GRANDPARENTS throughout west Wiltshire are celebrating being able to visit their grandchildren and children and not be restricted to being outside or over six feet away.

Granny Lorraine Berridge, in Warminster, was one of the first to take advantage of the relaxation in social distancing to spend some time with her daughter Una Bradley, son-in-law Craig, and three of her grandchildren.

Mrs Berridge, 74, of Boreham Field, Warminster, has spent week after week in coronavirus isolation as advised by the government.

She is delighted that the rules have now been relaxed with the introduction of family and friends social bubbles.

She said: “It was like all my Christmases and birthdays coming together.

“When my granddaughter told me last Wednesday I might be able to come for the day I was really over the moon.

“I couldn’t sleep. And then when it was said I could stay for the weekend I almost cried.”

Mrs Bradley, her husband Craig and their children Poppy, Logan and James, live a five-minute walk away on the same housing estate and have kept in touch mostly by phone and social media.

After more than 80 days of social distancing, having before the lockdown enjoying almost daily meet-ups and face-to-face chats, the chance to get back a little bit more normality has put a big smile on the faces of the family.

Mrs Bradley said: “It was with great excitement that I learned that we could offer a support bubble to a single person and it could only ever be my mum.

“Mum had been on her own for 12 weeks. This week we wouldn’t have to deliver her Sunday dinner. She could take her rightful place at our table.”

The family celebrated the first day on Saturday by having a steak dinner with all the trimmings.

Mrs Bradley added: “I was acutely aware of how hard mum was finding the isolation and a socially distanced chat in the garden wasn’t lifting her spirits. It’s been wonderful for the whole family to welcome her back.”