I am passionate about hops and fruit, they have been in my life pretty much since I was born 71 years ago! The many generations of the Levett family have been farming hops and fruit in Kent and Sussex for well over 250 years. I grew up on a hop and fruit farm and spent most of my school holidays helping on my parent's farms. Kent used to be the 'Garden of England' - but sadly no longer. There are less and less of us remaining who have the memories of the great tales and traditions that grew up over time in both those industries.

I graduated from Wye College in Plant Sciences in 1974 and following university I worked on a hop, arable and livestock farm in Worcestershire for a year before returning to Kent to take up a job as a farm manager on 150 acres of hops and fruit.

After 5 years as a farm manager I spent a year in the little known trade of Hop Factoring representing hop growers selling their hops to hop merchants. In 1979 we bought a 25acre fruit farm in Cranbrook in Kent and my wife and I built up the business to 100 acres of apples, pears and cherries, a large farm shop and coffee shop, employing 40 staff. From 2007 I worked for 10 years for the Fruit Advisory Services Team advising fruit growers on all aspects of fruit production.

With our son and daughter-in-law now managing our shops and farms, I have the opportunity, and thoroughly enjoy, giving talks and passing on my 60 years experience and knowledge in the hop and fruit industries, gained over a lifetime's work.

My talks are suitable for a wide range of groups, including U3A, history societies, horticultural groups, farming organisations, home brewing groups and anyone with an interest in how our countryside has changed over the years.

All my fees go to the Motor Neurone Disease Association, one of the most appalling diseases.

TESTIMONIALS

We thoroughly enjoyed your very informative talk - really well researched, well put together, well paced and presented!

Congratulations, very good and well deserved. We thought it was an excellent talk and very informative.

Thank you for your most enjoyable and informative presentation last evening Chris.