Landlady Pat Hard had a great idea for beating the credit crunch and creating a ‘wish you were here’ feeling for punters at her Chippenham pub.

She turned the car park into a beach so customers unable to afford a holiday or even a day at the seaside could enjoy the next best thing in landlocked Wiltshire.

The sandy stretch at the Crown Inn at Giddeahall, near Yatton Keynell, cost £2,000. It was money well spent, because Ms Hard’s idea to dump 40 tonnes of it to make the beach, complete with boats, buckets and spades, has landed a prestigious British Pub Award for most creative outside area in the south west.

She said: “I am thrilled and so pleased the idea has worked. I will be going to the finals at the Hilton in London in September to see if I have won the national award.

“I came up with the idea really because so many families won’t be able to go away on holiday with the economy being the way it is so I thought I should create a little holiday atmosphere here.

“I also had customers who said they couldn’t afford to take their children to the beach because of soaring costs.

The beach has been a huge hit – the children love it and the parents can sit and watch as they muck about in the sand – it’s great.”

Customers love the beach so much that Ms Hard has organised a sleep-over tomorrow, where families can pitch tents in the sand and enjoy an evening under the stars.

The sand was put in place at the beginning of June and will stay there along with deckchairs until the end of the summer.

The Crown Inn is now in the British Pub Awards finals in London on September 9 it they could be named as the pub with the best creative outside area in the UK.