Villagers are in mourning for the former landlady of a popular pub.

Sheila Baker ran the Walnut Tree in Bull Lane, Eccles, with her husband Frank in the late 1970s and '80s.

She died in her sleep on Thursday, January 19, at the Winchester House Care Home in Wouldham where she had been living for the past 18 months. She was 87.

Born in 1935, she grew up in Luton in Chatham.

Mrs Baker would regale her sons Phillip and Andrew with tales of standing on the house step and watching the German bombers fly over during the Second World War.

On leaving school, she become a seamstress, and even went to work for a while in America.

She met her husband when he was the landlord of the Queen’s Head pub in Maidstone Road, Wigmore, near Gillingham.

In 1977, the couple took over the Walnut Tree, which at the time did indeed have a walnut tree in the grounds.

Sadly it was lost that year in a gale, but Mrs Baker arranged for the planting of a replacement which is still there today.

Even though it had been a central feature of the village since 1861, the pub itself is not.

It was demolished in 2012 and the site re-developed for housing.

Mr Baker had two sons and a daughter from a previous relationship and the couple had two sons together.

Mr Baker passed away 10 years ago.

Phillip Baker, 50, described his mother as “very caring.”

He said: “She cared for our Dad and then we he passed, she carried on caring for other people in the village.”

“There were some people for whom she would go and do their ironing, that sort of thing.”

Her husband Frank had also had a spell as a stand-up comedian, and Mrs Baker was said to have had a great sense of humour too.

Andrew Baker, 60, said: “You could say we grew up in a house full of laughter.”

He said: “She was obviously very well thought of in the village.

“We’ve had some lovely tributes paid to her since her death.”

Her funeral is at Medway Crematorium on Wednesday, February 8, at 3.30pm.