Suffield Summer ¡Fiesta!

With the sun still set to shine for the final weekend of August, what better excuse could there have been to head out of the city in search of some good food and live musical entertainment. And so it was that, on the Saturday, I found myself at the Suffield Arms, a pub and restaurant on the privately owned Gunton Estate, just a few miles south of Cromer. There, the Suffield Arms were hosting a three day Summer Fiesta, being held outside, and with live music programmed for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday headliners were Kitty, Daisy and Lewis, the sibling trio from London whose infectious blend of R&B, soul and West Indian music I saw back in 2017 when they headlined a very similar event at the nearby Gunton Arms. Yesterday's all-day Friday line-up had already included performances from The Hanging Stars, Errol Linton and The Arlenes, as well as local favourites 4D Jones and Lucy Grubb (both of whom, strangely enough, had also both been on the bill at that same summer event at the Gunton Arms eight years earlier).

Saturday's music programme kicked off just after 1pm with a fine vocal performance from impressive young Norwich singer-songwriter Eleanor Yates, whose mixture of covers and original songs was peppered with a nice line in groan-worthy cheese-based jokes. Remember the name, and check out Norwich listing pages for future live dates in the city.

Robin Evans delivered a set of good old Southern blues, mixed with a generous helping of his own gothic rock and roll guitar, before Amy Rigby, a spoken word and singer songwriter from North Walsham, performed a set which included songs about her time living in upstate New York before she moved here with her husband. More about that later. (Oh, and in between Robin and Amy's sets we were even treated to a death-defying ten-minute aerobatic flying display.)

Kaspar and The Swamp Dogs might have first met in St Albans, but this trio's infectious brand of foot-tapping Blue Grass is certainly inspied by somewhere way south of Hertfordshire. And Norwich's Vieira and The Silvers seemed to be plundering musical influences from everywhere from 70's punk to Edvard Grieg. Led by enigmatic lead vocalist Diogo Vieira da Silva, it is little wonder that they have been described as the most exciting live band to come out of Norwich in years.

As the afternoon draws on, and plates of food and bottles of wine continue to arrive at the tables of diners on the terrace, it is the turn of punk rock legend Eric Goulden, better known to millions as Wreckless Eric, to entertain us. Taunting the diners for not pausing from their food or their conversations, he welcomes us into the marquee and shows that the passing years have softened neither his politics nor his principles, and certainly not his ability to rock out on stage. With a band that now includes his wife, the afore-mentioned Amy Rigby, we are in the presence of punk royalty, and are duly rewarded with 'Whole Wide World', the song from 1977 which still regularly appears in lists of the best punk anthems ever written.

America guitarist Bob Log III is something of a cult hero around these parts. He has played Norwich Arts Centre many times, but this is the first time that I have watched the crash-helmeted, jumpsuit-wearing blues guitarist perform a full set. Only now does the audience's desire to blow up party balloons to order, place pieces of freshly-burnt toast into their pockets, and drink Prosecco from an inflatable duck, finally begin to make sense.

And finally, as gentle rain finally begins to fall, the audience's enthusiasm remains undented as Kitty, Daisy and Lewis and their band take the stage for the evening's headline performance. It is their final live performance before Daisy begins maternity leave, but for tonight it is business as usual, and the Durham siblings work their way through a set that includes tracks going right back to their eponymous 2008 debut album release, and still has all three members frequently switching between instruments.