The Kentish Cobnuts Association was established in 1990, with the aims of regenerating the industry, promoting cobnuts and representing its members. Membership currently stands at 150. It runs courses on pruning and plat management, produces a newsletter about three times a year, and holds events such as the Annual Nutters Supper. A cobnut is a cultivated variety of hazelnut, just as a Cox is a cultivated variety of apple. Mankind has enjoyed wild hazelnuts from time immemorial, and cultivated hazelnuts, sometimes known as filberts, have been grown in gardens and orchards since at least the 16th century. Children played an early version of conkers with hazelnuts; the game was called cobnut or cobblenut, and the winning nut the cob. Many new cultivars were bred in the 19th century. The variety Kentish Cob was probably introduced in about 1830 and was so successful it soon supplanted most other varieties. Cobnut production increased greatly, especially in the Home Counties, where the produce could be taken to London by train. Labour was cheap, and by 1913 plantations extended to over 7,000 acres 2,830 hectares, most of the orchards or plats being in Kent.

Address: Comp Lane, St Marys Platt, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 8NR
Telephone: 01732 882 734
Website: http://www.kentishcobnutsassociation.org.uk/