People can meet family and friends as lockdown eases in Scotland

Some non-contact outdoor leisure activities such as golf, tennis, bowls and fishing are also resuming.

People can meet family and friends outdoors and play sports such as golf and tennis again as Scotland starts to ease out of lockdown.

Garden centres are also reopening, while people are now allowed to sit and sunbathe in nearby parks and travel to somewhere local for recreation.

From Friday the country is moving into phase one of the Scottish Government’s four-phase plan for gradually lifting lockdown.

People north of the border are now able to meet one other household at a time outdoors – though they should continue to socially distance when meeting and the maximum number in the group should be eight.

Some non-contact outdoor sports such as tennis can now resume (Danny Lawson/PA)

Some non-contact outdoor leisure activities such as golf, tennis, bowls and fishing are allowed to restart from Friday, while most outdoor work can resume and construction sites can prepare for work to start again.

The Scottish Government also said it will “no longer discourage” drive-through restaurants from opening.

Recent good weather has already seen large numbers of people head to areas such as Portobello beach in Edinburgh, but Ms Sturgeon said the “strong advice” as lockdown eases is for people to stay within about five miles of their home, and to avoid places that are busy.

Ms Sturgeon said that while the lockdown – which has been in place since March 23 – is being “modified slightly”, the crisis is “not over” and she called on people to “exercise good judgment at all times”.