Meet the couple who say the secret of a perfect marriage is not having children

Sharyl and Richard Horley are like a couple in the first flush of love. All around their home are pinned fond notes they send each other.

'Missing me?' asks one. 'Sorry I ate all your chocs: have one of mine!' exhorts another. Such small gestures of affection permeate their lives.

'I sneak saucy knickers, teddies and photos of us into Richard’s luggage when he goes away on business,' says Sharyl, who is as neat, pretty and well-preserved as the Home Counties cottage in which they live.

Richard, in turn, secretes little messages in unexpected places around the house for his wife, so when he is absent  if only for a day  she will find them and smile.

Such effusions of romance would have long been abandoned by most long-term couples. But not for Sharyl and Richard.

They have been married for 26 years, yet they share the mutual adoration of newlyweds. How have they preserved the magic?

For Sharyl, 48, the answer is obvious. She says they have stayed together -monogamously and contentedly for almost three decades while other marriages have foundered and disintegrated around them for one simple reason: they don’t have children.

Sharyl is neither infertile nor wistfully resigned to a life bereft of children. On the contrary, she has never wanted them. More than that, she is adamant that her marriage to Richard, 50, has endured and prospered as a result.

'You hear about couples who never make love after the children come along because they’re too exhausted. We’ve never had to contend with that or the worry of being interrupted in the throes of passion.

'Children drive a wedge between couples. While I’ve lost count of the number of friends who’ve said "When are you going to start being responsible and have kids?", others have told us: "We’re just waiting for the children to leave home so we can get a divorce."'

Sharyl, 48, an actress and model, who also helps run Richard’s lighting design business, is one of a growing number of women who are childless by choice.

Source: Dailymail