A busy couple of days!

Enter September and what have we here? County Championship cricket washed down with a couple of CAMRA festivals, sounds simply too good to miss...

- Meadow Lane: Home of Notts County -

Thursday 5th September sees me bound for Notthingham where Warwickshire are taking on Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. Before I get to the cricket though there's exploring to be done, primarily focusing on the Notts County football stadium just across the river from local rivals Notts Forest. Meadow Lane isn't the prettiest of stadia but does include the Spion Kop and the Jimmy Sirrell Stand.

- Meadow Lane Lock -

Whilst in the vicinity of Meadow Lane I nip down onto the Nottingham Beeston Canal to photograph Meadow Lane Lock, a feature which marks the point at which the canal meets the River Trent.

- Trent Bridge: The Pavilion End -

And so to the cricket where I am joined by fellow Warwickshire supporters Stephen, Ken, Dougie and Mark. Starting the day on 27 for 2 in their second innings, the Bears bat through the day to finish 271 all out at the close. Noteworthy contributions came from Laurie Evans, who continued his recent fine form with a well-played 63, and from veteran Darren Maddy who battled hard for his 65 despite needing a runner - in fact at one stage both batsmen had runners, making for quite an unusual sight!

- The carrots were smaller this year! -

Thursday evening and I leave the cricket early so as to stop off at Tamworth on the way home. Why Tamworth I hear you ask? Well the town's 20th beer festival was underway in the Assembly Rooms complete with the promise of some exotic flavour combinations among the ales. Nickolenko has already made himself at home with a Mud Brawler by the time I arrive, and between us we sample chocolate, carrot, cherry and custard, not to mention Nick's mint-infused offering which tasted strongly like toothpaste!

- Cider and Scotch? -

Friday 6th September is a case of another day, another festival only this time the venue is West Bromwich Town Hall, setting for the inaugural West Midlands Cider and Perry event. The tantalising tipples here included a Painted Lady, a Stinking Bishop and even an Old Goat (especially for Nick) while the scotch eggs definitely got our seal of approval. A quick half in the Old Hop Pole then allowed us to watch a bit of England vs Moldova football to bring the curtain down on two rather fine days.