Whitstable, Kent, UK

Romance factor: This fishy resort town guarantees a 'plaice' in her heart.

Though stylish restaurants and upmarket galleries may now outnumber shellfish sheds, and you're more likely to find yourself sitting next to a graphic designer than a trawlerman in the seafront pubs, scenic Whitstable in Kent is still a fishing town at heart - and it's probably the best place in the UK to buy fresh oysters. Pick up a dozen of these aphrodisiacs from the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company on Horsebridge Road, and take them down to the town's atmospherically windswept, pebbly beach. There are plenty of lovely B&Bs to check into nearby if the briny bivalves do their work properly.