Lover (pronounced like

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

, ) is a small village in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England, close to the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

border with

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. It is part of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Redlynch and lies about southeast of Redlynch and southeast of the city of

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. The village is within the boundaries of the

New Forest National Park The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

. The settlement was once called Warminster Green, but by 1876 it was known as Lover, possibly a corruption of Lower Redlynch. Lover consists of three roads that connect together to form a triangle. These are Besomer Drove, School Road and Church Hill. The name Besomer Drove refers to the tradition of broom-making in the area. Lover has St Mary's church, built in 1837 to serve the Redlynch area. Nearby is Redlynch Village Hall. A National School was built c. 1839 and rebuilt in 1878; it became Redlynch

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Voluntary Aided Primary School. After the school closed in 2006 its playing fields were transferred to the parish council. Renamed Lover Green, the area is maintained by the community and is the venue for the annual Lover Country Fayre. In 2016 the school buildings were bought by the community. The Lover post office used to do much business around

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

, as items posted there were

postmark A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit. ...

ed "Lover". Although the post office was regarded as a "vital" service for the 100 people a week who used it,Fight to save Lover Post Office
Salisbury Journal, 11 January 2008 it was closed on 2 April 2008. Since the closure, a temporary post office opens during the week of Valentine's Day so that the cards can be stamped with "Lover". Lover also once had a village shop and pub, but both have been closed.

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{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire