A family-run butchers has closed after almost 60 years, with the owners retiring and soon setting off across Europe in their motorhome.

Martyn Wakelin and his wife Sarah have been running Wye Butchers and Deli for the past 20 years, taking over from his parents Kenneth and Rosemary who bought the shop back in 1966.

The Church Street business shut for the final time on New Year's Eve and the owners were bid farewell by villagers sad to see them go.

Martyn told KentOnline: “It’s the end of an era. Before us it was already a butchers which had been here since the turn of the century.

“My dad worked for Crump’s in Ashford before coming here - that was in the early 60s.

“It has been part of my family for a long time, and the shop is a big part of the village so it will be a shame to see it go.

“People come in to talk about their lives and their kids and that's what a village shop is all about.”

Martyn began working for his dad as a butcher’s boy aged 13, delivering orders around Wye, near Ashford, and scrubbing the shop's wooden floors.

He then joined full-time as soon as he left school aged 16 and has been there ever since.

But now Martyn and Sarah are giving up their 50-hour working week so they can go travelling in their motorhome and spend more time with their five grandchildren.

“I'm of retirement age now and I'm knackered so we decided to retire - it’s just the right time for us,” explained Martyn, 65.

“We are going to miss it greatly. This has been my life for a long time.

“But we are looking forward to retirement.

“We're going to visit my daughter who lives in South Carolina and in February we are going to Spain in our motorhome.”

New owners are set to take over the building but it is not clear if it will reopen as a butchers.

Martyn added: “They are going to renovate the building.

“We don’t know what the new owner is planning to do with it. They might decide to turn it into something else, but the building has got to stay commercial.”