Italian style marries Californian comfort, with views over hilltop towns, vineyards and the majestic Sibillini mountains beyond

A peaceful, harmonious house with roots in the 14th century, a glorious enclosed pool area and a huge amount of space for happy gatherings

Come for a sense of complete peace surrounded by country and coast with wonderful interiors to boot – a bolthole for two (plus two)

Tranquil manor house deep in Bordeaux wine region with six acres of grounds, a tennis court and swimming pool

A heavenly setting for this very well-hidden cottage with its own small pool, amazing views and delightful pebble beach below

Your own cottage sitting room downstairs and a swish bedroom up – breakfast in the courtyard before venturing forth to discover Canterbury

Peace, space and sophisticated living at a serene villa-apartment in the hills above Cannes

Settle in, relax, enjoy the local food - walk the dramatically beautiful coast path, explore rich West Wales from this handsome old house

A hilltop setting for this ancient fortress with an illustrious past. You stay in apartments or farmhouses inside or outside the walls

Green and serene, a striking array of eco cottages on a family farm where style and comfort reign, close to the coast but far from the crowd

This friendly, Scottish island B&B has the Atlantic at the end of the garden and air so clean the lichen grows like beards from the trees

Mesmerising sea views from this big comfortable hillside house near Deià with a big pool, verdant gardens and sun-trapping terraces

Vineyard B&B suites in sympathetically restored barn. Your own entrance, light-filled rooms, terraces for sunny breakfasts & evening tipples

Come for a spot of high-end cossetting with big, beautiful bedrooms, good food and far-reaching views in the Northumberland National Park

5 minutes from the Vatican in a tall palazzo above the British school. Owners share local tips, serve bakery-fresh breakfasts on the terrace

Like staying in a family home, only with Henri III furniture and rolling green views. Energetic hosts cook, farm, hunt, chat over champagne

A hop to Montpellier, but deep in the countryside: a romantic pad, with Moroccan rugs, ochre-limed walls and bikes to ride into the country

Stay a while... lulled by lapping sea and fragrant hanging gardens - cool, light, balconied, classic, intimate, unpretentious