A cracking English inn with open fires, great food, gorgeous rooms, happy staff, lovely gardens and well-kept English ales

A Victorian house on a 5000 acre estate, snazzily renovated and tucked down a track with a private lake, in the quieter part of Cumbria

A small, stylish hotel lost in the country with beautiful rooms, excellent food, fine walking and a river passing directly outside

An elegant townhouse, built in 1830 and once the sous-préfecture for Rochefort, with spacious, light-filled rooms and a garden with pool

Historic pub with immaculate new bedrooms and a happy atmosphere. A waterside terrace for summer, blazing open fires for winter

A pool, pines, and hosts that give you figs from their garden! Stroll to a pizzeria through the olive groves, return to 2 lovely apartments

Walkers and wild-lifers, here is your place in the Pyrenees. Colour, character, a welcoming family, log fires and delicious home cooking

A surprisingly roomy interior for this pretty chocolate-box cottage in the middle of the village, just a ten-minute walk from Lulworth Cove

Near Southwold beach, bird reserves and Suffolk castles, a peaceful getaway with orchard, views and generous breakfasts. Good value

This 300-year-old Cotswold pub, the hub of picture-book Sapperton from which there are glorious walks, is a superb place to eat and stay

A magical medieval castello, gloriously gothic with tower, moat and ghost, fit for a Shakespearian play.

Come for an exceptionally inviting 17th-century inn, a chocolate-box Cotswold village, excellent local food and ales, very comfortable rooms

A soothing, deeply romantic bolthole with simple interiors and its own little private garden, next to a winery and surrounded by vineyards

A beautiful little house in a corner of the garden: walk for miles or just to the local pub, barbecue on the deck with its rural views

A serene apartment for 2 in the old fisherman's quarter in Olhão, close to amazing beaches. A special place for nature lovers and foodies

Just the ticket if you want to escape from the hurly-burly and wind down with fresh air, good food, walks in nature and sublime views

A hammock by the pool, dinner under the stars, Andalucian nature (wild boar, birds, olives) all around. Chatty English hosts charm all

A lovely restored house on a farm beside a cluster of ancient buildings surrounded by lush forest and grasslands – a deeply rural spot