It has taken more than 90 years, but now a Shepway couple are preparing to fly abroad for their holidays for the first time.

Charlie Pallett, 93, and 91-year-old wife Madge have been married for 71 years and have always holidayed together at the British seaside.

But they are now swapping the UK for Spain and will stay at Hotel Sol Pelicanos - the location for the ITV series Benidorm.

Mr Pallett has not been in a plane since the Second World War, when he was in the Royal Army Service Corps, and Madge has only left English shores once when she got the ferry to Le Touquet in France for a day trip.

Mr Pallett said: "Our daughters had been talking about going away and we were enthusing over the brochures.

"Madge has never set foot on a plane and she gets very anxious on public transport, you can't even get her on a bus. I fell off my chair when she said yes!

"I flew in a Dakota from Germany to France when I broke my ankle during the war, but that was a hospital plane. It was lovely, I got to lie down on a stretcher but I'm not sure if I'll get the same legroom this time!

"I never wanted to go back to Europe after the war, but I have put that all behind me now."

Now the nonagenarians - who have five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren - are jetting off soon to spend a week soaking up the Spanish sun in Benidorm.

Mrs Pallett said: "I'm very nervous, but I'm also very excited about it. It's going into the unknown for me."

But her husband is already planning his next flight – and this time he wants to be strapped to the outside of the plane.

He said: "I have wanted to do a wingwalk for a long time, and hopefully with this under my belt I will finally do one next year."

Despite never having been abroad together, the pair did have passports, although they had long since expired.

Mr Pallett said: "I was pleased to find out that you get them free when you are older than 90, but that's not the reason we've waited until now.

"The next time we have to get them renewed is when we are 101 and 103."

He added: "When we were packing I found my swimming trunks, which I think are from the 1960s. They were very fashionable back then, but I don't think I’ll take them with me.

"I was asked what the pocket inside them was for and I said that's where I'm going to keep my false teeth."

They are making the trip with daughters Doreen England, 67, Yvonne Elliott, 65, and 46-year-old granddaughter Leigh Plumbly.

Yvonne, a retired cook, said: "We didn't really have many family holidays when I was little because we couldn't afford them. I remember going to Dymchurch, when my dad was a driver and we went in the back of his three tonne lorry.

"When we got there everything stunk of diesel! I never thought in my life I would be going abroad with my mum and dad."

During their happy marriage the couple have also holidayed in Great Yarmouth and Dorset.