TWO of Wiltshire's most rural pubs hope to cash in on their countryside locations once time is called to open up with social distancing.

The Seven Stars in Bottlesford and The Golden Swan in Wilcott are both using shutdown to reconfigure how people can eat and drink outside.

"We've also had a major deep clean of everything from the curtains to the floorboards, " said Pat Coupland of the Golden Swan. Husband Dave, meanwhile, has built an outside pizza oven, which is now doing such a roaring trade in takeaway pizzas he say he might need another one.

"I am really looking forward to being open again," he said. "I am used to chatting to people every night and pouring drinks - I've not know what to do with myself of an evening!"

Both pubs have been figuring out the two metre distancing, which they say is possible in a country pub with big gardens, marquees and fields to use, but are awaiting further news from the government on guidelines.

Seven Stars landlord Graham Thompson is gearing up to keep the focus on food at the popular gastro pub by starting off taking bookings for tables for dining, with drinks.

He has invested his time in building a market garden - with a vast polytunnel and a series of raised beds to grow his own produce to cook and sell. Like the Golden Swan, takeaways have taken off, so he plans to keep those going too.

He is also building composting toilets outside so people don't have to go into the pub itself.

But he is most excited about continuing the community spirit engendered by the pandemic. "The Seven Stars used to be the HQ of The Queen's Club - a friendly society for the local agricultural community," he said. "The local community has really come together and I would like the pub to become the social hub of the village and to keep the role of supporting vulnerable or needy people going."