A couple have kept their love alive by spending 20 years building a model of the town where they first met.

Stanley and Christine Buck became sweethearts after a chance encounter at a crowded coffee shop in the Fifties. They married two years later and decided to celebrate by making an exact replica of the café – but they did not stop there.

The couple have now spent nearly 30,000 hours re-creating an entire town, just like the neighbourhood in Greenford, West London, where they courted.

“It’s a hobby which we both enjoy doing together, as I make the buildings and Christine paints them and models all the figures," Mr Buck, 75, said. “I suppose you can say the entire town has been created out of love for my wife.”

Their 20ft by 2ft wooden model features shops, houses and even a cinema with billboards advertising films the couple watched on their first dates, such as Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. “It was one of Christine’s favourite films and we must have gone to see it at least five times,” Mr Buck said.

“Originally I was into modelling trains, but after I retired Christine convinced me to start building dolls’ houses, and we came up with the idea for the town,” he added.

The couple began the model town in 1990 after they moved to Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. They work on the project for up to five hours a day in a shed at the bottom of the garden. Visitors come from all over the country to see the town, which is modelled from MDF with clay figures. It features a dozen shops, including a fish and chip shop, toy shop and craft shop, as well as boarding houses.

Every building has electricity and a removable front and roof. There is even a dress shop named after Mrs Buck, 68.

“The dress shop is in the biggest, fanciest building in the town so I had to dedicate that to my wife,” Mr Buck said. “I still try to work on the models as much as possible although my energy levels are a bit lower now."

The couple, who will be celebrating their golden wedding anniversary next year, met when Christine was 17 and Stanley was 24.

“I was sitting in the café and saw a very pretty young lady come in, but there were five other lads all vying for her affections, so I didn’t think I stood a chance,” Mr Buck said.

“I was very nervous but I just walked over to where she was sitting and told her where to meet me. I then walked away before she could say no. So you can imagine my surprise when she turned up, and I suppose the rest is history.”

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