Mole's SOS - Kent Oast Houses #37 - Sissinghurst Traditional Geocache

This is an easy cache to find - but in a busy area - please use the spoiler photo and be stealthy - The staff are aware, but other visitors will not be

Another in Mole's Series of Series – Kent Oast Houses #37

Sometime ago (June 2009 through to August 2010) we had put together a series of caches and the theme of those was ‘Series’ – collectively known as Mole’s SOS (Series of Series)

Each cache was, in their own right, part of a group of caches (a series) around the country each following a theme linked to a landmark or object, such as churches, ponds and in this case Oast Houses.
Each ‘series’ was devised by an individual cacher who either retained the series and developed it on their own such as the ‘ponds, dewponds and lakes’ series by martletsman or encouraged other cachers to add to the series with the request to advise the originator of a new addition in order to keep tabs of the increasing number and save duplication – such as the church micro series, which is managed by sadexploration (This is now the largest linked series of caches in the world)

There are some series of caches which do not get referred to by a rolling number allocated by the originator (like church micro #176), instead these others are referred to by their location – such as the motorway mayhem series where the motorway and the junction distinguish it from any other.

As a result 22 caches were put together highlighting 20 different series (if you want to find these search ‘Mole’s SOS’ in the cache name box, mainly found around the Tonbridge area)

Having moved recently away from Tonbridge we adopted out the early part of the SOS series (the first 22) and these are now owned by cachers local to Tonbridge – all still active caches. 

So now adding to this series further we come to this cache – the theme of this is ‘Kent Oast Houses’ and is an addition to the series originated by Charlton11 and Lucyflight though many now mainly owned by C11.  The text accompanying that series is 

“This is a series of caches placed by some fine examples of Kent oast houses.

An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. The tops of the oast houses are known as cowls and sometimes have various decorations attached to them. They can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas and are often good examples of vernacular architecture. Many redundant oasts have been converted into houses.
They consist of two or three storeys on which the hops were spread out to be dried by hot air from a wood or charcoal-fired kiln at the bottom. The drying floors were thin and perforated to permit the heat to pass through it and escape through a cowl in the roof which turned with the wind. The freshly picked hops from the fields were raked in to dry and then raked out to cool before being bagged up and sent to the brewery."

 At the given reference point (waypoint) you get a superb view of the Oast house that sits within the gardens of Sissinghurst Castle.

I couldn’t find much that told of the history of the oast house itself but much is written about the castle and the gardens :- below is what I could find that makes reference to the Oast House

460 acres of stunning Wealden countryside encase the majestic Sissinghurst castle and its famous gardens. Vita Sackville-West, a poet and writer and her husband Harold Nicolson (a Diplomat) fell in love with the estate and made it their home in 1930. In the years that followed they worked tirelessly to create the spectacular gardens that now draw thousands of visitors to the estate each year and are looked after by The National Trust. The castle and its grounds also housed plenty of secrets during Vita and Harold’s marriage. A fantastic place to visit, especially to see the large oast house which is part of the sprawling gardens.

Sissinghurst Castle Garden is a National Trust owned property and one of the most famous gardens in England. The Castle itself has changed many times over the centuries. Originally there was a large defensive stone castle (to the East of the current site), which was abandoned and a new building built adjacent. Much of that building was demolished centuries ago and now just the front section and a tower remain. Sissinghurst was used as a farm for the last few centuries and an oast house and hay barn sit adjacent to the remaining buildings.
An Oast House is a building used to dry fresh hops before they are sent to the brewers, to be used for flavouring beer. A traditional Oast House consists of the 'oast' and the 'stowage'. The oast was a kiln, with a plenum chamber fired by charcoal at ground floor and the drying floor directly above. The steep pitched roof channelled the hot air through the hops to the top. The stowage, was the barn section, it had a cooling floor and press at first floor and storage area at ground floor.

On to the cache – This cache has been placed with the very kind permission of the National Trust. The location and hide for the cache was chosen by them rather than us so they are aware and will monitor its activity - this is a very busy location and by no means muggle free, so please take care in retrieving and replacing. We will make its location as easy as possible to find so that little searching is required and thus minimal attention given to it – a spoiler photo is added to assist. Although this cache could be available any time of the day we recommend this is searched for during daylight hours. 
So, from the reference waypoint head towards the arched opening (The Elizabethan Barn) towards the cache co-ords, go in through the archway and turn left – the cache can be found inside towards the right hand corner (opposite the spiral staircase) – It is hidden in a low down hole behind a stone slab (not the separate bricks that are higher and nearer the corner – please do not move them)
The cache contains a logbook and there is space for several items like swaps and TBs – BYOP

This cache can be done on its own (and likely to be the case by visitors to the castle and gardens) However there is a nearby trail titled Mole’s Sissinghurst Stroll which takes you on a 2.5 mile walk around the area, part of it within NT grounds. There is also a much older cache ‘Up the Garden path’ which many local cachers will already have found. To get to it though, a slight divert off the main trail will be required – ddm has adopted this cache as the original CO moved out of the area.
Also there are some caches linked to a country wide series called 'Little Quest' or LQ and on another path some challenge caches - all within walking distance of the castle grounds and all placed with the permission of Sissinghurst national Trust where applicable (which is most of them)
As a cacher visiting the castle / gardens, you may be very busy