LISA and Steven Rose are blissfully happily married - but they live half a mile apart.

The couple get together for lunch or coffee and a chat, and then go back to their 'his and hers' homes. Friends thought they were the odd couple when they decided to live apart after three years of marriage.

But Lisa, 35, and Steven, 31, have never been happier and say the move has put the spark back into their relationship and rekindled the romance.

Lisa said: "We have the best of both worlds. Just because you are married you don't have to be joined at the hip.

"When we get together we have an awful lot of fun."

For three years the couple shared a flat in Brighton but found themselves getting bogged down in domestic matters and running out of fresh things to talk about.

When they moved apart the boost to their relationship was immediate and they know they have done the right thing.

Now Steven lives in a flat in Brunswick Square, Hove, and Lisa has her own bedsit ten minutes' walk away in Davigdor Road.

The pair spend about two or three nights together each week and often have dates together during the day. They also talk on the phone each day.

Lisa said: "Things had got very samey when we lived together. The free spirits who had fallen for each other somehow got lost in the mire of domesticity.

"We wanted to rekindle the passion, spontaneity, conversation and independence we had always enjoyed.

"People assumed we must be splitting up but it was the complete opposite and it has been brilliant for us.

"It is far more romantic. Steve turns up with flowers in the middle of the night sometimes, like the Black Magic man."

Lisa is a writer, plus an agony aunt and therapist. She writes regularly for Brighton magazine New Insight, in which she has talked about the benefits of separate homes, and specialises in health, psychology and alternative therapy matters.

She and Steven, a website designer, have never had completely conventional relationship.

They met on a blind date at Joan Collins' flat in London after being introduced by Tara Newley, Joan's daughter and a friend of Lisa.

It was love at first sight and they eloped three months later and got married at a Buddhist ceremony in Thailand six years ago.

When they came back to England they repeated their vows at Brighton register office with Tara and her boyfriend as witnesses and just a handful of close relatives present.

It was Steven who first suggested separate homes and Lisa soon realised that it would be right for both of them.

He said: "Now when we get together it is quality time. It is never samey and never out of habit or obligation.

"We always have a great time.

"We did get a lot of stick but people have come round to the idea. The benefits were instant.

"If I want to stay up all night working I can without worrying that I am disturbing Lisa.

"If I want to lie in bed all day I can. We are friends as well as partners."

Now they both value their own space and the freedom to come and go as they please.

Lisa said: "Sometimes you you just need to sing along to terrible songs or dance naked - simple pleasures - but the kind you don't always want to share."

Separate homes do not signify an open marriage and they trust each other competely.

Lisa said: "Flirting with other people is OK but touching is taboo."

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