EXPLORING the ‘ghost village’ of Imber is a wish of many residents in Wiltshire and beyond, so any opportunity to do so is swiftly pounced upon.

And there are few better opportunities than the annual ‘Imberbus’ service, which takes curious people into the village, located around 12 miles east of Warminster, as well as other rarely visited locations on Salisbury Plain.

A total of 18 buses, many of which used to be London Routemaster buses, departed from Warminster train station at 9.30am before travelling over the Salisbury Plain and into Imber, which has been vacant since 1943 when residents were evacuated to provide an exercise area for American troops.

One of the event organisers and bus drivers, Michael Meilton, said: “The day went very well, everyone seemed to enjoy it and it was very busy.

“The fare revenue will be a split donation between Royal British Legion Wiltshire Poppy Appeal and the church at Imber.

"Since first running the event in 2009, money raised has gone towards funding improvements at the church such as new lighting."

After stopping off in Imber, the buses continued on across Salisbury Plain to the villages of Market Lavington and Chitterne, as well as other isolated locations rarely visited by the public including New Zealand Farm Camp and Brazen Bottom.

Imber, which has a total population of zero, sits in the middle of the Ministry of Defence’s training zone on Salisbury Plain.

In December 1943, its inhabitants were told by the Army that they had just a month to pack up all of their belongings and move somewhere else so that American soldiers could prepare for the invasion of Europe during the Second World War.

Mr Meilton, who has worked in the transport industry for his whole life, explained how the idea first came about.

He said: "In February 2009, I was in a pub in Bath with three friends, all of whom were also in the transport industry, and we decided we would like to do something fun.

"So after a brief conversation, we came up with the idea of taking old Routemaster buses into Imber, as there's a lot of interest in it.

"We thought it would be a one-off but it was very well received and we had such fun that we decided to keep doing it, and it's grown ever since.

"Bus enthusiasts come from all over to ride on the buses and local people who want to find out more about Imber also enjoy it.

"I suspect this won't be our last year."