Faversham Hop Fest was supposed to be held this weekend, but was sadly cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Here, we look back at some old pictures of hop farming in Kent - which is what the festival was all about.

‘Hop Picking at Mr Whiteman's Garden in Tyler Hill, Canterbury' - Sydney Bligh (Screen Archive South East at the University of Brighton) with thanks to Tim Jones, Canterbury Christ Church University

According to Faversham Hop Festival's website, the first evidence of hops in the town date back to about 900AD.

It is unknown what they were used for back then - whether they were used for creating hopped drinks, or simply as a packing material to help transport fragile goods.

But hops were initially imported, and the first hop garden wasn't recorded in Kent until 1523, at Westbere.

Soon, hop farming began to boom in the area.

The Hop Festival website says: "Our town or the villages around were clearly not only growing hops but growing a substantial surplus for sale.

"By the early 1700s Faversham was being surrounded by small hop gardens on the rich brick earths of Kingsfield, Cooksditch Farm and Preston Farm.

"In 1754 about 60 acres of hop gardens are known. These alone produced enough hops to produce 10,000 barrels of beer.

"In a bumper year like 1699 Faversham sent up to London 1,700 bags of hops and in 1741 sent up 2,680 bags."

The market town has been celebrating the humble hop since 1990, recalling the traditional festivities associated with the hop harvest and the town's unrivalled hop heritage.

Each year, the town comes together for Hop Fest - with crowds of visitors flocking from far and wide - in tribute to the flowers and the brewery business they help sustain.

Beer and cider is sold throughout the town, along with local craft items and crowns made of woven hops.

Small stages are interspersed throughout the streets, which are filled with crowds enjoying a range of live music and entertainment.

Hop Fest, which attracts tens of thousands of people each year, should have been held in Faversham today and tomorrow.

But back in March, organisers of the event - which is one of the largest free street festivals in the south east - announced "with great sadness" their decision to postpone this year's event .

Organisers said, for many reasons, they felt postponing the festival until next year was "the right thing to do".

A statement from the directors of Faversham Hop Festival said: "For infectious diseases, such as the flu and the common cold, public gatherings like Faversham Hop Festival are seen as super spreader events by the authorities.

"Therefore, we have decided to err on the side of caution and postpone our festival until next year – for many reasons, we feel it’s simply the right thing to do", the statement continued.

"We very much hope to return in 2021 to bring this wonderful event back to the town and resume the tradition that these extraordinary events have interrupted."

For more information on Kent's hop farming history, click here .

Read more: All the latest news from Faversham