Hucking is a small hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 and civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the Maidstone

Maidstone (borough)

Maidstone is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its administrative centre is Maidstone which is also the County town of Kent...

 District of Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The parish is governed by a parish meeting.

The settlement sits atop the North Downs

North Downs

The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...

 in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) near the villages of Hollingbourne

Hollingbourne

Hollingbourne is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the southward slope of the North Downs to the east of the county town, Maidstone. The parish population is almost 1000 persons and includes Hollingbourne village as well as Broad...

, Detling

Detling

Detling is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The parish is located on the slope of the North Downs, north east of Maidstone, and on the Pilgrims' Way....

, Bicknor

Bicknor

Bicknor is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone district of Kent, England, north-east of Maidstone and south-west of Sittingbourne. It had a population of 68 according to the 2001 census....

 and Wormshill

Wormshill

Wormshill , historically called Wormsell, is a small village and civil parish within the Borough of Maidstone, Kent, England. The parish is approximately south of The Swale and north of Maidstone. The villages of Frinsted and Bicknor are equidistant to the east and west, respectively; while...

 and between the main A249 and B2163 roads connecting the towns of Sittingbourne

Sittingbourne

Sittingbourne is an industrial town about eight miles east of Gillingham in England, beside the Roman Watling Street off a creek in the Swale, a channel separating the Isle of Sheppey from mainland Kent...

 and Maidstone

Maidstone

Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...

. The parish church is dedicated to St Margaret.

Local features

• Much of the local woodland
  Woodland
  Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
  
   is owned and managed by the Woodland Trust
  Woodland Trust
  The Woodland Trust is a conservation charity in the United Kingdom concerned with the protection and sympathetic management of native woodland heritage.-History:...
  
   in recognition of the area's rural
  Rural
  Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
  
   heritage and significance.

• The North Downs Way
  North Downs Way
  The North Downs Way is a long-distance path in southern England, opened in 1978. It runs from Farnham to Dover, past Godalming, Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester, along the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Kent Downs AONB.East of Boughton Lees, the path splits...
  
   (a long-distance footpath
  Long-distance trail
  Long-distance trails are the longer recreational trails mainly through rural areas, used for non-motorised recreational travelling ....
  
   that passes along the ridge of the North Downs) runs close by the village
  Village
  A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
  
   and parallel to the better-known Pilgrims' Way
  Pilgrims' Way
  The Pilgrims' Way is the historic route supposed to have been taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent...
  
   route, a popular local walk for tourists.

• A small radio
  Radio
  Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
  
   transmitting station previously used by the military
  Military
  A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
  
   and more recently by mobile telephone
  Mobile phone
  A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
  
   companies is situated on farmland near the village on account of its clear, unobstructed position high on the North Downs. The facility now lies un-manned.

• The local pub
  Public house
  A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
  
  , the Hook & Hatchet is a traditional Kentish pub and, according to website of brewers
  Brewery
  A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
  
   and operators Shepherd Neame
  Shepherd Neame
  Shepherd Neame is an English regional brewery founded in 1698 by Richard Marsh in Faversham, Kent. It is a family owned brewery that produces a range of cask ales and filtered beers. Production is around 230,000 barrels a year...
  
  , has been run as such for around 100 years after a local family applied for a "beer
  Beer
  Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
  
   and cider
  Cider
  Cider or cyder is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple juice. Cider varies in alcohol content from 2% abv to 8.5% abv or more in traditional English ciders. In some regions, such as Germany and America, cider may be termed "apple wine"...
  
  " only licence in the late 19th century. however a possibly earlier building of the same name was in use as a pub from, at least, the first half of the 19th Century.

• Racehorse trainer John Best trains his horses from Scragged Oak Farm in Hucking. His Hucking Horses syndicate is named for the village.

Miscellaneous

• A Parcelforce
  Parcelforce
  Parcelforce Worldwide is a courier and logistics service in the United Kingdom. Parcelforce Worldwide is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd.Its international partner network allows it to extend its delivery reach worldwide...
  
   van
  Van
  A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...
  
   allegedly used in the Securitas depot robbery
  Securitas depot robbery
  The Securitas depot robbery was the largest cash robbery in British history, that took place on the evening of 21 February 2006 from 18:30 GMT until the early hours of 22 February...
  
   was recovered from the car park
  Parking lot
  A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
  
   of the Hook & Hatchet on 23 February 2006. Metal cages and packaging material, that may have been used to transport the money, were recovered in a field
  Field (agriculture)
  In agriculture, the word field refers generally to an area of land enclosed or otherwise and used for agricultural purposes such as:* Cultivating crops* Usage as a paddock or, generally, an enclosure of livestock...
  
  in nearby Detling on Friday 24 February 2006