A smitten boyfriend proposed to his girlfriend by having a giant picture of her engagement ring carved onto their favorite beach.

Matt Morris, 31, secretly hired an artist to create the sand drawing before surprising long-term girlfriend Rebekah Gardner.

The supermarket manager had to persuade Rebekah, 32, to get out of bed at 6 am to get to the beach before the tide washed the artwork away.

Matt said: “The ring art was due to be finished at 6:30 am at low tide and I just said to Rebekah, let’s go.”

But his romantic gesture was almost dashed when she said she was too sleepy to get up that early.

She said: “We were having a housewarming party that night and I kept being grumpy and saying ‘No, let’s have a lie-in instead.’ Good job I got out of bed after all.”

Drone video captured the moment Rebekah spotted the 50 ft carving of a diamond ring at King Edward’s Bay in Tynemouth.

Inside the ring was a giant question mark which Matt led Rebekah to before going down on one knee.

He then proposed to a stunned Rebekah before presenting her with the diamond ring on June 12.

Matt said: “We normally go for a walk on our day off along the coast so the plan was to just do that.”

“When we got to the beach we normally just walk along the front, but I said, ‘Come on, let’s go down the stairs this time.'”

“The stairs are really steep so I could see the ring, but Rebekah didn’t because she was focusing on the stairs that much.”

“I said to Rebekah, ‘Come on, let’s just go on the beach, we’ll have a wonder down.’”

Rebekah was led into the center of the artwork where she twigged Matt’s surprise and immediately said “yes” when he proposed.

The couple, from nearby Shiremoor, plan to tie the knot in 2028.