From the cache location you can see a large factory site nestling in open farmland, with a backdrop of the North Downs together with the famous Wye Crown marked out on the chalk downland.
The factory site that you can see was acquired in the late 1950s with approximately half of the site being developed for the Batchelors Food business and their famous Batchelors peas.
A few years later in 1963 Proprietary Perfumes Ltd, subsequently known as PPF and later Quest International was accommodated on the adjacent greenfield site. In 1997 UK based chemicals company ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) acquired the company and in 2007 Quest was acquired by a Swiss headquartered fragrance company.
The current operations at Ashford no longer includes chemical reaction synthesis but are strictly blending operations where numerous chemical substances are mixed together to form different fragrance formulations. Many Oral Care products are also produced at the Ashford site for most of the big names. The perfumes are used in a wide range of applications from toiletries and personal products through to fine fragrances.
Little known to the general population in Ashford the company forms part of the largest perfumery company in the world producing many famous fine fragrances such as J’Adore, 1 Million, Guilty and Angel. The fragrances are created by perfumers according to each of the customers specific requirements and the fragrance is then added to their final product, whatever that may be.
The huge water tower which is a landmark for the area supplies water to both companies who share the site and was originally constructed in order to both ensure several days of water supply in the event of a failure of the water mains, and to provide good water pressure to the whole site. It is currently undergoing some major refurbishment works and is shrouded in scaffolding around 16 stories high.
Please be careful when extracting the cache and please ensure that it is carefully returned to its hiding place after signing the log sheet. Please don’t leave any spoilers in your logs and remember that in order to count this as 'Found' you must sign the logsheet, if not complete we will delete. If you wish to contact me regarding this cache, then please feel free to e-mail me through my profile.
Thank you, have fun and good hunting.