A village’s postmaster and wife are leaving a “welcoming” village to travel to America.

Manoj and Pallavi Thaker bought Great Yeldham post office 28 years ago after moving from London where Mr Thaker worked for a commodity firm.

“I wanted to get my own business,” Mr Thaker, 62, said.

“A lot of people said to me to be careful about going to a village - especially an Essex village as they said people were a bit strange.

“My answer to that was that I wasn’t worried.”

Mr and Mrs Thaker, who have three children - Ana 24, Shruti, 33, and Ash, 37 - who all attended the London School of Economics, said moving to the village was different, but they felt very welcome.