The Three Valleys Festival, which took place on Saturday 7th June, got off to a somewhat damp start, thankfully by about 2pm the rain had cleared, the sun came out and so did all the people!
Joining all the locals were some people who had travelled a fair distance to enjoy the unique experience of the Three Valleys Festival including a bunch of lads (pictured wearing their cider t-shirts outside the Jolly Farmer) from Co Meeth, Ireland, who had incorporated it into a stag weekend in Manchester and the guys from Stoke on Trent who were camping at Barlow Brewery – amongst others.
I started my day out at the Coach & Horses with a half of Bridestones Silver Fern from the outside bar before joining my companions inside who were mainly enjoying beers from Thornbridge and Magic Rock.
Next was the Dronfield Arms with a range of ales and ciders being served from the outside bar that has been built there as part of the new decking, they also had a music stage on the car park. Over the road at the White Swan a cider festival and BBQ was being held on the patio.
We then travelled up to the Royal Oak, a comfy local which had a range of local beers on the bar where we met Alex Eagle and Nath Hehir of the University of Sheffield Real Ale Society before continuing on to the Travellers Rest.
The Travellers had added to the pub with a fish and chip trailer, beer tent and live music lorry on the car park (the cars had been moved into the field over the road!) and offered a range of about 30 different beers (plus ciders too). A stunning view over the valley towards Chesterfield also featured here!
We took a bus ride to the Green Dragon in Dronfield where the (closed off) car park was full of people enjoying drinks from the outside bar and hot pork sandwiches from the hog roast tent. We had one of each before walking up to the Victoria where the smoking shelter had been converted into an outside bar and a kiosk was serving jacket potatoes.
The next bus ride was to the Talbot which had a retro American rock and roll theme – a stillage full of Brampton Brewery beers to drink, a buddy holly tribute band to entertain and food was burgers and hot dogs served American diner style.
The Castle Inn followed a bus ride down hill all the way where we found a nice selection of ales on the bar, Woodthorpe Hall cider too and a BBQ going on outside. This was a quick pitstop before heading up to Barlow Brewery which was packed by the time we arrived, but the Barlow beer was on form, the live music was being performed and Moss Valley Fine meets were cooking up some great bangers.
We also got to the Jolly Farmer where extra guest beers were being served direct from the cellar and the Hyde Park Inn which was just winding down for the evening.
We finished at the Three Tuns, the pizza stall had packed up for the evening but roast pork sandwiches were still available, inside the pub was packed with some great guest beers available on cellar runs and the live folky music entertaining the crowd nicely.