Friendly Maki and Clive's higgledy-piggledy home is a charming, special place. Rooms are cosy, Clive's cookery courses are fun and delicious

A spoiling hotel for a properly grown up escape on the Chatsworth Estate. Bring your loved one and do as much or as little as you fancy

Swim with frogs in the freshwater pool, breakfast in the sunshine, play boules by moonlight. Châteaux don't get much more rural

Come for a big gathering of friends or family and take the whole house plus an extra cottage in the pretty gardens – swim in the pool, relax

Rural French heaven at this lovely farm within four hectares. Natural materials, neutral colours and a lavender-lined pool all to yourselves

A thatched farmhouse only just over the channel near Rouen that’s well hidden in lush gardens, but worth finding for the gourmet food alone

Come for much comfort in both buildings which face each other across the garden, plus a pool, lake, yoga and fitness studios

Deep French countryside, fine hospitality from true nature lovers, fantastic bedrooms and delicious dinners in an outbuilding

Come for good architecture, thoughtful design and much space for relaxing: swimming, massages, hammam and sauna, beautiful bedrooms

A deliciously rural stone house with charmingly simple rustic-chic interiors and saline pool - an hour from Perugia

Friendly inn close to Glastonbury. Locals come for breakfast, there's a lively bar and excellent bedrooms, some with a bath in the room

Near Southwold - rich colours, fresh flowers and exotica! Fields for the dogs, walled gardens for you, logs, umbrellas, digital showers...

A large tranquil apartment with garden and pool surrounded by Tuscan countryside, just over half an hour's drive from Siena

For escapists, wannabe writers and lovers of rural bliss: two boho hideaways for two (four at a squeeze) in this lush corner of Galicia

Ascot is a trot down the road and there's a really cosy, cottagey feel to this quaint 18th-century inn with great food and comfy bedrooms

A beautifully renovated traditional manor house with extensive gardens and orchard, a pool with a deck in a meadow and a terrace for dining

Gather your loved ones and come for colourful, exuberant interiors, an absolutely gorgeous covered veranda and a pool with moveable floor

Ski in winter, walk and cycle in summer - return to unbeatable hospitality, warm, large and comfortable bedrooms with views, robust food