DEREK and June Jarvis have taken to the pub trade straight away. They have only been in the job for three months and already they are scooping top awards.

The 53-year-olds are the landlady and landlord of the Lord Nelson in York Village, Langho. And in their first three months they have scooped the 'Best Kept Public House' award 2003, which is part of the Lancashire Best Kept Village Competition.

Yet Derek and June had no professional experience of running a pub before August.

Derek was a contracts manager for a construction firm and June had retired from a job in local government.

Derek said: "We felt we were ready for a new challenge. We were looking for businesses in Spain or perhaps a coffee shop in this country. We were driving and we saw the sign for here. Within two weeks we were in. It was incredibly easy."

Now Derek is turning his hobby of cooking into a profession by providing a new menu of traditional Lancashire fare.