Peter and Barbara Hunniford had no idea they were moving in to run their first pub with a couple of mischievous ghosts.

But as well as contending with frothy pints and perfecting home-made recipes the first-time landlords also have to deal with phantom activities and furniture that moves by itself.

But Peter and Barbara, who took over the Spa Inn six weeks ago and have no experience with pubs or ghosts, have yet to meet the dancing ghost in their back garden.

The couple, from Southampton, had hoped running a pub would be a stress-free career move, but said they hadn't bargained on the ghosts. And their nerves have not been improved by their regular customers who take great delight in regaling the couple with the pub's ghost stories.

They first began to suspect the 16th Century pub had other-worldly residents when they looked around it earlier this year and the old landlady shared her experiences.

Barbara said: "A friend who looked around the pub with us asked the estate agent if there were ghosts because the pub is so old. "I said I didn't want to know but the landlady told us someone had seen a girl dancing in the garden while she had been there."

• Story originally published by:
Gloucester Echo via This is Gloucestershire - Oct 26.01

All Copyrights© are acknowledged.
Material reproduced here is for
educational and research purposes only.