It’s been a good start to 2025. We were very proud to be listed in the Sunday Times as one of the best 7 places in the UK to see cherry blossom 😊

So it seemed a good time for an update!

As one of very few traditional cherry orchards left in Kent – not very much has changed here in the last 100 years. Our farm today is farmed by the third generation of the Malcolm family (Rob), and our trees still grow in fresh air rather than poly tunnels.

We have some of the old standard cherry trees, too tall to pick now, they stand guard over the old hop pickers huts and add to the unique character of our orchard.

At Barfield we commercially grow over 20 varieties of cherry, over our 4-6 week season. Our early varieties are Merchant and Early River, which we start picking at the end of June. Followed by Stella, Vanda and Kordia in the mid-season, and toward the end of July the Bradbourne Blacks, Penny and Regina are the darkest and sweetest of the crop (all that extra sunshine!).

We also grow the traditional white cherry (most other farms gave these up as they bruise too easily), but the flavour is worth the careful handling. And as we pick and sell our fruit the same day from our own cherry shop, travelling them isn’t an issue! We can boast zero food miles for our raspberries, cherries and gooseberries.

People travel far and wide to buy our ‘Naps’ (short for Napoleon) this is one of the oldest variety of cherry and considered the ‘true’ Kentish cherry, these blush coloured cherries are very sought after as so few places still grow them.

For their sweetness we still grow Bigarreau, Kentish Reds, Merton Glory (another white variety), Stella, Sunburst, Sweetheart, Lapins to name a few.

Pruning is done by hand, Rob is very busy for the month of February, and you will see weights hanging on the ends of the branches, this is to encourage strong lateral growth, rather than letting the branches shoot straight up.

Managing the orchard is labour intensive, all cherries are picked by hand into wicker baskets that are tied around the waist, and our pickers still sometimes have to climb the traditional wide based wooden ladders that we’ve used on the farm forever.

Being a traditional open orchard does mean we battle with birds, bugs and the weather, but we are passionate custodians of our little piece of the Kent countryside, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

We try to have as little impact as possible on the environment, setting aside areas of our orchards for rewilding – these pockets are undisturbed and full of wildlife – foxes, deer, rabbits, badgers, owls, pheasants, wood peckers, nightingales and host of native British birds often appear.

Following 3 Malcolm weddings on the farm, our visitors felt it was too special not share, so we added 2 glamping pods in 2017 and they proved so popular, we added another 2 in 2019.

Our pods are all tucked into the cherry trees and therefore allow for privacy, peace and quiet, so guests can sit on their porches and enjoy the views of the North Downs, and the wildlife strolling past or sit by a fire and gaze at the stars.

We’ve long thought there is something very healing about cherry trees, and our guests say time and time again how well they sleep and how relaxed they feel – testament to the repeat bookings – we have many guests who have stayed with us every year since we opened!

It is a special place to stay and luckily our guests say so too – we’ve 81 five-star reviews on Google, 73 five-star reviews on Tripadvisor (also winning Tripadvisor’s Traveller’s Choice) and five-star reviews and recommendations on Facebook.

So if you are looking for a unique glamping experience come and stay in one of our cosy pods tucked in amongst the cherry trees our family farm.

We look forward to welcoming you to the farm.