The village runs its own website and Facebook page and, in the past, I’d read that there were issues with keeping The Wheatsheaf, the village pub, open. To be fair, The Wheatsheaf is a big old thatched building. Maintenance isn’t going to come cheap.
However, things have taken a turn in recent months and it looks like the village itself (or at least part of it) is looking at ways to take over the pub, as it’s regarded as an integral part of the community. This has possibly become easier to attempt since it was listed by Wiltshire Council as, 'an Asset of Community Value’ in 2013:
http://marlborough.ourcommunitymatters.org.uk/news/village-pub-becomes-new-community-asset/
However, there are lots of hurdles, not least financial, to overcome first.
I do my bit, when I’m passing, by making sure I drop in for a drink and a meal. Maybe you’d like to help the good people of Chilton Foliat, either by doing the same or, if you have some experience or expertise that would help them in some other way.
Now, I may be wrong but I’d never thought of Harry Dodson, the VKG’s Head Gardener, as someone who would have spent a lot of time in pubs. However, one of the locals who appeared in many of the VKG programmes working for Harry, Johnny Lawson, is reported to have regularly propped-up the Wheatsheaf’s bar. The picture shows Johhny on the left, during filming of ‘Victorian Flower Garden’, the third series of the VKG trilogy.