As chat-up lines go, “Do you want to come back to my place – I’ll show you my Lego?” is hardly guaranteed to get you an, er, legover…

But fortunately for Lego-mad Simon Burfield, when he confessed to his obsession with the multi-coloured building bricks on his first date with Stephanie Nicholls, she didn’t leg it.

In fact, Stephanie was so understanding that when she popped the question nine months later, she did it in a way Simon would really appreciate – by giving him a Lego rose and a ring at Legoland in Windsor.

Simon, a 27-year-old consultancy  manager, still can’t believe his luck. He says: “I never thought I’d find a girl I love as much as my Lego.

“I can see the slight oddness of my hobby, so I wanted to make sure Stephanie was OK with it by mentioning it on our first date. But if she hadn’t been I don’t think we would have got together.

“One of my previous girlfriends found it really odd. Ironically, though, it was another one who got me into it. I was fed up of having to sit with her for hours every day watching soaps, so I decided to buy some Lego and build something.

“It was a way of being creative and keep my brain active, while still being next to her on the sofa.

“After months of getting bored watching soaps I felt alive again!”

Simon now owns more than a million Lego bricks and spends hours every day playing with them. His hobby costs him £300 a month and he has more than 200 models cluttering up the home he shares with Stephanie in Farnborough, Hampshire.

They include a six-foot robot called George with moving, programmable parts which has taken him two months to build. Simon’s eyes light up as he explains his unusual pastime: “It’s very relaxing and keeps my mind active.

“If I had the space I’d have a shed full of power tools, but this is something you can do in the comfort of your own living room.

“Some models have pistons, drive-shafts and cranks. You can motorise them and to see it all working gives me a sense of accomplishment. We’re not just talking normal Lego bricks here, it’s incredibly addictive.”

Having Lego cluttering every corner of their home is something that customer services officer Stephanie is still getting used to. At least she knew what to expect after Simon came clean early on about his passion.

Stephanie says: “I think Lego caused some problems with his previous girlfriends, so he told me straight away on our first date, in case I got cold feet.

“When he took me back to his home the first thing I thought when I walked through the door was that he had kids. There was Lego everywhere – Harry Potter scenes in the kitchen cupboards instead of food, an Indiana Jones scene in the living room, Lego pirates in his bedroom.

“I don’t know why, but it didn’t freak me out too much. Besides, by then I was already falling in love. There was no way I was going to, er, brick it.”

Simon and Stephanie had gone to the same school in Aldershot, Hants, but only got together again through social networking site Facebook.

bombarded

Stephanie says: “We didn’t have much to do with each other at school, apart from being on the same running team. But last year I came across him on Facebook and sent him a message.

“We started exchanging messages and before long we’d arranged a date. We met at an Italian restaurant in Farnborough on February 13

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earlier this year. We both fancied each other, so the date was more like an interview when we bombarded each other with questions.

“Then Simon looked very serious and said, ‘You might think this is strange, but I like to play with Lego.’ It didn’t bother me at all. Even seeing his house full of Lego didn’t put me off. The next day, Valentine’s Day, we started going out properly.

“I think it’s better than having a husband who’s obsessed with footie or who spends every night down the pub. And Simon is able to be himself with me. I love and accept him for who he is – Lego and all.

“The only time I complain is when he spends too much time on eBay looking for new models. And I do joke about him having to go to L.A. – Lego Anonymous.”

Having already discussed marriage, when Stephanie decided to propose there was only one place to do it.

She says: “I emailed Legoland and they arranged everything. The most difficult thing was keeping it secret.

“Simon arrived with some friends and took part in a treasure hunt. The final clue led him to me in the centre of the park’s maze where I was waiting with a Lego rose and a ring.

“I asked him to marry me and he didn’t hesitate to say yes. After that we all went to a pub to celebrate. We didn’t stay too long, though – Simon wanted to get back to start building.”

The couple are now planning a Lego-themed wedding next year.

Stephanie says: “Lego is so much a part of our lives it has to be a big part of our wedding ceremony. We’ve already picked a Lego bride and groom to go on top of the cake.”

No doubt once they’ve tied the knot they’ll soon be building a family.…

An empire in the making

- LEGO is an abbreviation of the two Danish words “leg godt”, meaning “play well”.

- It would take 40,000,000,000 Lego bricks to reach the moon.

- There are 62 Lego bricks for every person on Earth.

- Lego also produces 306 million tyres a year – making the firm the world’s largest tyre manufacturer.

- The Lego club has 2.4 million members worldwide.

- There are 915,103,765 possible ways to combine six eight-stud Lego bricks.

- Seven Lego sets are sold every second.

- Nine billion pieces of Lego are produced every year – enough to circle the world five times if placed end-to-end.