A romantic boyfriend shocked his future bride by popping the question with a huge proposal scrawled in the sand.

Andy Stentiford, 30, went for a stroll along the beach with his partner Anna Kapusta, 25, when they paused alongside a giant flower and heart shaped piece of art.

The loved-up pair met at a Hyundai training course in High Wycombe.

Alongside the intricate beach design was the message: "I want to marry my best friend, Anna, will you marry me?"

Andy then got down on one knee to pop the question - and she said yes.

The couple were visiting St Ouen's beach in Andy's childhood home of Jersey.

He had asked his friend Andy Coutanche - known as the Jersey Sandman - to write the message in the sand.

Andy, a service advisor for Hyundai, said: "I wanted to do the marriage proposal somewhere special. We've had loads and loads of walks down St Ouen.

"I was very, very nervous and I was a bit worried about the weather. It was expected to rain.

"I just wanted to do something nice. You plan ideas in the back of your head. I could not have asked for it to go any better.

"The weeks leading up to it I wasn't myself. I thought she would have known."

Andy said it was 'love at first sight' when he met his future fiancée.

He worked for a branch in Jersey and she worked for one in South Wales but they were put into the same group and hit it off instantly.

Andy said: "We were going back and forth between Jersey and South Wales but I moved last December.

"I am good friends with Andy Coutanche and his work is absolutely amazing.

"I just thought this would be a great idea for him to come up with a drawing for when I proposed to Anna.

"I went to him a few months ago with the concept and he agreed so we booked flights to Jersey.

"I said we were going to meet friends for a walk and got dropped off along the front.

"We walked for ten minutes and I had my sister place a picnic basket with blanket, flowers and champagne on the wall.

"She saw it and said she thought it might be someone's memorial. I then pulled her to the left of the walkway and we looked over and that is where Andy's art was.

"She looked at me, then looked at the sand and then back at me.

"Anna is originally from the Ukraine and doesn't normally show much emotion but she cried her eyes out. A couple of hours later she was still in a bit of shock as she wasn't expecting it at all.

"We are now just enjoying the engagement and will decide early next year when we plan to get married.

"But the proposal exceeded all my expectations - it couldn't have gone any better."

Although he moved to the UK to live with Miss Kapusta, an accountant, last December, he said it was important for him to propose in Jersey, as it was a place close to his heart.

The couple are still to set a date for their wedding but Mr Stentiford, who now lives in Cwmbran, Monmouthshire, says he has set the bar high for future celebrations.

'I'm a little bit worried about what she is expecting for our first-year anniversary,' he added.

It is not the first time that Mr Coutanche, who spent just over an hour creating the sand art, has inscribed a marriage proposal in the sand but he said it was even more special to do it for a friend.

He added: "It was very much fingers crossed for the weather but it was fine. It's great, especially when it is your mate."