For the past few years, The Ship Inn at Brimscombe in Stroud, Gloucestershire has held a Food, Drink and Music Festival which has fast become one of the most loved events of the year in the area. Taking place at the end of September, over the course of a few days – the event is always thriving with locals who help bring the energy and good times.

A quaint pub in the heart of Brimscombe, don’t mistake The Ship Inn for just another local establishment. The Ship has a friendly and cosy approach with their homely layout, top-quality menu (which changes daily), their generous selection of beers and more!

A local duo named Highway Men (not to be confused with The Highway Men) were one of the live music acts to play the festival on the Friday. Playing covers of various artists including Chris Stapleton’s version of Tennessee Whiskey, the singer, Josh Brown had a very soulful and powerful voice which showed similarities to that of Stapleton making the cover very comparable.

Other covers came from Old Crow Medicine Show or more recently Darius Rucker’s Wagon Wheel and John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads which they closed with. A voice that quite simply needs to be heard on a larger scale, I do wonder if the band have original material? However, we would love to hear covers of songs such as Drake White’s Makin’ Me Look Good Again which would really suit Josh Brown’s voice. The duo seemed to share vocals by taking turns on lead, although it was hard to hear one of the singers as his microphone seemed to not be as loud as his band mates. Due to this, I unfortunately couldn’t say what he performed. Hopefully another opportunity to see the duo play will rectify this.

After Highway Men were another local act who brought a bit of the US sound to the stage – Texas Tick Fever. The pair performed with exceptional musicianship from their remarkable banjo picking and wonderful guitar playing which along with their vocals, delivered a beautiful blend of Bluegrass, Americana and Roots music that I could have happily listened to all night. A duo quite clearly made for an energetic crowd, I would definitely like to see this act again in an environment where I can appreciate them a lot more. That isn’t to take anything away from the event nor the artists, it’s just often difficult to fully invest in a live show during such a social setting!

A fantastic set up, there were marquee’s in the pub garden and up into the car park and pop up vendors serving food and beers as an alternative to going to the main bar. There were no seats empty and people gathered around inside and outside of the pub. The environment was vibrant and homely – it is no wonder why it’s such a popular event. A different menu on offer each night, festival goers were treated with Thai, Portuguese, burgers and more! The food is always of great quality which The Ship Inn is well known for. You would be hard pressed to find any food less than excellent there!

Whilst we could only attend Friday night, we may be persuaded to pop in on Sunday for some Belgium Loaded Fries and live Jazz music!

Either way, we had a great time and look forward to next years event!