Hollywood actor John Rhys-Davies is to open this year’s beer and cider festival.

The CAMRA Isle of Man Beer and Cider Festival returns to the Villa Marina in Douglas next month.

John, who lives in Ramsey, is most famous for films including the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Indiana Jones and James Bond.

He will arrive by horse tram from Derby Castle to the Villa, bringing a cask of Festival Ale.

The ale, specially brewed by Bushey’s brewery, will go to help this year’s good cause, the Manx Wildlife Trust.

The trust helps to maintain 24 nature reserves, two visitor centres and a shop in Peel.

A donation from the sale of each pint will go to help MWT’s work of protecting and promoting wildlife and wild places in and around the island.

An MWT themed bar is one of the interesting features being introduced at this year’s festival.

All the beers have names associated with wildlife and their habitats. Another new feature will be a bar dedicated to beers and ciders brewed in Northern Ireland, which is rapidly embracing real ale and cider production.

The ciders are being sourced from small artisan producers from Armagh and County Down in Northern Ireland and Leominster in Herefordshire.

Another first for the festival will feature beers that have been brewed using old recipes, some dating back to Victorian times.

One such beer will be a Danish brew dating back to 1871. It will be a ’blast from the past’ - a chance to taste the ales that our grandparents and great grandparents drank. It’s a chance to discover whether our tastes have changed.

As in previous years, there will be a variety of food on sale in the Joe Loss suite and on Saturday the Grand National will be shown live from Aintree on a giant screen.

There will also be a food and beer tasting session with different beers being paired up with different foods in order to bring out the best of both.

Tickets for these sessions will be on a first come, first served basis so early booking is recommended.

More than 3,000 visitors attended last year’s festival.

This year the festival takes place from Thursday, April 12, to Saturday, April 14.

The bars will be in the Royal Hall, where more than 150 real ales, 40 ciders plus perries and fruit wines will be available.

Entry to the event costs £5.

Tickets are now available from the Villa Gaiety box office, the Welcome Centre at the Sea Terminal and online. They will also be available on the day. The festival is open from 5pm to 1pm on Thursday and noon to 11pm on Friday and Saturday.

For more information visit the festival website www.iombeerfestival.com.

The festival is sponsored by law firm Long and Humphrey.