WIMBORNE residents hold the secret to a successful marriage, the national census has revealed.

Six out of 10 adults in the town are married, the highest proportion in England and Wales.

The town also had the highest life-expectancy in the country as of 2009, with 86 per cent of women and 75 per cent of men expected to live to the age of 75.

Couple Deirdre and Brian Tucker, of Cuthbury Close, celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 2011.

Mrs Tucker said: “I was married in the Minster, my mother and father were married there, and my five children have all been married there.

“My grandfather was a governor at the Minster, which might explain it.”

She said she would never want to leave Wimborne.

“I wouldn’t move away from here – it’s my home,” she said.

East Dorset is also one of the country’s marriage hotspots, with 59.4 per cent of adults currently married.

The other most-married districts are Amersham in Buckinghamshire and the surrounding Chiltern district at 58.5 per cent, followed by Hart in Hampshire at 58.4 per cent.

Nine out of the top 10 most divorced districts are seaside areas, including the Weymouth and Portland area, where 14.7 per cent of the population have had a marriage break-up.