When licensee Percy Caufield decided to go back into the pub trade after spending nine months living on a narrow boat, he couldn't resist bringing a bit of canal life back with him.

So when he and partner Catherine Ansell moved into the North Arms, at Wroxton, near Banbury, traditional canalware was one of the first things to be unpacked.

He said: "I had been in the licensed trade for years, running pubs in Oxford and Milton Keynes. "I just got to the point where I wanted a break from it all so I settled myself on a narrow boat and spent the next nine months enjoying the countryside and spending time with my family."

But the pub life still beckoned. Two years ago, Percy and Catherine took over as Morrells' tenants at The Harrow, in Enstone.

And this month, when Richard and Elke Smart left the North Arms to move to Scotland, the couple were more than happy to step into their shoes.

"The North Arms is a delight," said Percy. "It's the type of pub that people who have always dreamed of owning a pub spend their redundancy money on. "It has roses round the door, a wonderful garden and no juggernauts going past. It's just great."

Moving into the North Arms with Percy and Catherine are the rest of their family - daughters Charlie, three, Robyn, eight, and son Ben, 14.

Robyn has enrolled at Wroxton Primary School and Ben has joined The Warriner School in Bloxham.

Story date: Monday 08 November

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.