Des and Doreen Croucher, of Royal Wootton Bassett, celebrate 60 years of marriage today.

"If we had our time over again we wouldn't change a thing," Mr Croucher said. Mrs Croucher agreed: "We've always been very compatible.".

Doreen, originally from Haydon Wick, was the only girl among a butcher's seven children. "So I think I was a bit spoilt," she said. Des, born at Bexhill, had two sisters and a brother, and came to Wiltshire when their father worked at Vickers in South Marston.

Mr and Mrs Croucher are keen, active members of Wootton Bassett Bowls Club, where they enjoy sport and socialising.

Mrs Croucher (who will be 80 in June) is a current Swindon & District Ladies Pairs Champion. She was a long-serving member of the town's Petticoat Club committee until recently. She and Des both enjoy gardening, and have travelled widely, in Europe, the USA, Australia and New Zealand, often visiting relatives. They relish Bowls Club tours to play in other parts of the country.

Mrs Croucher is known to many people from the nine years when she was a receptionist at Bevirs Solicitors offices, and Mr Croucher still cycles around town regularly.

Mrs Croucher recalled their first meeting, on Doreen's uncle's farm, when she was only 15. Mrs Croucher said: "I was helping with haymaking, and Des, a friend of my cousin, jumped on the back of the tractor I was driving." At 16, Mrs Croucher went to work at Garrards in Swindon.

Friendship led to courtship and the couple were married at St Mary's Church, Rodbourne Cheney, on March 12, 1955, with four bridesmaids, in lilac, a reception at the community centre and a few days' honeymoon in London at the Regent's Palace Hotel.

Their first home was a 22ft caravan on Newlands Farm , a relative's property at Blunsdon. Later they bought a 15-acre smallholding and two-bed cottage at Broad Town, where they kept 12 dairy cows, some breeding sows and hens. Mr Croucher was working full time as a bulldozer driver for Mr Hibberd, a builder, when Penhill was being developed. Subsequently he worked at Thames Water, at Barnfield, for 26 years until 1986.

Mr and Mrs Croucher bought Ramsleaze, at Stoneover Lane, Wootton Bassett, in 1966, with five acres where they kept two nursery cows and breeding sows. Mr Croucher recalls watching two piglets stretching up to suckle milk from one of the Channel Island cows. "I wish I'd taken a photo of that!" he said.

In May 1988 Mr & Mrs Croucher bought Folly Farm, Ballards Ash, and kept beef and nursery cattle. Their son and family took over the farm in 2002, when Mr and Mrs Croucher moved into Wootton Bassett. "But I still go over to lend a hand, as Alan has a full-time job," Des said. "I love animals, including the grandaughters' horses."

The couple take great pride and joy in their family. Daughter Rosalyn was born in 1957 and son Alan in 1960. The three granddaughters (one in Sussex and two nearby) are all in their twenties. A happy family party at a local restaurant will be a highlight of this special anniversary "We think we're very lucky," said Mrs Croucher.