Issue 122 - the Pembury Village Website

BENTINCKS FARM AND THE CASE OF THEPHANTOM SIGN REMOVER!ONE SATURDAY morning in Februarywe drove out of our farm to find thatsomeone had removed all four signs bearingthe name of the farm at the main entrance.Two of the signs we had carved out of woodand two were made from those “stick on”letters that are reflective at night.Suddenly we were nameless . . . the sign onthe secondary entrance disappeared atChristmas even more dramatically when thegates were stolen. The sign on that occasionwas a minor loss although curiously half thesign reappeared in the road side ditchbetween Matfield and Brenchley in earlyApril. So we were completely nameless apartfrom the one sign that was left . . . that wasthe original sign for the farm before wechanged the name.This was not vandalism as we are all used toin the area. This was done so that all the signswere removed unscrewing the wooden signfrom on top of the old sign so as not todamage it – the lost letters are now roamingaround somewhere and have still not beenrecovered.Why did we change the name of the farm?The access to the farm had been altered in the1980s, separating Herring Mill Farmhousefrom Herrings Mill Farm. In 1995 HerringsMill farm and Three Towns Farm weremerged together and the name of the farm forthe farming community and postal purposesbecame Herring Mill Farm. The separation ofHerring Mill Farmhouse and Herring MillFarm had, by the time we bought the farm in2003, started to cause a lot of confusion.Herrings Mill Farm is not actually shown onthe Ordnance Survey map but Three TownsFarm is, as is Herring Mill House on BrambleReed Lane. This didn’t help for people tryingto deliver things to the farm! Often theHerring Mill farmhouse would have toredirect delivery men back up Romford road.Some of them would end up half way up theirgarden before they could be stopped!!So we decided, as we moved in, to change thename of the farm to make it clear goingforward that the farm entrance wasn’t nextto Herring Mill farmhouse. Once we haddecided to do this we had to think of a name.We wanted to follow farming tradition anduse a family name – “Bentinck” is a familyname and therefore has strong connectionsfor all of us.We love the farm and the name change meansthat everyone knows where we are and howto find us and hopefully Bentinck Farm willreplace Three Towns Farm on the nextupdate of the ordinance survey map. In themeantime, we have put up new signs butwould love our old ones back.Please give them back!!Kate Lindsay-Bayley and familyBentinck Farm, Romford Road, PemburyPEMBURY SEQUENCE DANCE CLUBWE MEET every Monday evening, except Bank Holidays, in the Catholic Hall from7.45pm until 10pm practicing and learning new dances. Admission is £2 whichincludes tea or coffee and biscuits.Our Saturday dances, which are more formal are held in the Village Hall on alternatemonths i.e. our next dances will be 13 August, 8 October and 10 December which is ourannual Dinner Dance. Cost of admission here is £3. Contact Mrs Marion Warren 01892547617 for more details.23