Valentine's Day: From Lover with love to lift Covid-19 gloom

The "most romantic village in the world" is encouraging people to send cards and stay connected to everyone they have missed this Valentine's Day.

The village of Lover, in Wiltshire, has launched a "send a little love" campaign to broaden the appeal of 14 February.

People are being urged to send cards to much-missed friends, family and lonely neighbours.

Volunteers will be working from home to stamp cards with Lover's own postmark.

The campaign is being supported by the Royal Mail.

Up until 2005, the post office in Lover received 2,000 Valentine's cards a year from people wanting to include the unique Lover postmark.

After it closed, residents of the village formed the Lover Community Trust and in the last five years have stamped more than 8,000 cards and letters with 'Sent from Lover' - and raised more than £30,000 for the village.

However, due to the pandemic and in a bid to stop people flocking to the village in person, the service has moved online.

Nick Gibbs, chairman of the Lover Community Trust said: "This year it is so important to help people stay connected and our much-loved service is perfectly placed to do just that.

"We want to help start a new tradition on Valentine's Day of sending a little love to your special someone, relatives and friends."

The campaign's website is already taking orders for cards which will be sent on their way with a Lover stamp.

The Lover Community Trust has also provided the option to make an online donation to two NHS charities as another way to say "thank you".

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