There are few things more pleasurable than a stroll on a crisp Winter’s day from Cambridge along the river and across the meadows to Grantchester – especially if there’s the promise of some warming food and drink at the end of it. Well if you were looking for an additional excuse to do just that in the run-up to Christmas, there’s a ready-made one in the form of The Green Man’s Christmas Beer Festival, which is taking place across the weekend of Friday 16-Sunday 18 December.
This will be the third beer festival held by The Green Man this year – the previous two were a roaring success, taking place in the pub’s garden and a specially-erected marquee. This month’s will be no exception – the marquee will be nicely heated and it will be offering visitors more than 35 beers and ciders to choose from. Some of the breweries set to be showing off their wares include Buntingford from Bedfordshire, Fellows – the craft brewery set up just down the road in Cottenham a couple of years ago, and purveyors of fine ales from a little further afield including North London’s Redemption Brewery, Blue Monkey from the Notts/Derbyshire border and Vale Brewery from Buckinghamshire.
There will be plenty of The Green Man’s top-notch food on hamd to complement (or should that be ‘soak up’) all that lovely beer, including the full pub menu and just like at their previous beer festivals, there’ll also be live entertainment in the form of plenty of music from live jazz, soul and world outfits including Afro Tema, Jazz Ambience, The Freddie Hall Band, John Cherry and the Bruce Cameron Trio. All in all, it promises to be an event that rounds off a memorable year for The Green Man, and one that should get everyone attending well and truly into the Christmas spirit!

The Green Man Christmas Beer Festival, Fri 16-Sun 18 December. 59 High Street, Grantchester, T: 01223 844669 www.thegreenmangrantchester.co.uk