When it comes to wetting the baby’s head, new dad James Dench was in just the right place when his first child arrived - as he’d taken on running a pub the day before.

James, 31, became the new licensee at the Bucks Head in Godden Green, Sevenoaks, on Friday when wife Hope was due to give birth any day.

But baby Nora Violet didn’t want to miss out on the first weekend running the Shepherd Neame pub and promptly arrived the following evening.

The couple, who were living a stone’s throw away from the pub in Seal when they agreed to take it on, became first time parents on Saturday via emergency C-section. Both mum and baby are doing well.

James said: “It is daunting doing both at the same time but running a pub is something we have always wanted to do so we will make it work.”

Hope, 29, added: “We’re just throwing a baby into the mix!

"We know lots of people who have grown up in pubs and I think it’s a great way to bring up kids.”

It seems the local wildlife agree, as a mother duck hatched a brood of nine ducklings on the pond at the front of the pub just as they moved in.

It may be the first pub for James, but the couple have pub life in their veins. They met as teenagers while working as a kitchen hand and a pot washer at the Duke of Wellington in Ryarsh 15 years ago.

And one of their prized additions to the rural pub will be a last orders bell, given to them by Hope’s grandfather, who used to run Ye Olde Leather Bottle in Northfleet.

They also have their six-year-old dog Perrita with them, who they adopted in Panama when they went travelling for a year in 2016.

James said: “We used to walk here with the dog. There are some lovely walks in this area and the pub is dog-friendly, and we will be continuing that.

“We want to keep the look of the pub and we want it to be really community-led which is really important to us.”

He added: “We always wanted to have a pub. We know it; like it; it is a good pub. We felt we couldn’t turn it down.”

James trained as a chef at Westminster College and worked at several venues in London. Most recently, he has been working at nearby Chart Farm farm shop, and he will be getting to work in the kitchen on new menus in the coming weeks.

They hope to offer quality pub classics to customers and will have a regularly changing menu. They aim to make small, gradual changes, including improving the community room in the back of the pub for outside groups to use, and later improve the garden at the back.

Outgoing licensee Helen Paraskevas and husband Michael have retired to Crete, Greece, after 18 years.

She said: “We have loved the pub but we are ready to retire. It has been a huge part of our lives and it was emotional to say goodbye.”

The Bucks Head will be open every day except Tuesdays. Find out more here.