Go Scottish – and Welsh – on 25 January

Happy Burns Night – and St Dwynwen's Day!

Canny celebrators will know this is the eve of Burns Night and Burns Supper, the Scotland-wide celebrations of the birthday of national poet Robert Burns. But it’s also St Dwynwen's Day, the Welsh version of Valentine’s Day, which we know means double the chocolate. Celebrations all round then.

Burns first: there are events taking place all over Scotland tonight, and we think that even if you’re not up north it’s still worth celebrating Scotland anyway – the country was named top destination in the world to visit in 2013 by CNN and is having a Year of Natural Scotland in 2013, with events planned all year for all over the country. Have a look at our campsites and holiday parks in Scotland here; sites available for this weekend are here, with pitches starting at £12 a night.

To sort out your own Burns Supper, you’ll need haggis, whisky, traditional Scottish music and some of Robert Burns’ work to loudly declaim to all. You can pipe your guests in as well as piping in the haggis, and don’t forget to give the ‘toast to the lassies’ (the lassies have right to reply too, which we applaud). Here are a few recipes using haggis – and how to make haggis for vegetarians.

In Wales, Dydd Santes Dwynwen or St Dwynwen’s Day celebrates St Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of lovers. To celebrate the day, and also because it involves boats, we like the idea of taking a boat trip to Llanddwyn Island, where St Dwynwen set up a church and convent. Or give the object of your affections a carved wooden lovespoon to declare your undying loyalty: couples visiting Aberglasney House and Gardens in Carmarthenshire today will also get a free specially crafted lovespoon. And if you’re in Cardiff for the weekend, there’s a St Dwynwen’s Day love ball at the Parc Hotel.

Lakeside pods with fishing are available this weekend less than six miles from Cardiff at Cefn Mably Lakes, with our sites available this weekend in Wales here. For the rest of the year, we have almost 800 campsites, caravan parks and holiday parks in Wales, including Welsh wigwams, budget or backpacker and sites which are open all year.

Although it’ll be too difficult to be in both Scotland and Wales on the same night (unless you’re The Doctor), we do think it should be possible to combine celebrations for both Burns Night and St Dwynwen’s Day, given that they combine a heady mixture of whisky, love, music and making speeches. Which we also know as ‘Friday night’.