Cowl repairs at Park Farm Oast

Three cowls on a former oast house on the Hadlow Estate have been carefully removed, restored and replaced as part of the Estate’s commitment to maintaining its heritage buildings and supporting traditional craftsmanship.

Park Farm Oast was converted into a beautiful residential property over a decade ago by the Estate. But it retains its character as a traditional Kent farm building in which hops were dried.

These would have been grown in traditional hop gardens on the farm, dried, bagged into large hessian hop sacks, and sent to the Hop Exchange or direct to brewers.

The large white cowls atop the oasts are highly distinctive and mark out Kent as one of a handful of English hop growing counties. But, made of timber and exposed to the weather, they need regular maintenance.

There is one specialist business operating in the UK that works exclusively on oast cowls. Dude and Arnette, based in Barming, Maidstone, were established in 1937 and are still going strong.  Current owner, Darren Hole, is about to hand over to his son, Brandon.

When Park Farm Oast was first converted into a family home his firm was involved in removing the old cowls. At that time Dude and Arnette built new wooden cowls in the workshop, re-using the original curved elm braces which had been built in the Estate carpentry workshop. They painted the cowls in striking white and fitted them to the top of the oast.

So when the time came earlier this year to remove and maintain them, there was only one company to call.

Hadlow Estate’s Kate Teacher said: “We’ve known Darren and his son for many years and have great respect for their unrivalled knowledge and craftsmanship. It is a highly specialised job in removing and restoring oast cowls and we are delighted with the result.”

Early in 2025, the cowls were taken off the top of the former oast using a crane, carefully lowered to the ground and taken back to the Dude and Arnette workshop to be repaired and repainted, before being craned back into place and refitted.

Darren said: “When they are back in the workshop the old paint is taken off and they go into the drying room for four or five days – as long as they need – to completely dry off. Then they are repaired. We make new panels for them to replace any that have rotted. Then the whole thing gets five coats of paint. There are no shortcuts.”

Our Estate Surveyor David O’Rorke and Foreman Gaven Thomas visited Dude and Arnette’s workshop where the cowls were being renovated.  David said: “It was fantastic to see the cowls on the ground and to appreciate just how large they are. Once they’re back in place, maintaining them becomes a real challenge, so it gives me great confidence to see the thorough work carried out by Dude & Arnette.”

Gaven said: “Looking after oast cowls is a highly specialised job and we are really fortunate to have Dude and Arnette nearby who know the Hadlow Estate well and are the experts.  It was very interesting to see their workshop and admire the work they have done on the Park Farm cowls.”

When Park Farm Oast was first converted into a family home the Hadlow Estate was determined to retain as many traditional features as possible, including the brick kilns with their distinctive cowls. Inside the main oast house stowage – or barn – records of the size of the annual hop harvest at Park Farm can still be seen, stencilled on beams and on walls.

But doing the job once, at conversion, is just a part of the responsibility for the Estate. Maintaining historic buildings is a never-ending task. Fortunately, the craftsmen with the skills needed can still be found.