An Aberdeenshire farmer and his wife celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary at the weekend.
James and Mary Coutts, of Lumsden, have spent the last 70 years together and last night, their family put the success of their marriage down to hard work.
Son James junior said: “They only went on holiday once, to Holland for a wedding for a few days – my dad’s idea of a holiday was going to the Huntly or Thainstone mart.”
The couple have enjoyed family life, but also pursued their own interests – with Mr Coutts running a farm, and his wife working as a waitress at Kildrummy Castle Hotel for 47 years.
Mrs Coutts also helped out on the farm as required in the mornings before going to the hotel for her shift, and juggled this with looking after sons James and Ian.
The couple eventually gave up Muirend Farm when Mr Coutts – known as Chappie – retired in 1991, and settled in a croft on the land.
However, 93-year-old Mr Coutts has refused to give up farming altogether, and still tends to his chicken and cattle with some help from James and daughter-in-law Lorna.
James, who now stays in Peterhead, said: “I think their marriage is down to hard work. They have been happy.
“My dad is a farmer through and through – that’s his life and he won’t give in.
“They both liked farm life. They never had many holidays as such, but they both enjoyed various bus trips to places like the Trossachs.”
Mr Coutts was raised in Glenkindie, while his wife-to-be grew up in nearby Lumsden.
She worked in Aberdeen during the war, looking after children after the bombing, and then moved to Inverness where she worked as a nurse. However, she later returned to the north-east to look after her sick mother, and began working in the local butchers.
She met Mr Coutts at a dance at Kildrummy hall, and they were married at the Kildrummy Inn on June 6, 1945.
They went on to have their two boys, but tragically Ian died as the result of a car accident in 2011.
James said his parents loved spending time with their four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
The family gathered at the Meadows Care Home in Huntly – where 89-year-old Mrs Coutts now lives – for Saturday’s celebrations.