Imber: Tourists to return to abandoned village - in open top red buses

Imber was emptied during the Second World War in 1943 and used to train Allied forces in preparation for D-Day.

After the war ended former residents were denied permission to return to the village on Salisbury Plain - and the British Army still train there to this day.

Once a year visitors are permitted to return - on an annual 'Imber Bus'.

This year's bus will return on August 19 for one day, providing passengers and relatives of former residents the chance to explore.

The bus service began in 2009, picking up passengers in Warminster and running directly over military-owned roads to the site every fifteen minutes.

Last year, more than 2,000 people visited the site, with tickets this year set to cost just £10 for adults, and £2 for children.

Funds from the visits are donated to support the village's abandoned church, St.Giles’s Church, and the Royal British Legion.

More than 100 mourners on Thursday, January 5 attended the funeral of one of the last surviving residents of the ghost village of Imber. Photo by David Clarke/Solent News & Photo Agency (Image: David Clarke/Solent News & Photo Agency)

In January this year, in an exceptionally rare ceremony - which only went ahead after the Ministry of Defence gave permission - former Imber resident Raymond Nash was laid to rest in the churchyard in Imber next to the graves of other family members including his father.

Peter, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, and Imber in the County of Wiltshire, said: “For the fourteenth year we are welcoming passengers aboard one of the quirkiest bus services in the country - to see places they can’t normally access from the luxury of buses old and new, at the bargain all-day fare of £10 adult and £2 child; all benefitting charity.

"Everyone’s welcome; my colleagues and I are looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, August 19.”