Luke Brewin, 37, popped the question to Victoria Page while out on a morning ride on the West Wycombe Estate in front of a horse statue.

The keen riders, both from Marlow, often head out to the estate for a hack in the morning so Ms Page, 38, was not expecting a proposal – and that too, on Christmas Day.

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She said: “Luke said to me in the morning ‘come on, hurry up, and I was like ‘why are you rushing me?’

“We headed out at about 8.30am and another girl from the yard said ‘oh, I’ll join you as well’.

“I hadn’t known she was going to be taking pictures and recording it, so it was very well organised.

“He’d actually done a dress rehearsal before with the lady that introduced us, and when he was doing the dress rehearsal, his horse was petrified of the statue.”

She said when the pair got to the horse statue, Mr Brewin asked her to take a picture.

“When we got there he said ‘let’s have a picture of us here, it’s such a nice spot’ and the girl who was with us said ‘I’ll take the picture’.

“While we were posing for the picture, he hopped off the horse and got down on one knee.

“I was speechless. It was such a cold day but the sun was shining, it was beautiful.

“I said yes and he hopped back on the horse. We went back to the yard and they had a cake for us, with balloons and Prosecco. They were all cheering us as we came back which was really nice.

“It was lovely, like a fairytale.”

Mr Brewin, who works in medical recruitment, said he was initially going to propose over dinner but felt it was “a bit cliché”, adding he did not know anyone who had proposed on horseback.

The happy couple after their engagement

Ms Page added: “We met through horses, and on our early dates we often went riding, so it is a big part of our lives. He thought it fitted us well."

The couple, who have been together for two years, said they have some ideas for their wedding but have not yet set a date because of the pandemic.

Ms Page, who works in cyber security, said: “Just being in the pandemic and the whole change of working from home has been difficult.

“Sitting on your own everyday working from your kitchen table, everyday feels the same. It’s been tough.”

The couple have also not been able to see their families, like many others around the country, as they do not live locally, which they said has made things harder.

But Mr Brewin, who was planning the proposal for two months, still asked Ms Page’s father, her son from a previous relationship and her sister for her hand, with Ms Page saying: “Everyone knew but me.”

She added: “We have some ideas for our wedding but don’t want to plan too much yet as we don’t know what the situation is going to be.

“We said to our families, once we can see each other again and things are back to normal, we will have a big party to celebrate.”