1. Make breakfast in bed.

2. Pack a surprise picnic & head off to your local park.

3. Whip up a batch of home made chocolates.

4. Cut a bunch of flowers & greenery from your garden & wrap in recycled paper.

5. Arrange a visit to your local art gallery or museum, followed by a picnic in the park around it.

6. Agree to turn off all social media channels for 24 hours.

7. Go camping.

8. Find a spot with a clear sky and watch the stars come out at night. Take a blanket and home-made treats and see how many stars you can identify.

9. Book in for a pottery class and make each other a couple of mugs to use each day.

10. Tango! If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to tango, do it now - book yourselves in for a class and enjoy getting fit while having fun.

11. Show your love for the ocean as well as your partner, by going snorkelling at your local beach and collecting waste from the sea.

12. Cook a shared meal - where each of you cooks one course of the other’s favourite dish. Does it go together? Who cares - it’s a reflection of what works, not what SHOULD work!

13. Set up a picnic rug in your garden/courtyard/balcony, with a white sheet for a screen and a projector to run favourite old movies. Make popcorn in brown paper bags, open a bottle of your favourite sparkling (wine or kombucha) and take time to enjoy it and each other’s laughter.

14. Do a treasure hunt. Hide items that your partner owns & loves, and give them clues to find them. Ask them to do the same for you. Make the clues fun - either poetry or cute observations about why you love your partner’s ways. Whoever wins the treasure hunt first gets their choice of dinner cooked for them by the other one.

PS - when I read out this list to my husband, he pounced on the treasure hunt idea, and said “Let’s do that!”. So my Valentine’s day is clearly going to be spent looking all over the house and garden for things….wish me luck!

IMAGES : beach scene // picnic basket // roses // couple in field