Hooky family gives Hope to a dad who lost his Father's Day treat to lockdown

However, Mr Hope's daughter and son decided their Dad would not go without a decent celebration with a selection of ales to try on the day and they organised their own festival in the family back garden.

On Saturday the family enjoyed a suitably distanced event with no fewer than 30 different beers to taste. And for the pig roast they barbecued some pork.

"The Hook Norton Festival of Fine Ales 26th anniversary was due to take place on Saturday but it had to be cancelled some time back because of the coronavirus emergency," said Mr Hope - who is the Banbury Guardian's correspondent for Hook Norton.

"For Father’s Day, my daughter Rachael and son-in-law Andrew with their son Finn, and my son Adam with his wife Chloe with their daughter Imogen, presented me with a promise to create our own lockdown festival in my garden.

"So a marquee went up with a bar sporting 30 different bottled and keg beers. Not quite the 130 barrels that there’d normally be at the brewery but it was amazing.

"In a required socially distanced way, we enjoyed the beers together and instead of the festival’s hog roast, they barbecued pork for the afternoon and a customary family curry for dinner.

"Music is a big thing at the festival and my daughter Rachael, who has sung on a number of occasions, gave us a little live music too. It was such a wonderful day, courtesy of the children and my wife Hazel, of course. We probably got through 20 during the day. The four beer drinking adults gave each beer a score out of ten and Butcombe Gold came out on top with a score of 31."

The family took a break in the middle of their festival to tour the village to see the fabulous display of scarecrows which included their own which was perched outside their home in Beanacre. It's lopsided stoop was nothing to do with the beer, said Mr Hope.