Beer, Butlins and more Beer
(or Spot the Redcoat)
by
We'd nearly finished getting the house ready to put on the market, we were due for a break, and we knew there was going to be a beer festival in Minehead. So since we'd had a pretty good time on our previous visit to the West Country (see Way Out West), we decided to go.
Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as that - we decided on the Thursday, and the festival began on the Saturday. Internet searches turned up several hotels and guesthouses in the Minehead area (it is, after all, a seaside resort), but virtually all of them proudly proclaimed themselves to be non-smoking establishments. However, a bit more searching revealed that one of the three remaining outposts of the once-mighty Butlin's empire was located in Minehead - and that Butlin's still offered accommodation for smokers. The idea of staying there was too daft for words. How could we resist?
CAMRA 6th Somerset Beer Festival
The Festival was held on the platform at Minehead Railway Station, which is a terminus on the West Somerset Railway (a heritage line running steam and old diesel locomotives). It was the first CAMRA festival we'd ever been to, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect. But at least we knew it was only a short walk away from Butlin's.
When we arrived at the station at Saturday lunchtime we found the platform was packed. An area in the middle of the platform had been enclosed by counters. Festival pint glasses were displayed for sale on the counter facing the entrance (you could also buy cheaper plastic ones, but it's never the same drinking beer out of plastic, is it?). Next to that, a couple of CAMRA volunteers sat at a table selling beer tokens - a sensible way of doing things, as it saved the bar staff having to fiddle about with change.
Behind them about half-a-dozen more volunteers were shuttling busily between the barrels and the thirsty festivalgoers waiting at the counter facing Platform 2. (Thoughtfully, someone had left carriages along the platform to prevent anyone falling down onto the tracks.) And so many barrels! There were well over eighty different beers and ciders, ranged three high on a steel rack and covered with wet glass cloths to keep them cool. From time to time one or other of the volunteers would spray the cloths with a plant spray to keep the evaporation going.
Some of the beers were familiar, of course - one of Kay's favourites, Timothy Taylor's Landlord, was so popular that it ran out midway through the afternoon on Saturday. And there were others brought in from elsewhere, including a couple of milds from my own neck of the woods, the West Midlands. But the vast majority were West Country brews, and very nice they were too. My own tip for Beer of the Festival came from Devon, O'Hanlon's Yellowhammer. Sadly, I only managed two pints of that before it finished - my second was the very last one out of the barrel.
Meanwhile, at the far end of the platform the trains came and went. Several of the more seasoned festivalgoers had brought those handy camping chairs, the foldaway canvas and steel things which have a hole in the arm to hold glasses. We had to make do with whatever we could find to sit on - which wasn't much. All the benches seemed to be taken!
Eventually we stood at the end of one of the counters and struck up conversation with a couple of very friendly, and very knowledgeable, pipe smokers. One of them had about two dozen pipes in a leather case. Kay asked him why he had so many with him. "Because I didn't have room for the other two hundred and forty I've got at home," he replied!
In summary, the Festival was well worth the visit. Even so, we were glad we'd turned up relatively early on the Saturday. Many of the beers were finished by early evening, and the Sunday opening only ran from twelve until four. Something to be aware of if you're planning to visit a beer festival...
Butlin's
Kay had been to Butlin's several times as a kid and had memories of the classic holiday camp experience - mass-produced holidays churned out by the hundred thousand, from the wake-up tannoy call in the morning right down to the meals organised by sittings, and days and nights packed solid with fun-filled activities. I'd never been myself and was curious to see what the modern Butlin's experience would be like.
Booking the stay (a three-night deal covering Friday afternoon to Monday morning) was easily done online, barring a minor wrinkle over card verification. Self-catering was unavailable, so we went ahead and booked dinner, bed and breakfast in one of their Silver rooms - £158 for the three nights (you save £10 on the brochure price by booking online).
