Be My Valentine?

The florists will be selling out of red roses – the jewelers will be excited about all the rings they are going to sell – because we are fast approaching Valentine’s Day when the most romantic of us pop the big question.

Every year we receive several heart-warming emails from people who want to rent our romantic getaway for two people – The Coachmans – for the Valentine’s week-end and usually we are asked to put in red roses and a bottle of fizz. So the spirit of romance is alive and well.

And by being romantic, even if not actually proposing, we are following a tradition that goes back centuries to the Roman festival to celebrate the start of Spring and the sap rising and birds nest-building and all of nature coupling up.

Who was St Valentine?

St Valentine was a priest who was martyred for his faith but before this happened he healed a young woman. Before he died he sent a note and signed it “from your Valentine” and this is where it all started.

Anonymous Valentine’s cards are good fun but apparently illegal. The postman is obliged to tell you where the card came from if you ask…. Spoilsport!

Personally I’ve never had any huge romantic gestures paid to me on Valentine’s Day but I’ve witnessed some pretty good ones in my time. Best of all was a friend opening her bedroom curtains in the morning and looking down onto the pavement where her current beau had drawn a heart in chalk with an arrow through it and her name on it. It was all to no avail – she dumped him almost immediately!

There are lots of quotes you can use for your Valentine’s message but surely the best is :-

“My heart is, and always will, yours.”

Do you recognize it? The incomparable Jane Austen in Sense and Sensibility.