Upon arrival at The Hop Farm, you are left in no doubt that the military vehicles have taken over. There are tanks near the entrance, and some of the buildings even appear to have had a coat of camouflage paint specially for the show. Here's a tank parked not far from where the Shire Horses are stabled.
I was immediately taken by the steam funfair operating on the site.
A beautiful showmans tractor was providing some of the power needs of the funfair. A huge cable snaked out from the generator being driven by the steam engine, and disappeared into the funfair. The galloping horses had their own steam engine, so I wonder whether the showman's tractor was powering the dodgem cars, although he was parked near the galloping horses. That may have just been because it was a good pitch. I never did work out whether the paint was black or midnight blue, but it gleamed!
You can clearly see the power cable running from the steam engine if you click on either of these pictures
Here is the boiler suited engine driver.
I took several close-up shots of the engine. The badgework depicted in the rightmost of these three shots was repeated in several places on the engine. The shot shown here is from the left side of the steam engine.
There were vehicles parked all over the site. Many, like this ambulance, had added camouflage netting.
Camouflage netting was also much in evidence on some of the living history displays. This display relates to recent desert warfare, hence the colour of the camouflage netting.
Other displays related to earlier times. This figure was parked outside of a field hospital from south east Asia.
Some of the tanks on display had other sorts of camouflage over parts of them. There was a large arena where parades and other more active events for military vehicles were held all day, and I think this tank had been participating in a Main Arena event shortly before I photographed it.
Model tanks were also in evidence. We saw these two being taken for a walk by their radio control operators. They had just finished a performance in the smaller Miller Arena.
Another attraction in the Miller Arena was a troupe of majorettes performing a Spanish routine.
There was the pipe band in attendance. When I caught up with them, they were marching among the stallholders tents, stopping every so often for a more static performance.
Not all the pipers wore The Kilt!
The merchandise on sale at this show was extensive. Much of it came from army surplus stores, but there were also a lot of vintage items on sale. My own best find was a pair of vintage screw back earrings which I paid £2 for. I must take a photo of them and include it here later.
You simply can't visit The Hop Farm without taking a picture of some of their oast houses. They boast the largest number in Kent, and as this is only a small selection of what's there, I think they are justified in their boast.
Another of the regular Hop Farm attractions is the astroturf cow. Or is it a bull?
I've left the best until last: here is a live resident of The Hop Farm - a somewhat supercilious llama!
