There’s nothing quite like a bit of local music and a few drinks in the pub to make you appreciate living in the countryside. And you can’t ask for a better slice of that idyllic lifestyle than Thursday nights round the Village Inn in Shanklin. What a fantastic little pub it is. On entering you feel as if you’ve walked into someone’s home rather than a pub (perhaps the world’s smallest large screen TV shoved above the fireplace adds to this feeling) and the lighting, produced by the wonderful orangey stain glass lampshades, gives the impression that the place is glowing with warmth. Once you’ve grabbed a pint, take a seat by one of the two fires and once you’re suitably snug you can sit back and listen to the soothing acoustic tones of the Inn’s Thursday night residents, Sean and Tom.
Playing an arrangement of folk tunes, the two guitarists are the perfect backing to the pub’s setting. Harmonizing beautifully and seemingly enjoying a little jam, the pair casually play the tunes like they’re chilling out at home.  I must say I recognised a mere handful of the tunes they played but that really wasn’t the point. The music was there to add to the ambience and not to take focus away from the customer’s conversation and the musicians know that. I catch a few tunes I know, namely one Foo Fighters song, a couple Radiohead songs and even a Gomez tune, but all in all I simple enjoyed the wonderful setting that the pub and music pitched perfectly to me. It was a lovely pint indeed.