Four of Wadworth Brewery's hardest working employees have just started a well-earned break - not on the sun-kissed beaches of Spain but in the local fields around Devizes.

While many of us are anticipating our summer holidays, checking we have got our passports and making sure we have got the right phrase book, some of Wiltshire's four-legged residents have started their annual leave right here in the county.

Before they leave, these particular holidaymakers - Wilt, Buscot, Royal and Tom - are rewarded with several pints of free ale before being led by their bosses to a field where they will spend time chilling-out with the grass beneath their hooves.

The four employees are, in fact, Wadworth's team of dray horses, who have started their fortnight's break in Poulshot, near Devizes.

Taking a break: Wadworth Shire horses

Just like other celebrities, their vacation plans are always hotly anticipated by the media and the waiting-crowds, who gather for a special press-call outside The Raven public house in Poulshot.

Here, amidst the click of cameras and whirr of video tape, the four stars patiently pose for the media, encouraged by several pints of the brew they are more used to delivering than drinking.

Then, with little notice, these stunning creatures give the nod that they have had enough and are anxious to get off to their destination - a field about half-a-mile away.

As they lead off, the crowd that has gathered follows dutifully, maintaining a tradition that has become an annual event for the brewery's draymen and their charges.

"The horses used to be walked down from the brewery in Devizes to Poulshot but now with the amount of traffic on the busy dual-carriageway out of town, it is safer to transport them by horsebox," says Barry Petherick, Wadworth's Head Horseman.

People come to see Wadworth's Shire horses begin their holiday.

In the past there used to be quite a turnout from people in Devizes, as well as from the village.

This year some 40-or-so people, including several children, made the effort to see the four drayhorses start their summer break.

Eventually, the four horses are shown the field that will be their self-catering holiday-home for the next two weeks.

And you can sense their anticipation as hard tarmac gives way to soft green grass.

As soon as their tired hooves hit the grassy tufts, the Shires clearly show that they are ready for a little bit of R&R.

The paraphernalia of being a working horse is removed, and after one final pose for the cameras, the four are suddenly released and it seems they just cannot wait!

The holiday starts here: one of Wadworth's Shires enjoys some fresh air and freedom

Once given a taste of freedom these huge, but graceful animals are quick to demonstrate that, despite usually usually taking life at a steady pace, they know exactly how to move.

Galloping from one side of the field to the other they perform little balletic jumps, cavorting as they go.

And when you stop to consider how they usually spend their day, this sudden release of energy is hardly surprising.

For the last year, they have been part of a strict regime that begins at 5.30am and lasts for the whole working day.

"The horses deliver to four pubs a day in Devizes, five days a week and at the weekend they are busy demonstrating at various shows, fetes and parades," Barry Petherick says.

But now all of that is behind them and for the next two weeks a taste of the good life is all that awaits these beautiful working horses.

And talking of tasting of the good life:

"They always have a glass of 6X before they go on holiday," Barry adds, "which is pretty good start to a holiday, don't you think?"