A care home is building a log cabin pop-up pub in its grounds as staff plan for residents' first locked-down winter.

Barnes Lodge, in Tudeley Lane, Tonbridge , accepts the risk which prevents residents being able to visit their relatives or pop to their local for a pint may not be going away any time soon.

So, as the months get colder, the care home is building a log cabin to replace a gazebo used during summer to stage socially distanced family reunions. There will even by a perspex screen which can run down the middle.

But their plans don't stop there.

Gina Bodiam, deputy manager, said: "We are accepting this is the new normal, we have got to think how best we can deal with that.

"We are going to make it into the Barnes Arms, they all love having a pub environment, usually we go to the local pub in the village but we can't do that.

"We can have board games and a little bar so they can have a little tipple at the end of the day."

The cabin is expected to be finished by the end of October.

The home, which has 54 residents, has not lost anyone to coronavirus, although two have tested positive but displayed no symptoms. Two members of staff also tested positive but their symptoms were mild.

The start of the pandemic was an "extremely scary" time for staff, confronted with daily unknowns about the virus.

Like homes across the country, visitors were barred, PPE was bought and staff quickly became experts at organising Facetime sessions with family.

"Over time we have kept it under control, whether that has been luck or judgement I'm not sure. We haven't had the worst case scenario and it's become part of life now," the nurse, with more than 30 years of experience, said.

As lockdown restrictions eased, residents were able to meet beloved relatives again and the hair dresser and podiatrist could return, fully decked in PPE.

Ms Bodiam admits she is worried about the prospect of winter, with coronavirus cases expected to rise as well as flu.

"I am very happy that my residents are safe and secure, they are safe in their bubble. I worry more about the staff. We are doing everything we possibly can, staff don't wear their uniform outside of the home, they are tested weekly.

"But people have got to live their lives out there and if it's out in the community we are more likely to pick it up."

She added that the care does not take any chances, and if the staff get any symptoms, or their family does, they would not come into work.

Read more: All the latest news from Tonbridge