mobile chimney with a wind vane which allows it to turn thus allowing a better 'draw' for the fires.
Most oast houses are now homes, l spoke to a man who lived in one who said that the mechanism that allows the top bit to turn can be quite noisy on a very windy night.
These particular oast houses are in the very pretty village of Ickham, and the extra photos show the decorations on the actual wind vane, l especially like the witch with her cat sitting behind her