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Residents of the village of Dull are celebrating after the US town of Boring reportedly voted to pair the two communities.

The Boring Community Planning Organisation in Oregon voted to make the two communities "a pair for the ages" at their meeting last night, according to the Oregon Live website.

Villagers in Dull, Perthshire are planning a party and hope a new road sign is erected to mark the relationship. They hope the pairing will boost tourism and lead to closer links between the communities.

Marjorie Keddie, 68, chairman of Dull and Weem Community Council, said: "We will have to get in touch with Perth and Kinross Council and get a sign with both the names on it. The main thing is if we have this sign there will be more tourists coming to visit and it will be better for the area because this area survives on tourists.

"We will try to get the children doing projects and learning a bit more about it, and I'm sure some of us will go over to Boring at some point and see how different it is. It is a bit of light-hearted fun."

Villagers have yet to hear officially about the link.

The idea for pairing the communities came when Elizabeth Leighton, who lives in Aberfeldy, near Dull, was on a cycling holiday in the US. She passed through Boring, Oregon and immediately phoned her friend Emma Burtles, a resident of Dull, with the idea about a link.

Mrs Burtles contacted Dull and Weem Community Council as well as Steve Bates, chairman of Boring Community Planning Organisation, to discuss twinning.

But differences between the towns mean they cannot be officially twinned: Boring has a population of around 10,000 to Dull's 84; Boring is "quite an industrial place" while Dull village's main businesses are guest lodges and chalets for tourists and the Highland Safaris tour organiser.

A Facebook page "Welcome to Dull and Boring" has been set up and had 314 likes this morning.

Boring was named after William Boring, an early resident of the area. Dull is believed to have got its name from the Pictish word for field.