Alex and Mel on the steps outside the World of James Herriot

Vet Alex McPherson surprised girlfriend Mel Speechley when he dropped to one knee on the steps of the centre dedicated to the man who inspired him to join the veterinary profession and asked her to marry him.

And as the bells of St Mary’s Church - where Alf Wight married his sweetheart, Joan - peeled Mel said yes.

The Wiltshire couple have been together for almost five years meeting at Edinburgh veterinary school and both now work for a veterinary hospital.

“We both wanted to be vets from a very young age and that was in no small part due to the books written by James Herriot,” said Alex.

“The books were great and although the life looked hard it also looked very rewarding. We both worked hard to get to vet school and now after many years living our dream and loving our jobs I decided Mel was the woman for me!

“I owe a lot to the books of James Herriot so where better to come than to Thirsk to The World of James Herriot.”

So after a day spent poring over the museum’s exhibits and taking in the Herriot countryside, he took Mel back to the centre’s red front door and proposed!

Centre Manager, Alison Scurrah, said it was a first for the centre. “We have visitors from all over the world many of them inspired to become vets by James Herriot but this is the first time we have been used for a ‘proposal’,” she said.

“We hope they will come back and visit when they are married.”