When I phoned to confirm the booking on the Friday morning I was told that the room would be ours from 1630, but that we could use the facilities from 1230 onwards. As it was, we arrived at Minehead rather later than expected, at about seven in the evening. (The camp's well signposted and was easy to find by road.) After a bit of a kerfuffle at Reception (our welcome pack hadn't been made ready as we'd booked so late), we were finally given our keys. Much, much later we made it to our room, almost as far away from the main entrance as we could possibly be. I'd never realised a holiday camp could be so big.
Accommodation
The room was pretty basic, but clean. A double bed filled most of it, together with a couple of bedside tables, a television and a dressing-table. But they did have tea-making facilities, at least. There was no towel in the shower room, but we'd seen the warning on the website that Butlin's don't provide towels so we'd brought our own with us. Opening the connecting door to the next room revealed it to be much the same, except that there were two single beds. A check with Reception confirmed that both rooms were ours. The major omission from our point of view was a fridge, but we later found that you could hire a mini-bar sized fridge for just £4 a night - worth thinking about.
Meals
We were just in time for dinner, which was served school canteen style in a vast hall and consisted of much the same kind of meals; nothing fancy. Breakfast (on the one time I managed to struggle blearily into the canteen) was pretty much as you'd expect a cooked breakfast to be, although cereals, porridge and toast were also on offer. Nothing fancy, but nothing wrong with it either - and portions were generous.
Other Facilities
Contrary to Kay's expectations, we found that there was very little regimentation about the free-time activities; there was hardly a Redcoat in sight. Maybe they've changed the uniforms! Certainly there was no presumption that we'd spend our every waking moment on the camp (although we did have to take a day pass with us when leaving to ensure that we could get back on again). Just as well - although there were quite a few things on offer, none of them appealed very much to us. They were aimed squarely at the family market. (In fairness, they do do adult-only holidays too.)
We spent most of our time on the camp in the arcade, on the tuppenny falls. (Funny how addictive putting your money into a machine can be, even when you know you're not going to get any of it back in the long run.) There was a bar, the Sun & Moon, but it didn't serve real ale, and was pretty expensive. We only went there once.
Eating and Drinking in Minehead
We found a couple of decent places we'd recommend visiting if you're feeling hungry or thirsty:
The Red Lion (Quay Street, Minehead TA24 5UJ)
A very comfortable and friendly pub, with lots of comfortable chairs, views of the Bristol Channel over the seawall (apparently the cellar's been flooded once or twice) and a very noisy parrot in the back room. The beer's good (Wadworth's 6X, Directors and others) and cheap. The food... We had no great expectations about it because, after all, it was a pub. But the menu looked reasonable. When we ordered, we had quite a while to wait - apparently the chef was late turning up - but the food was well worth waiting for; beautifully cooked, well presented, and astonishingly reasonably priced. My salmon was tasty, and perfectly done - browned on the outside, just slightly the right side of undercooked on the inside. Sadly, we can't remember what Kay had. (This is yet another one of our restaurant reviews where we forgot to take notes at the time.) But believe me, it was excellent.
Wheelhouse Snack Bar (41 The Avenue, Minehead TA24 5AY)
Compared to our last breakfast experience in the West Country (at the Fortescue Arms in Woolacombe - see Fishing for Compliments) this was manna from heaven. Two rashers, two nice sausages, fried egg, half a grilled tomato, tasty mushrooms, hash brown, toast and butter and a cuppa. All for a very reasonable £3.95.
Epilogue
On the way back Kay spotted that we were approaching a village called Beer. Obviously we simply had to make the detour to go and find it. Sadly, we must have driven right through it without realising - there was no village name sign. It must be tiny!
To console ourselves we stopped off at Wincanton again for another visit to Fernstrom & Farrell's for some cheese, and had a very refreshing cuppa at the ever-welcoming Cunning Artificer (thanks, Isobel and Bernard!).
Post to del.icio.us
