A LOVED-up couple from Ilminster made it a leap year to remember with a special engagement.

Emma Langdon popped the question to her unsuspecting boyfriend Will Vickery at his work on February 29 and he lovingly accepted.

The pair have been together since 2011 and after the engagement, Will whisked Emma off for a long romantic weekend in Rome, where they spent time pounding the streets of the Italian capital hunting for a ring.

Following the proposal, Will confessed to Emma that she had beaten him to the punch – as he was planning to get down on one knee in Rome.

Emma, who manages Somerset Equus which works with challenged young people in a variety of equine-based activities, asked Will at his work at the Blackdown Shepherd’s Hut workshop by turning up with some flowers and a bar of his favourite chocolate.

Emma said: “I didn’t wake up with the intention of proposing. But by the time I got to work the idea had firmly planted itself in my head.

“I’ve had lots of ideas about how I would like to propose but decided, rather than wait, just to do it. It was unplanned but perfect.

“A bunch of flowers and a bar of William’s favourite Galaxy chocolate seemed the right way to do things. Sometimes you just have to seize the moment and do what feels right.

“I say, there’s no need for a grand gesture, which is what I’d been planning originally.

“I was very nervous – not about marrying Will, but I did wonder if he’d planned something already and I ruined it, turns out he’d planned to ask me in Rome at the Trevi Fountain, so I scuppered that.”

“I’m so chuffed to be marrying Will – I’m utterly in love.

“We are both aware that we are extremely lucky to have found each other and recognise it every day – not to mention the hoofing great party we’re going to have.”

Speaking after returning from Rome, Will said: “We haven’t got a ring yet, but we have been searching the streets of Rome in the hunt for the right one.

“I’m feeling over the moon – I didn’t see it coming even though it was a leap year.

“I can’t wait for Emma to be my wife.

“We have used the trip to Rome that I gave to Emma for her birthday as time for planning the big day, and are hoping for a late summer wedding in 2016."