It comes but once a year, but 14 February is the perfect opportunity to define your love. Writer Amanda Morison has some suggestions for tugging those heart strings

Some celebrations you ignore at your peril. Valentine’s Day is one of them, so ideally you’ll present your loved one with something they will remember for the rest of the year. A well-thought-out day trip, a sensuous gift for a foodie, or something that simply has real ‘aaah’ factor. Here are some ideas that are sure to get you in their good books.

Don’t forget to kiss the chef. Lime Wood, in the New Forest, is home to a stylish spa as well as Hartnett Holder & Co, a passionate-about-provenance restaurant presided over by Angela Hartnett. On HH & Co Backstage cookery courses you’ll create Italian dishes or mix it up with Cocktails & Canapes (£120). In New York, Appetite for Seduction’s classes do exactly what they say – teach you how to cook up a sensual storm. Classes include Mucho Mexicano and From France with Love, from $261 (£175) per couple. 

Immortalise your love in Paris, that most romantic of cities. Visit the Musée Rodin, located in an 18th-century palace and home to hundreds of works by sculptor Auguste Rodin – including the world’s most famous clinch, The Kiss – and by the artists he collected. Minutes away is the chic and very Parisian Hotel de Varenne, or blow the budget when The Ritz reopens in March, complete with the world’s first Chanel spa.

Wear your heart on your sleeve by personalising Lily Belle’s cord bracelets (from £19), available in masculine materials, such as parachute cord, or girlier silken ribbons with initials and significant dates. Or celebrate your love of globetrotting with Velvet Ribbon’s personalised travel tag artwork, from £40. 

Sporting fixtures can get the adrenaline going, but tickets to a football match aren’t necessarily Valentine’s Day heaven. Not so polo. Canter into the sunset at Santa Maria Polo Club (pictured) in Sotogrande, where the winter season runs until 13 March. British Airways flies to Gibraltar, the closest airport.

British Airways’ day tripper weekend hand baggage-only fares start from £79 return. So have lunch and dinner in Lisbon and be home for lights out. It’s a seriously hilly city, so pack walking shoes and use the legendary Tram 28 – you can hop on and off all day for a few euro. Don’t miss the views from Sao Jorge castle and a trawl around the bohemian Bairro Alto area, famous for its nightlife and petiscos (Portuguese tapas). The Insolito does great oysters and cocktails, and delivers sweeping castle views.

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This article has been tagged Opinion, Travel Tips