Gracious hosts, a mix of 17th-century style and contemporary design with comfort in spades, just minutes from the Rialto Bridge and market

This stately-looking former manor house set back from the road in acres of gardens serves very good food and has rustic-chic bedrooms

A cosy cottage on a farm down a long winding track, wonderfully rural with footpaths across fields or along the canal

Bring boots, maps, your dog and an appetite for high places and deep comfort in this restored farm conversion

A warm and colourful B&B with generous owners, elegant bedrooms and an outdoor pool, in the heart of a pretty town near Toulouse

Grand and old and filled with history, the estate and such a pretty house are a tonic, as are the well-tended grounds and parkland

A fabulous old house filled with history, treasure and stories – now a colourful, larger-than-life hotel in the arty district of Belfast

Friendly host, Georgian elegance, welcoming sitting room and bedrooms, tasty breakfasts: the perfect city break in Scotland’s capital

An unbelievably stunning setting for this renovated 15th-century villa with garden on a hillside overlooking the famed Florence skyline

A tucked-away and peaceful retreat from which to explore the beautiful Dordogne or simply to unwind and recharge

A delightfully Lilliputian Georgian cottage with all mod cons at the end of a terrace just a short walk to shops, cafés and the beach

Come for the utter silence and the rare beauty of this far north-westerly landscape, teeming with wildlife. An antidote to city life

Unadulterated elegance awaits at this gorgeous, ancient Tuscan house with large marble swimming pool, stunning gardens and dreamy views

A thoughtfully renovated cottage in a small hamlet with garden, courtyard and pool. The peace is palpable but you're near to bustling Tusson

Between Paris and Rouen, a handsome country house in Monet scenery. Cows graze, bedrooms soothe, friendships bud over bountiful breakfasts

Elegance and ease mark this gentle group of Loire-Valley buildings, with soft-textured interiors and the owners’ fine hospitality and food