Hucking

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Hucking is a small hamlet and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is governed by a parish meeting.

The settlement sits atop the North Downs in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) near the villages of Hollingbourne, Detling, Bicknor and Wormshill and between the main A249 and B2163 roads connecting the towns of Sittingbourne and Maidstone. The parish church is dedicated to St Margaret.

[edit] Local features

• Much of the local woodland is owned and managed by the Woodland Trust in recognition of the area's rural heritage and significance.

• The North Downs Way (a long-distance footpath that passes along the ridge of the North Downs) runs close by the village and parallel to the better-known Pilgrims' Way route, a popular local walk for tourists.

• A small radio transmitting station previously used by the military and more recently by mobile telephone companies is situated on farmland near the village on account of its clear, unobstructed position high on the North Downs. The facility now lies un-manned.

• The local pub, the Hook & Hatchet is a traditional Kentish pub and, according to website of brewers and operators Shepherd Neame, has been run as such for around 100 years after a local family applied for a "beer and cider" only licence in the late 19th century.^[1] however a possibly earlier building of the same name was in use as a pub from, at least, the first half of the 19th Century^{[citation needed]}

• Racehorse trainer John Best trains his horses from Scragged Oak Farm in Hucking. His Hucking Horses syndicate is named for the village.

[edit] Miscellaneous

• A Parcelforce van allegedly used in the Securitas depot robbery was recovered from the car park of the Hook & Hatchet on 23 February 2006. Metal cages and packaging material, that may have been used to transport the money, were recovered in a field in nearby Detling on Friday 24 February 2006^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ Hook & Hatchet page on Shepherd Neame's web-site
2. ^ BBC News: Money found after Securitas raid 24 February 2006, 20:37 GMT

Coordinates: 51°18′N 0°39′E / 51.3, 0.65

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