The South and South East

The counties of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire, although parts of them today are near to being overwhelmed by Greater London and are regarded as Home Counties, may yet, in terms of their culinary traditions, be considered as making up the south-eastern and southern region of England.

Kent, since it ceased in the ninth century to be a separate kingdom, has been called the Garden of England. It is a green and fertile county, heavy woodland giving way to orchard and pasture and, on the lower parts of the Weald, to heavy clay where hops flourish. The hop-gardens spread out around the farmhouses and every farm has its tall, conical, brick oast. The hops, wired and netted, are trained on tall poles.