Where in Kent? This Month's Quiz Trail Has a Literary Twist

Where in Kent? This month's mystery location is West Malling - and it comes with a story that connects this quiet Kent market town to one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. The West Malling Quiz Trail & Town Souvenir is available to order now at www.QuizTrail.co.uk, taking you on a self-guided adventure through the town's streets and its surprising history.

George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair - a world-famous author whose work from the 1930s onwards gave us expressions we still use in everyday language, including Big Brother, Room 101, Cold War, Thought Police and Thought Crime. His two most famous books, 1984 and Animal Farm, remain widely read to this day. What's less well known is that Orwell had a direct connection to West Malling.

Orwell stayed voluntarily at the West Malling workhouse in 1931, aged 28 - an experience that would go on to inspire his novel Down and Out in Paris and London. That September, he tried his hand at hop picking at Blest's Farm, near West Malling, travelling from London disguised as a tramp. He lived in a hopper hut made of corrugated tin and quickly discovered that fruit and hop picking was far from the romantic rural life people imagined at the time. Orwell earned nine shillings that week - around £20 today - while a family of gypsies who had picked hops every year since birth earned fourteen shillings each, roughly £32. He later wrote: "For as a matter of fact hop-picking is far from being a holiday, and, as far as wages go, no worse employment exists."

Have fun outdoors with a Quiz Trail! We love sharing the Kent history we discover - all Quiz Trails are created by a mum and two (adult) daughters. Are you ready to be the clue-solving champion of your friends and family? Grab your trail today and step into a world of adventure - history with mystery. Order the West Malling Quiz Trail & Town Souvenir at www.QuizTrail.co.uk.