Stroud News & Journal editor Sue Smith thought she had hit the jackpot or been promoted when she arrived for work on Friday morning and found an envelope stuffed with cash on her desk.

Inside was £300 and an anonymous covering letter asking for an attached notice to be placed in the paper on Valentine's Day "as big as possible for £300".

The notice said: Coconut, marry me, France Lynch. The village of France Lynch is a few miles outside Stroud.

"We had intended to run it as an ad on an inside page with a nib asking for coconut to get in touch with us," said Sue.

"But the sender got lucky when one of our front page ads fell through at the last minute and it will now be featured on page 1 on publication day which is also Valentine's Day.

"Normally we would not accept advertisements without an address and telephone number but after running it past the legal department it was decided it was inoffensive and not likely to cause any harm.

"We are all now dying to know the outcome."