Kent's Highest Village

The pretty village of Goudhurst boasts of superb views over the Weald. A healthy population of oast houses complete the landscape. It is also known for its memorial to a prominent local family the 'Culpepers'.

The most famous member of the family was Nicholas Culpeper  born in 1616. He trained as a herbalist and set up a practice and pharmacy at the halfway house in Spitalfield's, London. At this time medical facilities available to the poor in London was at a breaking point. He provided his services to the poor for free and helped by letting them have their herbal medicines at low prices. Using local herbs in his remedies and even telling people where they could gather the herbs themselves. He argued that 'no man deserved to starve to pay an insulting, insolent physician'. Later he wrote the The English Physician. Which was published in 1653 to ensure his remedies were accessible to as many people as possible. Some of those herbs are still in use today. In January 1954 he died of tuberculosis at the age of 38.

View of the Weald