Tom and Briony ‘met’ on Twitter when Briony posted with exciting news - she had been accepted to study at Cardiff University! Tom, already one year in and now a Cardiff expert, replied to the tweet congratulating her and offering some advice on where to live. Months went by and finally they met (in person) at Cardiff’s most iconic 90’s bar - Retros. A week later, Tom took Briony on a date to Bellini’s Italian in Cardiff Bay, and they shared their first kiss by the waterside.

Before the new term at Cardiff University began, Tom officially asked Briony to be his girlfriend. Tom met the Fishers at Cardiff Castle, and over the coming months, Briony was introduced to the Torjussens, too. She met most of them all in one go, at Tom’s 21st birthday dinner!

Tom and Briony moved into their first home together - a top floor flat in Cardiff Bay, just a five minute walk from the water. Tom started his first ever ‘grown-up’ job, and Briony continued her studies. They shared many happy moments in their first flat, including dog-sitting an excitable Italian Greyhound, ‘Bouncy Bobby’, attending numerous Ice Hockey games (Go Devils!), and taking their first ever holiday together to Berlin, Germany.

After years of hard work, Tom was offered a new role as a Sociology Teacher at Tring School, Hertfordshire. They said goodbye to Cardiff and their first flat, and moved to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire to begin their ‘proper’ careers. Briony started working at Battersea Cats and Dogs home, commuting into London every day (and sending Tom many, many photos of dogs), whilst Tom learned the ropes as a new teacher.

When COVID hit, Briony and Tom moved to Tring to be closer to Tom’s work. Ironically, teaching then became a remote job which was a new sort of challenge. Over these months of isolation, Briony and Tom became even closer as a couple and enjoyed regular long walks in Tring park, trips to the local M&S for heavily reduced Easter eggs and completing lots of jigsaws!

During a walk in their favourite forest, Wendover Woods, Tom asked Briony to marry him (despite only having just had an appendectomy, with a wound on his stomach!)

Tom and Briony set off on the adventure of a lifetime. Gallivanting their way through Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand, Tom and Briony discovered a lifelong passion for mango sticky rice, TimTams, and the Lord of the Rings films.

Back on British soil, Tom and Briony moved to Wellington, Somerset. Tom started his long-term dream job - teaching at Richard Huish College, where he had previously been a student, and Briony started working for a wonderful charity, Myeloma UK. Not long after moving, whilst on a visit to Cornwall, they also visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan for the first time, and fell in love with it almost immediately