Sir Paul McCartney has to hide his cannabis plants to stop them from getting stolen.
Sir Paul McCartney
The 79-year-old singer grows crops of hemp at his farm in Peasmarsh but has had to keep it concealed to stop local teenagers from helping themselves.
Government regulations stipulate hemp should be grown alongside crops of rye, peas and wheat and Sir Paul is doing that but keeping hold of his hemp clearly requires special measures.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said: “We grow crops, I like doing things like spelt wheat, rye, we grow peas.
“We’re actually just getting into growing hemp, the funny thing with government regulations is you’ve got to keep it where people can’t see it, because you get all the kids coming in and robbing it!”
Although technically from the same plant as cannabis, hemp has far less of the chemical THC and is used to make products including clothes and soap.
And Sir Paul says he's been growing organic produce for two decades, a concept which was initially dismissed by local farmers, but they've now apparently come round to his way of thinking.
He said: “It’s organic.
"I went organic over 20 years ago.
"When I first bought the farm there were some fields where my farm guys would say, ‘There’s no worms in these fields. There’s no life.’
"That’s because basically all you did was put on pesticides and then put a fertiliser in.
"I thought, ‘OK, that’s a challenge, we’re going to go organic.’
“I talked to the Soil Association, who were very good and came and gave us some clues, so we went organic.
"The local farmers said, ‘Oh, you’re stupid, what are you doing there?’
"Of course nowadays they get it and they think it’s a good idea.”
Sir Paul previously smoked cannabis having been introduced to the drug by Bob Dylan but gave it up a number of years ago as he wanted to set an example to his children and grandchildren.
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