Just an update for anyone who has forgotten – the weekend of the 4th of June is the Keswick Beer Festival and there are still a few tickets left for the Friday night. What a fine excuse for booking a short break for that weekend in the Lake District to come and enjoy the sun (hopefully) and some of the finest ales ever to have been brewed on this Fair Isle.

This is the 14th Keswick Beer Festival and it gets bigger and better every year. It is being held on Davidson Park home of the Keswick Lions and the Keswick Rugby club. All of the pubs in the area will have various guest ales on for the week and random forms of entertainment for all to enjoy.

This is one of the biggest events in the Keswick calendar, with over 100 real ales to sample! This year Thwaites’ Brewery is the headline sponsor and the Famous Thwaites’ Shire Horses will be there for the grand opening to kick the whole thing off.

The Saturday night is already sold out, but there are still some tickets left for the Friday night. As well as over 100 beers to sample, as well as several ciders and lagers there will also be plenty of entertainment – as always, the musical entertainment will be courtesy of a cheesy rock tribute band and on the Friday night there is Earthwindforhire to look forward to.

All of the beers this year have a different sponsor Sally’s Cottages are in the process of ironing out the finer details of this– They haven’t signed on the dotted line yet, but the thought of getting his hands on a couple of elusive corporate tickets for the Saturday night will probably be more than Philip (my brother) can resist.

If you are a beer lover and are staying at one of the many Keswick Cottages in the area, then you need to have Open All Hours on your radar - it’s easy to find on St John’s Street in Keswick. Open All Hours is the main place in Keswick for buying speciality Beers. They have a great Range of Local bottled real Ales (they actually have every single Cumbrian Ale!!), as well as an awesome selection of interesting and unusual Belgium Beers and Ciders. Now that’s my idea of heaven!

Staying in Lake District cottages has to be the best way to enjoy this weekend, if you can get one in Keswick all the better for that short stumble home.