Tuesday 2nd August saw me on the Fuller’s Brewery Facebook page as I wanted to let them know about a review of one of their pubs that I done. Whilst there however, I saw a competition to win a pair of tickets to the “Caught by the River Thames” festival taking place on the 6th and 7th of August.

All you had to do was tag the person that you would take with you and why. Well, knowing that Little Chick loves gigs, but being a poor student can barely afford them, I thought I would nominate her.

My theory behind this was that if by some fluke I got picked out the hat, she could then go with a friend and have a jolly good time!

Well, imagine my total surprise when I got a message from the lovely people at Fullers telling me I had won a pair of tickets! Then comes the tricky part; I had to be one of the ticket users, and could take any guest of my choice.

Now, given that this was a 2 day event at pretty short notice, I was unable to sort any accommodation out, so knew I would have to do it in two separate trips if I planned to make it to both days.

The event was taking place at Fulham Palace and was billed as two days of remarkable music, arts and nature. The headlining acts included Low, Beth Orton and Super Furry Animals.

As you know I am always up for an adventure and so we worked out what was our best plan of action.

Deciding to head down by car, we parked at our usual spot in St John’s Wood and hopped on the train. As we had arrived very early we decided to head to Oxford Street for a little retail therapy first. I was so glad that we did as my flip flops were rubbing like mad and I wanted to get something else to wear on my feet. Little Chick bundled a load of summer clothes in her basket and we both added a few treats.

After we finished shopping we decided to go and eat before heading over to Fulham. I had spotted a lovely pub, The Marlborough Head and so we decided to give it a try.

I opted for the Big Ben Burger  A towering London landmark burger, topped with crispy bacon, Cheddar cheese, a fried free-range egg and crispy onion rings whilst Little Chick had the 1730 Chicken Burger  a fillet of chicken topped with Cheddar cheese and crispy bacon, served 1730 pale ale BBQ sauce. We both absolutely loved the meals, they were really tasty and so well cooked. It set us up for the day perfectly.

We hopped back on the tube at Bond Street heading for Putney Bridge. Once we arrived there we took the Thames Walk down to Bishops Park. This was a lovely picturesque walk along the river, the sun was shining and we were both in pretty happy and chilled moods.

Arriving at the Park we were ticked off the guest list and quickly had our bags looked at. And then we were in! We immediately decided to find a patch to put out blanket down on, before heading to the beer tent, after all we had won the tickets with Fullers!

There was lots of activities going on, and the smells from all the different street food stalls made our mouths water. Setting our belongings down, we rubbed in the factor 50 and settled in to listen to the different groups playing. I can’t honestly remember the last time I felt quite so relaxed!

We sat with our glasses of Pimms and literally did nothing! We had a book each and we chilled out listening to some amazing music whilst reading; just what the doctor ordered.

After a while we had a wander and tried a few of the stalls. The first one was Purbeck ice cream. The Vanilla Bean was possibly the best vanilla ice cream I have ever tasted and it was perfect 0n a hot summers day.

There was every kind of food you could wish for! Burgers, Bombay street food, Crepes, Churros, Paella, Vegetarian wraps filled rutabaga curry, Macarons and even gourmet sandwiches. Literally everything anyone could ask for!

Sitting in the sun for the whole afternoon listening to a variety of music was so refreshing. It was great to spend time with Little Chick before she disappears back off to Uni and we really did have the best weather.

More Sunbathing and some Paella later and we were full, happy and more than a little tired. Knowing we had a long journey ahead of us we didn’t stay right to the end of the day, but left around 830pm.

All in all, it was a fabulous day; the music was great, the food amazing and the company….well it was just perfect!