More than 8,000 soak up the sunshine at Northampton County Beer Festival

Thousands of beer festival-goers indulged in Northamptonshire craft and real ale over the weekend as the sun (mostly) shone down on Beckets Park.
Pictures by Kirsty Edmonds.Pictures by Kirsty Edmonds.
Pictures by Kirsty Edmonds.

This year, the three-day event showcased 20 commercial breweries from all over Northamptonshire - including Avalanche Brew Co from Burton Latimer, Hart Family Brewery from Wellingborough and Towcester Mill Brewery, among others. It was the first time the festival hosted a DJ set too with tunes on Saturday night from Northampton's very own Madame Electrifie. Festival director, Alaric Neville, said: "It was really, really good given the rugby and Champions League finals. We had over 8,000 in over the weekend, it rained a little bit on the Sunday and was still a very good festival. Friday and Saturday was the loveliest place to be on earth - why would you want to be anywhere else? The atmosphere was brilliant this year, that's what everybody said." Over half of the 170 casks were drunk dry - with profit from the day to be reinvested back into the breweries as well as CAMRA's charity of choice. Local cider producers, gin distillers, a rum blender from Kettering and many food vendors joined the line up for the festival's third annual year at the park, too.