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Members Day - Local Residents Travel FREE!
Image courtesy of A Eaton
We hope you enjoyed your day with us!
Members Day - Local Residents Travel FREE!
Image courtesy of A Eaton
Bookings Now Closed
Our free tickets for local residents are now all allocated and we thank our comunity for its ongoing support of our charity.
The promotion is intended to encourage those residents who haven’t yet discovered us to come and enjoy their first journey through the lovely countryside between Tenterden and Bodiam. Residents visiting us can also learn more about the benefits and free travel opportunities available with annual and lifetime membership.
Volunteers will also be on hand to discuss volunteering opportunities at our upcoming events and share future plans for the railway including the line extension to Robertsbridge. This offer is not available to residents on the day.
Donations will be welcome on the day towards the cost of running the trains.
Follow our Facebook page for news and offers!
@KentandEastSussexRailway
Family Fun at the
Kent & East Sussex Railway's Hop Festival Weekend
9th & 10th September 2017
Come and enjoy a weekend of Hopping Fun at Bodiam Station in East Sussex on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 September.
Take a walk through the Hop Gardens and try your hand at picking hops before taking a peek inside a recreated Hoppers Hut.
The railway’s heritage steam trains will run each day through the beautiful Wealden countryside between Tenterden and Bodiam Stations with trains every 45 minutes.
While enjoying a beer from the beer tent listen to Live musicians "The Sideboard Men" who will be entertaining visitors over the weekend.
Everyone can enjoy Punch and Judy shows and all the fascinating displays of hopping equipment together with vintage and agricultural vehicles.
Children can also enjoy face painting and swing boat rides and balloon modelling. Look out for Mr Topper the stilt walker.
The BBQ will have some local produce on offer including a delicious range of sausages.
The licensed ‘Hoppers Bar’ features a range of locally brewed real ales and the popular Hoppers Kitchen will be serving the very best in railway tea and scrummy homemade cakes!
The railway played an important part in hop picking at Bodiam as hops were grown along the Rother Valley and at the Guinness Hop Farms at Bodiam. Each year special trains were run to the Kent & East Sussex Railway from London to take the hop-pickers, invariably entire families from the East End, to Kent. The men, women and children would spend several weeks in the countryside each year, picking hops as their holiday. There was much drinking too!
Admission including all-day travel on the trains: Adult £18, Child (3 - 15 years inc.) £12 and Family (2 adults + up to 3 children or 1 adult and up to 4 children) £38. Please see the timetable on the website for times of steam train operation. A 10% saving applies to these prices when pre-booking tickets:
Sorry, SOLD OUT
K&ESR train tickets provide a small discount on admission to the National Trust castle
Tenterden (TN30 6HE) and Northiam (TN31 6QT) stations have limited free parking for Hop Festival visitors.
Hop Festival Weekend at Bodiam Station from Justin Lycett on Vimeo.
*Evening Real Ale Train excluded - to book your seats on this exclusive evening special on 9th September please click here.
Family Fun at the
Kent & East Sussex Railway's Hop Festival Weekend
10th & 11th September 2016
For generations, hops were grown along the Rother Valley and the Guinness hop farms, centred on Bodiam, were the largest in the country. The K&ESR played an essential role in bringing around 4000 hop pickers to Bodiam each summer. The hop pickers were mainly women, their children and elderly relatives and they would arrive on special trains from London direct to Bodiam station. Hop picking often became an annual holiday for families, who would stay for several weeks enjoying the fresh countryside air.
K&ESR Hop Festival
There's plenty for the whole family to see and do at the Hop Festival this year. Bodiam Station will again be at the centre of a weekend of live entertainment, with Morris Dancing, displays of hops and hop picking equipment, period road and agricultural vehicles and memorabilia. Try your hand at stripping the bines, something that was either very easy or very difficult to do, depending on the weather, whilst there are plenty of traditional fun activities for our younger visitors too!
Former hop pickers can re-live memories of years gone by, whilst visitors can experience the hop picking way of life first hand in the recreated hop garden and hopper's hut where pickers would have stayed, sometimes for as long as six weeks. Live entertainment from 'The Sideboard Men' will add to the nostalgic atmosphere.
Delicious food from local producers will be on offer at the BBQ and the 'Hoppers' kitchen' will be serving their famous homemade cakes. Some fine locally produced ales and wines will be available from the real ale tent.
On Saturday, our friends at the Old Dairy Brewery will be offering half price special tours of their brewery at just £5.00 per person - quote "K&ESR Hop Fest" to qualify when making your booking. We've also an evening Hop Festival Real Ale Train featuring some of the finest local real ales. This service departs from Tenterden at 7.00pm on Saturday 10th September only and advance booking is essential.
The Hop Festival will be open from 10.30am to 6pm each day. Advance tickets offer a 10% saving and include unlimited train travel throughout the day*
Advance Prices: Adults £15.30; Children (3 - 15 years inc.) £10.35 and Family (2 adults + up to 3 children or 1 adult and up to 4 children) £34.20.
On the day Prices: Adults £17.00; Children £11.50; Family £38.00
K&ESR train tickets provide a discount on admission to the National Trust castle
Tenterden (TN30 6HE) and Northiam (TN31 6QT) stations have free parking for Hop Festival visitors.
Hop Festival Weekend at Bodiam Station from Justin Lycett on Vimeo.
Sale of discounted advance tickets has now closed, but you can still purchase tickets at the Booking Office
*Evening RAT train excluded
Family Fun at the
Kent & East Sussex Railway's Hop Festival Weekend
8th & 9th September 2018
Come and enjoy a weekend of Hopping Fun at Bodiam Station in East Sussex on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th September.
Take a walk through the Hop Gardens and try your hand at picking hops before taking a peek inside a recreated Hoppers Hut.
The railway’s heritage steam trains will run each day through the beautiful Wealden countryside between Tenterden and Bodiam Stations with trains every 45 minutes.
While enjoying a beer from the beer tent listen to live musicians entertaining visitors over the whole weekend.
Everyone can enjoy shows and fascinating displays of hopping equipment together with vintage and agricultural vehicles.
Children can also enjoy face painting and swing boat rides and balloon modelling. Look out for Mr Topper the stilt walker.
The BBQ will have some local produce on offer including a delicious range of sausages.
The licensed ‘Hoppers Bar’ features a range of locally brewed real ales and the popular Hoppers Kitchen will be serving the very best in railway tea and scrummy homemade cakes!
The railway played an important part in hop picking at Bodiam as hops were grown along the Rother Valley and at the Guinness Hop Farms at Bodiam. Each year special trains were run to the Kent & East Sussex Railway from London to take the hop-pickers, invariably entire families from the East End, to Kent. The men, women and children would spend several weeks in the countryside each year, picking hops as their holiday. There was much drinking too!
Admission including all-day travel on the trains: Adult £18, Child (3 - 15 years inc.) £12 and Family (2 adults + up to 3 children or 1 adult and up to 4 children) £38. Please see the timetable on the website for times of steam train operation.
K&ESR train tickets provide a small discount on admission to the National Trust castle
Tenterden (TN30 6HE) and Northiam (TN31 6QT) stations have limited free parking for Hop Festival visitors.
Hop Festival Weekend at Bodiam Station from Justin Lycett on Vimeo.
*Evening Real Ale Train excluded - to book your seats on this exclusive evening special on 8th September please click here.
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Facilities for the disabled
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2000 - 2018
Kent & East Sussex Railway Co Ltd.