Valentine's Day with Hotel Chocolat

Valentine's Day - one of those days that you either love or hate....mind you that often depends upon your current relationship status. Who says you can't treat yourself on Valentine's Day regardless of whether you are single, have a partner, married, or "it's complicated" (as that social network likes to use)? If there's one thing I have learned these past few years it's to learn to love yourself, it's not always easy but it's worth the effort - especially if you reward yourself for this love one day a year.

What's my point? My point is that Valentine's Day doesn't just have to be for couples, it can be a day to reflect upon all relationships in your life.

That said I'm not one for going too overboard on Valentine's Day, but it's nice to show the people you love how much you care about them (though surely we should be doing this every day?).

When it comes to gifts I tend to go for something simple that I know hubby will like. Generally that means a nice whisky or good chocolate. So when Hotel Chocolat asked us to try an item their Valentine's range I knew hubby would be up for the challenge.

Hotel Chocolat is a firm favourite in our family. We often send it as gifts as we have never been disappointed with the quality or service. So getting the chance to try their Open Your Heart To Me chocolate was really exciting...filled with anticipation.

Open Your Heart To Me - £25

Open Your Heart To Me arrived well protected, nestled in lovely shredded pink tissue paper.

I have to say, I love the box. The feather design is simple but effective - you can sense the quality, it feels quite "posh".

Upon opening the box the nature of Open Your Heart To Me becomes apparent. A solid milk chocolate heart opens up to reveal 8 beautiful heart chocolates.

back of the box

It seemed only right to get the family involved in trying these chocolates so on a visit to the in-laws new house we produced the box. It was greeted by "oooohs" and "aaaahhhhs" as everyone wanted to dig in and give it a go.

The chocolate heart is beautifully crafted from 40% milk chocolate. It's nice and thick and you actually get a lot of chocolate from the heart alone. As you would expect this chocolate is just gorgeous....goes without saying really.

Then we got to the individual heart chocolates. There are four different types - Dark Mousse, Lemon Berry Tart, Strawberry Swoon and Caramel Swoon - two of each.

All four flavours were a great hit. My mother-in-law's comment was something along the lines of these not being chocolates to be wasted on children, they are far too good for that. I'm fairly sure the phrase "oozes sophistication" was uttered as some point as well. So, as you can see, the chocolates were much appreciated.

The Open Your Heart To Me isn't an every day chocolate gift. It's a special gift for that chocolate lover in your life. When I asked my mother-in-law to guess the price after examining and trying all the chocolates she thought it would be about £30 ... in actual fact it retails for £25.

So when you are looking for a Valentine's gift this year, whether it be for your partner, friend or indeed yourself, think about what you want from the gift. Do you want something that "oozes sophistication"? Something that feels and tastes like a real treat? If so, we highly recommend Open Your Heart To Me.

For more information about Hotel Chocolat and their range of Valentine's Chocolates visit their website www.hotelchocolat.co.uk.

One Open Your Heart To Me was received FOC. The opinions in this post are, as always, totally honest and completely our own.