A couple who met when they became pen pals as kids 7,000 miles apart are celebrating 30 years of marriage.

Alena and Chad Benson first wrote to each other in 1986 - with no idea it would blossom into a life-long love story.

Alena, from Singapore, then aged 17, initiated the exchange, writing to several people overseas - including Chad from Plymouth in Devon.

Their letters continued through the 1980s and they also started exchanging cassette tapes of each other chatting - with more than 100 tapes sent between them.

They eventually met and after love blossomed they married and now have three children.

Speaking of the first letter she sent, Alena, 55, said: "I just sent it for the fun of it, not thinking that I was going to get a reply.''

Gardener Chad, 56, added: "She is my best friend. We do everything together. She is an amazing woman.''

After exchanging letters for years nurse Alena decided to visit pen pal Chad in the UK in 1993 - seven years after their first-ever letter.

She said: "I was 23 and I was travelling around Asia so I said to my parents that I have been writing to this boy from England and I want to go and visit him.

"My parents didn't stop me because they knew I loved travelling and I was quite adventurous."

Chad says when he saw her for the first time in Heathrow Airport he said: "I looked at her and thought 'Wow is she my pen pal?' - it just clicked like that.''

Alena added: "It was more of a relief and that we finally did it after seven years. At least we could put a face to the letters and the cassettes."

During Alena's time in the UK for 19 days they realised that their connection was deeper than a mere friendship.

And when Alena returned to Singapore they started calling each other almost every day - with calls costing thousands of pounds.

Alena said: "Chad's phone bill went up to £350 a month and my phone bill went up to £450 a month.

"I paid the bill so my parents didn't know how much it was - I didn't tell them.

"But for Chad he had to tell his parents because the bill went to the parent's name and his parents started panicking and they were like 'how are we going to pay this bill Chad?'."

Chad added: "I paid them somehow. If I was having trouble paying the phone bills I used to go to the phone box and put £2."

Chad travelled to Singapore in February 1994.

At this point their relationship took a major turn.

Chad said: "My parents said to me 'what' and I said I wanted to see what her culture is like and her family.

"Alena kinda kept me as a secret between her friends and family because she thought I would never go to Singapore and I did."

He then decided to propose to her while on holidays - despite the initial resistance from Alena's parents.

She said: "My parents were not accepting. My father just said to me 'if you want to marry this guy fine you go ahead'. My mum didn't say yes or no she just kept quiet.

"I either had to get married or forget everything and get back to Singapore. I made the choice to marry him anyway.

"I came to a stage where I realised that we have so much history together and I couldn't just let it go.

"For two years when I came back from the UK I tried to forget Chad and I tried to date another man but I wasn't happy - I was trying to please my mum.

"I said to my mum if I cannot marry Chad then I will just be single so my mum realised that I was serious - and then she let me get on with it.

"I went with my heart."

Alena then moved to the UK in 1995 - bringing with her all the hundreds of letters and cassettes they had exchanged over the years.

On February 17 1997 they tied the knot in Kingsbridge - with a budget of £2,000.

Chad's dad had to give Alena away as her parents and family did not attend the wedding.

Alena added: "When we got married I had no one from my family from Singapore came.''

The couple now have three children aged 27, 26 and 27 and live in Yealmpton, Devon.