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<\/a><\/div>\nIt\u2019s often said that it\u2019s a woman\u2019s prerogative to change In full swing this weekend, 18\u201320 September 2026, <\/span><\/span><\/b>the event sounded I don\u2019t need to go into the full history of the Bluebell Steam trains rolled into East Grinstead<\/b> for the first time I was all set to head to the festival the following day, the So, time for a rethink? Looking at this subjectively, I Looking further at admission charges, the best known and What did I do instead? Well, watch this space, but before After pitching the tent, we introduced ourselves to the John <\/b>had brought a camping stove with him, a two-burner We ate the mushrooms, along with the rest of the fry-up
\nher mind, but truth be told, men are just as capable of a last\u2011minute rethink.
\nCase in point: my plans for the Bluebell Railway Beer Festival,<\/i><\/b> <\/a>which takes
\nplace this weekend. It was a festival I knew nothing about, until\u00a0Thursday
\n<\/b>evening, when I accidentally stumbled across a press release on behalf of the
\nrailway. <\/span><\/strong>Running across
\nmultiple<\/span><\/span> <\/span>stations<\/span><\/span><\/strong>,<\/b> <\/span>with steam trains linking bars, live
\nmusic, food stalls, and more than 80\u2013100
\nales and ciders, <\/span><\/span>depending on the source, the Bluebell Railway Beer Festival<\/b><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/strong>is one of the biggest heritage railway beer events in the country.<\/p>\n
\nlike a good idea: heritage trains, good beer, and a railway that now runs right
\nthrough to East Grinstead, <\/b>where you can hop straight onto the National Rail
\n<\/b>network. Getting there seemed straightforward enough, even though it would still
\ninvolve a couple of bus journeys, but Metrobus 291<\/b> runs hourly between Tunbridge
\nWells<\/b> and Crawley<\/b> (via East Grinstead<\/b>), making the trip perfectly doable. More
\nimportantly, it offered the ideal excuse to ride the \u201cnew\u201d<\/i><\/b>\u00a0– relatively
\nspeaking \u2014 Bluebell Railway<\/b> extension from East Grinstead<\/b> all the way down to
\nHorsted Keynes<\/b> and Sheffield Park,<\/b> the two stations that formed the original
\nheart of the line.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nRailway <\/b>here, although it\u2019s fair to say I\u2019ve watched its progress with interest
\nfor decades. Heritage railways have become numerous over the years, each facing
\nits own hurdles as they\u2019ve worked to reconnect isolated stretches of track to
\nthe national network. The Bluebell\u2019s<\/b> long\u2011awaited extension to East Grinstead<\/b><\/span> <\/span>reached
\nits triumphant conclusion on 23rd March 2013,<\/b><\/span> <\/b>marking the end of one of Britain\u2019s<\/b> most ambitious
\nheritage railway projects. After decades of fundraising, land purchases,
\nengineering work, and the monumental task of clearing around 80,000 tonnes<\/b> of domestic waste
\n<\/span><\/span>from the Imberhorne cutting,<\/b>\u00a0which the local authority had used as a rubbish tip, the preserved line finally reconnected with the
\nnational rail network.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nsince the 1950s, <\/b>crossing the restored Imberhorne
\nViaduct<\/b><\/span> and arriving at a newly built platform in the old goods
\nyard. The opening day saw packed trains, celebrations, and a sense of
\nachievement shared by volunteers and supporters who had spent nearly 40 years <\/b><\/span>turning the
\ndream of a northern extension into reality. Today, the extension not only
\ncompletes the Bluebell\u2019s historic route but also makes it one of the most
\naccessible heritage railways in the country\u2014allowing visitors to step off a
\nmodern Southern Railway<\/b> service and straight onto a steam train bound for the
\nSussex Weald.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nplan was made, the route mapped out, and the anticipation building. And then,
\nas sometimes happens, life (and my own mind) decided to intervene. The
\nstumbling block was the beer festival, rather than the railway, especially as
\nit was the latter that I was much more interested in attending. With an entry price of \u00a312, <\/b>which included a souvenir glass, but then with tokens required for beer purchases, the event was beginning to look more
\nand more like a CAMRA beer festival,<\/b> without the campaigning aspect. Then there
\nwas the cost of travel on the Bluebell Railway\u2019s<\/b> trains, with an Adult Rover 3rd<\/sup>
\nClass Ticket,<\/b> allowing all day travel up and down the line, between East
\nGrinstead <\/b>and Sheffield Park, <\/b>costing \u00a330, <\/b>the event was starting to look like
\na rather expensive day out.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nwould prefer to visit the railway on a normal weekend, primarily to ride up and
\ndown on the trains, and yes, I don\u2019t mind paying 30 quid <\/b>to do so. Furthermore,
\nif I fancy a beer or two, which I invariably will, then there are pubs at both
\nSheffield Park and Horsted Keynes<\/b>, and also at East Grinstead.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>I\u2019ve basically gone off the whole concept of beer festivals,
\nCAMRA<\/b> \u2013 run or not, and whilst I appreciate these events have to cover their
\ncosts, I object to paying an admission charge, especially when on top of that I
\nhave to purchase a souvenir glass that I don\u2019t want, and which sometimes
\ndoesn\u2019t include a cash refund for handing the thing in, at the end of the day.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nmost famous beer festival in the world, namely, Munich\u2019s Oktoberfest,<\/b> doesn\u2019t
\ncharge visitors to get in. The same applies to other, similar European events
\nsuch as Annafest<\/b> or\u00a0Fr\u00e4nkisches Bierfest<\/b>,. I\u2019m sure there are other examples, although
\nin most cases, I\u2019d rather go to a local pub or bar, and help out the local
\neconomy, at source. <\/p>\n
\nleaving the Bluebell Railway<\/b>, I\u2019d like to recall a visit I made to a
\nscaled-down beer festival, at the very same venue. Forty years ago, I visited
\nthe railway with my friend John<\/b>, from Maidstone.<\/b> This is the very same John <\/b>who
\nI met up with in Lenham,<\/b> a couple of months ago. We drove over to Horsted Keynes<\/b>
\nin John\u2019s<\/b> VW Polo<\/b>, complete with a tent in the boot, ready for an overnight
\nstay.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\norganisers, as we\u2019d both volunteered to do a stint behind the bar. I can\u2019t
\nremember much else about the event, apart from it being busy, although despite
\nthe rush of people, we still found time to take a train down to Sheffield Park<\/b>.
\nArriving back at the adjacent campsite \u2013 a field, with the odd, strategically
\nplaced, chemical toilet, I\u2019ve no recollection on how we slept, although I
\nimagine the several beers we\u2019d both consumed, must have helped us drift off to
\nsleep.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/b><\/div>\n
\naffair sufficient for a kettle, plus a frying pan, so a welcoming morning brew,
\nto help with the start of the day, plus that all important fry-up. Eggs, bacon,
\nsausages and possibly some beans as well, but also some field mushrooms<\/b> that we
\nharvested the previous afternoon. We thought they were probably field
\nmushrooms, and they certainly looked as though they were, but seeing as neither
\nof us were expert on fungi, we were taking a bit of a gamble.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\ningredients, but there was still a very slight nagging doubt in the back of
\nboth of our minds which said, \u201csupposing those mushrooms weren\u2019t supposed to be
\neaten, what would happen next?\u201d <\/i><\/b>We kept an eye on one another for possible
\nsymptoms of poisoning, although in those pre-internet days, there wasn\u2019t much
\ninformation for us to help us, or even to refer to.<\/p>\n