Les Milandes

The view must be one of the most ravishing in Europe. Part of a château village, these four homes rejoice in a lordly position above the sweeping Dordogne. Choose one of the three former estate workers’ cottages and find a well-planned living area with good rugs on polished wood floors, painted beds, ornate bedcovers, floral or pastel walls, and beams painted white to give a lighter feel. There’s good crockery in well-fitted kitchens, updated shower rooms and pretty private terraced gardens. Gardien and Arc en Ciel share a pool, Mairie, the smartest cottage, has its own. Come with a large party and you can take over the grand and gorgeous Manoir, where ten can lose themselves in huge ground-floor rooms, play in the games room, splash in the pool, and marvel at a kitchen with three fridges, two dishwashers and two ovens. In 1940 Josephine Baker, the black cabaret artiste who took Paris by storm in the 1920s, adopted France, rented the Château of Milandes and brought up her children here. A marvellous launch pad for all the Dordogne has to offer.