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Home Ground & Googies have teamed up and will be holding our first annual Belgium Beer Festival this coming Bank Holiday Weekend. There will be a selection of over 30 Belgium Beers to choose from plus a weekend of live music events at both venues. More details to be revealed nearer the date. So make a note in your diaries for this fantastic Summer event.

There will be a A good mix of well known, Blonde, Brune / Double, Triple, Fruit, Wheat, Gueze / Sour and Strong… there is sure you will find something to raise a smile.

For such a small country, Belgium has an astonishingly wide range of breweries and beer styles. Add to this the fact that the number of different beers carried in many bars are often numbered in the hundreds
(for example, Kulminator in Antwerpen lists over 400 beers on its menu) and someone new to Belgian beer can easily feel overwhelmed by the choice available. It’s not for nothing that the Confederation of Belgian Brewers describes the country as “Beer Paradise.”

Googies and Home Ground have 30 different beers, 15 in each venue. For those of you who apply yourselves and complete the score card of all 30 over the 4 days, we will be presenting a specially engraved Belgian beer festival glass.

Saturday 28th…. THE FAUX-HEMIANS play @ Googies from 7.30pm.

Sunday 29th… Surprise guests, classically trained entertainment from 2pm - 5pm…expect to be amazed

BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY 30 August….. CLUB BELINGO present Nick Harrison, The Magnets, Dan Lucas and the Tatterrattles performing out front of Googies

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On Saturday I had popped into the Sandgate Arts and Crafts Fair which is held monthly in The Chichester Hall, Sandgate. It is a new market so I wanted to have a little nose around to see what was there and I was very pleasantly surprised.

There were many lovely items on display: beautiful handmade earings, bracelets and other jewelry, paintings by local people, patchwork goodies and many other exicting things. I wanted to buy most of the items on display but finally settled on a beautiful patchwork table runner - and I have plans to use it as a wall hanging because it was such lovely cheerful colours. I will certainly have to go back next time to buy something else and my guess is that this event will now be a regular part of my Saturday morning from here on. For more information or to book a space to sell your work on one or more of the above dates please contact mirandabest@talktalk.net

When I came out of the Arts & Craft Fair I wondered across the road to see what all the fuss was about - I could see lots of people going into the new bicycle shop The Hub.

I had popped into The Hub a week or so ago - the shop is full of stunning bicycles and I couldn’t resist a look. This business is owned and run by Sara and Simon Barnes The Hub, a triple fronted shop, has a huge range of cycles and specialises in makes such as: Marin, Electra, MirraCo, Sunday - and also has a range of Cycling clothing and helmets too. The white bike in the window is very beautiful and reminds me of days long gone - it is based on an original design but made with new materials and given a contemporary treatment - just beautiful! If you already have a bike - The Hub can also offer a full service and repairs when needed. Oh…I forgot to mention…the reason I popped over on Saturday was because lots of people were going into The Hub…so I wondered over and popped my head in and found a lovely contemporary coffee shop where we bought two coffees and home made cake. What a delight that place is!! - a lovely big space, furnished in contemporary style - just the right place to sit down to read the papers (which are also on hand) whilst considering which bike you would like to buy. A brilliant idea and a welcome addition to Sandgates High Street.

If you want to find out more contact The Hub by email at: thehubcycleshop@hotmail.co.uk or tel: 01303 210311. A new website will be up and running soon at: www.thehubcycleshop.com The Hub can be found at: 61-63 Sandgate High Street, Sandgate, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 3AH

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What do you think of the new modernist design that is intended to replace Jetty’s? Personally, i think it stands out like a sour thumb. It is slap bang centre in an un-spoilt area of the harbour, and is this the way that things are to be? I’m in favour of change but its got to fit the area a design that had a traditional frontage and look would have been far better.

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Although I haven’t popped into The Frenchman recently, I wanted to write this little review of my last visit.

The Frenchman. Christchurch Road, Folkestone. CT20 2SX (tel: 01303 259815)

It is not in Folkestones main shopping precinct, so you probably may not just happen across it - but if you are walking down Christchurch Road, as I was, then do pop in to The Frenchman because it is lively, friendly and welcoming.

First to the surroundings - the L shaped bar area was freshly decorated in contemporary colours and was clean and well lit with nice wooden floors - furnishings were adequate, not lavish, but perfectly suited to the environment - outside looked freshly decorated too. There is a dart board, pool table and TV monitors around the place.

It was the music that pulled me into The Frenchman as I was walking back to my car - but the first thing I noticed as I walked through the door were the customers who were obviously appreciating the music - a real mix of ages and types - but all friendly. I went to the bar and the gentleman serving the drinks was also very friendly and welcoming - as if I was one of the regulars.

A bit more about the music on this particular evening which was a mix of traditional celtic and modern covers delivered by a three piece band tunefully, loudly and boisterously, and which was the reason I had ventured into The Frenchman because I couldn’t resist that loud happy lively sound. As I sat listening to the music and enjoying my glass of wine one of the customers walked past me on the way to the Ladies, and she stopped to exchange a few words of welcome too.

So was the experience good enough to make me go there again? Yes absolutely!! I do not visit pubs on my own often so do not have what I would call a ‘local’ - but if I lived closer I would definitely call The Frenchman my local.

p.s. I am told The Frenchman also have wifi.

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Having heard so much about the new art cafe Googies and given the weather on Sunday was a little extreme so gardening was definitely off the menu I decided to pop along to the Sunday happening at Googies - music and poetry was promised and it had to be better than a wet afternoon watching TV I thought.

I arrived a little late, Folkestone seemed absolutely empty - un-surprisingly as it was dark, wet and windy - but the door to Googies was open and it was warm and friendly inside and I took my seat at one of the tables. Steve came along to take my order of Moroccan lamb stew and I settled down to enjoy the afternoon.

Musicians kept a-coming in carrying their guitars..and the music (solos, duets, singers) and poetry readings flowed seamlessly compered by the enthusiastic and supportive Trevor. Some of the musicians I recognised as being well known local musicians and some were, as far as I could tell, new to the local music scene. Poetry readings interspersed the music - local people who had created lyrical prose - Louis, Sharon, Di and Dan all controlling their first time nerves to complete their readings to appreciative applause. It felt like a gathering of friends and when certain well loved songs were recognised we joined in with the phrases that we knew.

I was sitting close to Di, who had read some poems earlier, we were chatting about the musicians and how relaxing the afternoon had been - she summed it up in one word, it was Googielicious and she was right.

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