A COUPLE who were well-known local hoteliers have celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary with the hope of travelling again once lockdown is over.

Faye and Jim Ferguson, of East Links Road, Dunbar, celebrated 60 years of marriage last Thursday, receiving countless cards and Facebook greetings from friends and loved ones.

They plan to have a more traditional celebration “once things return to normal”.

The couple, originally from Edinburgh, met when Faye leant on Jim’s car while her mother was chatting with a friend.

Faye said: “I leant on this car because I was getting a bit bored, and it was Jim’s car.

“He came out a shop and passed a remark about something; then we saw one another again when I was out with a friend and that was the start of it!”

The couple were married in 1961 in St Michael’s Church, Inveresk, as Faye’s father was from Musselburgh and many of her relatives lived in the town.

East Lothian Courier: Faye and Jim Ferguson on their wedding day

Faye and Jim Ferguson on their wedding day

Initially living in Edinburgh, Jim’s job as a trainee rep for drinks company Schweppes took him to the west coast and north of Scotland so, on marrying Faye, who was a shorthand typist at the time, the pair moved to Bearsden, by Glasgow.

But, said Faye, Jim always had a hankering to run a hotel, which was what brought them to East Lothian in 1966.

When their two boys, Martin and Kevin, were four and three, Faye and Jim bought the empty Battleblent House in West Barns and turned it into The Battleblent Hotel.

Faye said: “Jim had always fancied having a hotel and that came up, and we went to have a look at it and fell in love with it.

“We signed the papers for the hotel on March 4 – our wedding anniversary.”

The hotel was closed in 2001 when the couple retired and it was turned back into a private home.

But retirement has not necessarily meant a quiet life for Faye, 79, and Jim, 84.

With four grandchildren – Courtney, 26, Honor, 23, Alice, 18, and Nathan, 16 – a love of gardening and walking, and Faye’s hobbies of colouring-in and singing with local choir Dunbar Sings, the pair have been kept busy.

In addition, they love to travel; they have been on cruises and owned a holiday home in Florida for 15 years.

Faye said: “I’ve always had a hankering to see India or China, but I don’t think that’ll ever happen.

“I’d like to go back to Alaska; we were on a cruise and that was really good. I thought Alaska was wonderful.”

But, for the meantime, the couple are content to be home near their family – Martin and Kevin are still in Dunbar, and hospitality runs in the family, as Martin and wife Lorraine own Graze Coffee & Chocolate House on Dunbar High Street.

As for the secret to a long and happy marriage?

Faye said: “Running a hotel – you don’t see one another!

“We just get along well, we have more or less the same interests.

“I can’t believe that it’s 60 years to be quite honest. It has flown by.”