Royal Mail has unveiled a ‘Valentine’s post box’ in the aptly named village of Lover in Wiltshire.  The romantically-designed post box has been adorned with a selection of hearts and will remain decorated until the end of February for lovers to visit and send their post from.

The post box in Lover is an example of the latest style of lamp box, made from stainless steel and introduced in 2013.  Lamp boxes are usually mounted on metal posts, but can sometimes be found strapped to lamp posts, telegraph poles, short wooden posts, or set in walls.  They are the standard post box where letter volumes are not high, and there are over 45,000 of them in use.  Lamp boxes were originally installed on lamp posts in London squares in 1896 so that letter writers in the evening could catch the late night or early morning collection without having to walk all the way to the nearest pillar box.