David’s childhood and early teenage days were often spent on his grandfather’s farm, just east of Worcester. Half of the farm was devoted to the production of Goldings hops under contract with Whitbread. These hops were used for brewing at the Flowers Brewery on Monson Avenue, Cheltenham back then. Every August, all the hop "strings" (as they were known) were hand-picked. A small army of families, the same ones every year, would come down from the car plants in both Oxford and Birmingham to holiday on the farm and help pick hops into giant sack troughs. David played the role of one of the "runners," providing bread, cheese, water, and cider (which was made on the farm) to the thirsty pickers as they sat removing the hop flowers from the strings.

The fragrance of fresh hops, always during the second or third week of August each year, brings back many memories. Hops are to beer what salt and pepper are to food; they contribute a unique range of flavours to the barley and malt used in the brewing process. The White Hart stands out in West Dorset for its use of these wonderful aromatic fresh hops. These hops release a distinct perfume from the hop flowers and were historically used as a form of air filtration, especially in the days when smoking was common in bars. As they gradually dry out, they will be replaced with seasonal decorations around Christmas.