Marston Trussell: A beer festival but no pub

When I first went to work in Leicester, we used to go out to a country pub for our Christmas lunch. I suggested the Sun Inn at Marston Trussell near Market Harborough, and we went there a couple of times.

That was long ago, and the Sun has been closed for some years now - though not before hosting the first British Big Cats Conference. It now seems unlikely that it will reopen.

But that has not stopped Marston Trussell holding a beer festival this weekend in the village hall - a mid 19th century building that was originally a school.

I went there this afternoon. You can walk across the fields from Market Harborough, but as there were showers around I compromised by catching the bus to Lubenham and walking the mile from there.

There was a good selection of local beers and cider, and I enjoyed the chance to rediscover this small village. Back in the 1980s it not only had a pub: you could buy secondhand books from one of the houses at the weekend.