HENGISTBURY Head was host to a unique marriage proposal on December 21.

The team at the NCI Hengistbury Head Lookout were approached a week prior to the engagement by Gavin Townson who was looking for somewhere special to propose to his then girlfriend, Katie.

Gavin spoke to Acting Station Manager at NCI Hengistbury Head, Peter Holway for help with his proposal.

Peter said: "It was our privilege to be involved in Gavin and Katie's proposal.

"It's a nice story in a climate where everything isn't nice all of the time."

Gavin chose Hengistbury Head due to Katie having special memories of spending time there.

It is also somewhere they would like to bring their future son, who is due in a matter of weeks.

Gavin explained his plans for the proposal: "Initially I was going to write 'Katie, will you marry me?' in the sand, but the Hengistbury Head team came up with the idea of writing a sign and putting it in the Lookout window. The team were so lovely."

With an expected arrival time of 9:30am, Gavin and Katie were making good progress up the hill, despite Katie being eight months pregnant.

However, although Gavin was very prepared for the big moment, his proposal didn't exactly go as planned.

Gavin explained: "As a thank you for the team, I brought £100 cash donation. I told Katie to turn around and look at the sign in the window, which is when I started pulling the ring out of my bag and the cash flew all over the cliff.

"We chased and retrieved the money then I eventually got down on one knee and Katie said yes."

Despite the mishap that occurred, Gavin said that it only made the proposal more special.

He said: "You try to get everything right and make it romantic but sometimes things just go wrong."

After the proposal, Gavin and Katie shared a bottle of bubbly with the NCI Hengistbury Head Team to celebrate the special moment.

NCI watchkeepers provide the eyes and ears along the coast, monitoring radio channels and providing a listening watch in poor visibility.

The NCI is a registered charity that relies on volunteers and public donations.