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Kate Middleton's village Bucklebury has wedding fever

Residents from Kate Middleton's home village of Bucklebury in Berkshire are gearing up for the royal wedding.

29 April 2011 Last updated at 02:23 GMT

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About 2,000 people are expected at a tea-party at Bucklebury Farm Park where a choir, opera singer and wind band will perform.

Just outside the village, in the hamlet of Chapel Row, home to the Middletons, there will be a duck race and street party organised by the local pub.

Others invited to the wedding in London are making last minute preparations.

Martin Fidler, 60, who runs Bladebone butchers in Chapel Row said he "jumped through the ceiling with joy" when he and his wife, also 60, received the invitation from Buckingham Palace.

He said: "We're just a little bit nervous - all the new people we'll be meeting on the day and the thousands of people in London - but very, very excited."'Lucky man'

Mr and Mrs Fidler will also be joined by other guests from the village including John Haley and his partner, Pam Brown, who run the Old Boot Inn in nearby Stanford Dingley.

The 55-year-old landlord said: "They are nice, a really lovely family. They're really down to earth, and he [Prince William] is a very lucky man."

Residents have also got used to having lots of extra visitors to the area - reporters are now a familiar sight in the village and a cluster of photographers has been present at the end of the private lane leading to the Middleton's home for some time.

Simon Kelly, 51, landlord of the the Bladebone Inn, Chapel Row, said: "We've got a very, very excited atmosphere - everyone is very pro the event.

"I think people are very proud here, I think it's just the excitement of having it here, but all over the country it's just a good time and everyone likes to have a party."

Lynda Tillotson, who runs a small interiors shop in the village, said: "It's been very exciting in the last couple of weeks and as we get very close to the day, enormous excitement for everybody.

"The Middletons are super people, a really lovely family and it's going to be great day - a big grand royal wedding."

Elsewhere in the county, councils have granted permission for more than 100 street parties, although many more unofficial events are expected to take place.


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Residents of Bucklebury gear up for the royal wedding (BBC)
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