Ellen DeGeneres is celebrating two decades with wife Portia de Rossi following their move to the English countryside.

The former talk show host, 66, and the retired actress, 51 — who officially moved from California to England’s celeb-favorite Cotswolds region this fall — are celebrating 20 years together, a milestone DeGeneres marked by posting a selfie of the couple snapped in their new home.

Alongside the photo, which shows the longtime couple cozying up to each other in the countryside, the comedian also shared a heartfelt tribute for de Rossi, writing a sweet message about the past, present and future of their relationship.

“20 years ago today we began this relationship not realizing what a long beautiful adventure this would be,” she began the caption of the Dec. 1 Instagram post. “You are the best thing that ever happened in my life. You take care of me. You help me see the good in everything. You help to guide me and pick me up when I feel off or down.”

“You are a beautiful soul that I am so very grateful to have as a partner to navigate this crazy life with,” DeGeneres continued. “My wife. My best friend. The love of my life. Thank you for being you and loving me. So happy we get to travel and explore the world together in the next 20 years, and looking forward to our first snowy Christmas.”

And, referring to the heavy rain that Storm Bert recently brought to the U.K., she added: “P.S. for those of you concerned, our UK farmhouse did NOT flood.”

De Rossi, who does not post frequently on social media, did not mark the couple’s milestone on social media — though her most recent Instagram post, shared in January, was a sweet birthday tribute to DeGeneres.

The couple’s decades together can be traced all the way back to 2001, when they met backstage at a concert.

“I remember thinking that she [DeGeneres] was the coolest, most fascinating, beautiful, funniest person I’d ever met,” de Rossi recalled to PEOPLE in 2021. “But I, at the time, was closeted; I really wasn’t comfortable with my sexuality. I just knew that being with her would be a bit of a thing for me, so we didn’t get together after that for about three years.”

After reconnecting at the the VH1 Big in ’04 Awards, the pair struck up a romance. “We saw each other and started talking, and that was it,” DeGeneres told PEOPLE. “She opened up and said she’d been thinking about me. And it surprised me. It was a big deal for her to be seen with me.”

The pair quickly became one of the highest-profile LGBTQ couples, and tied the knot in August 2008 after same-sex marriage was legalized in California. De Rossi gives full credit to her comedian wife — who very publicly came out in 2001 — for helping her realize that there is “nothing wrong with being gay.”

“I just got to a point where I chose love over anything else. This was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling,” the former actress said in 2021. “And Ellen really did help me through it just by being there and making me feel more comfortable about who I am — like there was nothing wrong with being gay.”

“I think that’s the first time in my life I felt that was true,” she added.