Consumed by the knowledge that spring is now round the corner I’ve been doing everything I can to prepare for the new season. As has become tradition I spent 48 hours on a credit card melting sejour in Paris to treat my wardrobe, followed this year by a couple of days at the Salon des vins de Loire to pick up tips on what I should be stocking on my wine rack this season. Let’s face it, if you’re going to spring clean then do it properly or not at all. That means wardrobe and wine rack. ………

February is great for two reasons.

1. January is over, phew

2. Valentine’s Day is coming…..

Hang on, don’t cringe just yet, I’m not the greatest romantic either but if you ask me Valentine’s Day doesn’t deserve its guilty-pleasure reputation. Love it or loathe it I think there’s something in it for everyone. Chocolates, flowers, champagne, expensive weekends away, 6 course meals, scented candles and…. err, well, you get the picture…. (blush) it gives us a whole new reason to indulge all our senses….. ………