IT might have quite been sombrero weather in a village near Devizes on Saturday but that did not stop three Spanish friends getting in the spirit of Seend Beer Festival.

The 17th running of the beer festival attracted a sell out crowd of people of all ages to Seend Community Centre to try out 32 different beers and nine ciders.

Organiser Richard Todhunter said: "It was a very good day. One of the best we have ever had. The weather stayed dry even if there was a bit of a chill wind.

"It is a lovely village event with a lot of people from Seend along with their friends and families taking part.

"We offer the tickets in advance to villagers before they go on general sale. This year we sold out a week before the festival."

Among those trying out the ales were Mr Todhunter's Spanish friends Emilio Munez, Jose Luis Munez and Jose Manuel Espergo.

Mr Todhunter said: "They seemed to enjoy themselves."

Music was provided throughout the day by George Wilding, Burbank and Indecision. Mr Todhunter said: "The festival is held in the community centre but there is plenty of outside space on the field so during the day youngsters could run around outside."

Mr Todhunter started the festival back in 2001 when the area was hit by foot and mouth disease. He said: "I work in the agricultural industry so I couldn't do anything for a number of weeks so to fill up the time I decided to organise a beer festival and it has been going ever since."

One of the favourite tipples of the day was the cider aptly called Happy Daze. With nearly 300 gallons of beer and cider on offer plenty of people probably felt their condition matched the name.

Each ticket holder was given a half pint commemorative glass. Mr Todhunter now has a full set of 17 mugs.