“Twenty-five this year? I still can’t believe it. It doesn’t seem any time at all since I was jotting down notes on quirky, homely places to stay in France while working as a tour guide there. Those scruffy notes led to the first Sawday’s guide book, which in turn spawned an organisation that is, we like to think, one of the leading badges of quality for those negotiating the ever-more-saturated holiday stays market. All the properties we feature and recommend are first inspected, and we look for the same qualities that caught my eye all those years ago: charm, character, beautiful views, maybe even a touch of eccentricity.”

To celebrate, Alastair Sawday has chosen 25 of his favourite places from the past quarter-century. Some weren’t even built when Sawday’s was starting out in 1994. Others, have been with us from the very beginning.