THE porcine showbiz stars of a hit TV commercial have earned their place on a retirement farm near Swindon.

The rural retreat at Butts Farm, near South Cerney, has become the home of the Zurich Flying Pigs after the hectic filming schedule that culminated in their small screen debuts recently.

With the commercials in the can, the traditional white pigs, which took to the skies to the stirring theme of 633 Squadron, can look forward to living in the sort of environment that is not to be snuffled at.

In the commercial a farmer prepares a grass runway, which is suddenly taken over by galloping pigs that take off into the sky.

The pigs were plucked from obscurity, but were spared the slaughterhouse when Butts Farm was nominated as a suitable venue at which they could spend their formative years.

Farm owner Judy Hancox, 43, has attended to their every whim and even fitted specially crafted arks, traditional pig palaces, to ensure they live in the sort of accommodation to which they have become accustomed but warned the pampering will not last forever.

She said: "They arrived here to enjoy a long and prosperous retirement, but I intend to look after them as farm animals to make sure they don't become too fat. They are well aware of their new found status as TV stars and walk around the farm with a bit of a swagger they're real attention seekers.

"I've got a big selection of rare breeds on the farm including Gloucester Old Spot pigs and they look at me as if to say 'why are they getting all the attention?'

"The TV commercial was lovely, but I will not let fame go to their heads I reckon I'll need to design a special fitness programme for them."

Swindon-based insurance company Zurich decided to use the animals as a dramatic visualisation to convey the message "we do things that you would not believe".

David Walton of Joshua, the company which made the advertisement, said: "We want this campaign to be talked about. We want people to say 'goodness, how on earth did they do that? they've achieved the impossible and made pigs fly'. If we can get them to say that and to associate Zurich's name with the sentiment, then we've done our job."

Butts Farm, which has yet to name the pigs, is open to visitors all summer. Call 01285 862205 for details.