Initially planned for Saturday 20th August this Cornwall CAMRA social event was rescheduled for Friday 19th August due to a national rail strike. We were then in the position of the day between two national rail strikes and being warned by the rail companies to expect travel disruption! Expectation of a good attendance at the Royal Oak, Perranwell, beer festival was therefore not high! However, branch members from both the east and west of Cornwall arrived by various modes of transport including Transport for Cornwall bus services which serve the village directly and in total about twenty branch members and friends attended!

We assembled in the pub’s covered courtyard garden where Tim the Landlord was serving the beer festival ales from hand pulls at the garden bar. I was particularly pleased to see Padstow Brewery’s Pilot available as it is a favourite of mine! Tim also had a good range of ciders to choose from at the garden bar. Inside the pub itself four additional ales were available so there was a range of beer styles and strengths from which to choose.

With the sun shining a very pleasant afternoon was had by all as we sampled the beers and socialised. The branch was thanked by both Tim and Jonathan, a member of the bar staff, for our support on the first day of their three day festival. Later in the day live music was provided by a vocal trio called the ‘Ritzy Belles’. Their first set was music from the 1940s; their second set from the 1950s & 1960s. The group was extremely well supported by many local residents who attended the beer festival later in the day.

For any readers unfamiliar with this lovely traditional country pub, it can usually be easily accessed from Perranwell station on the Truro to Falmouth branch line. A fifteen minute walk down to the pub at the bottom of the hill. There is also a very pleasant twenty minute footpath walk from the right hand side of the Norway Inn at Perranarworthal on the main Truro to Falmouth road (A39) which is served by the U1 and U1A bus services which stop outside the Norway going north and near Perran Foundry going south. A visit is thoroughly recommended!

Words by Jan Curtis

Photos by Steve Barber