Comfortable home with wood fires, gracious bedrooms and convivial living rooms. The drive is full of blossom and daffodils in spring

Get away from it all in 'old' France, where melons taste like melons & hikes start from the door. This rural bolthole is a serious treat

Explore country markets, churches and châteaux - return to a gite in private parkland with an artist's studio on site, and a blissful pool

Orchards and ducks, open fires, deep comfort in glorious Wiltshire countryside. Courtyard bedrooms and lovely big kitchen too

A roomy, open-plan space for romantics, with complete privacy but with pub, bakery and views of the market garden from your own terrace

A unique 1900 house and garden on the edge of Lyon, steeped in history and authenticity – a beautiful home with museum-quality objects

A stone built 18th-century tower in a pretty valley dotted with fruit trees for quiet and relaxed days recuperating from life in the city

Come for the gloriously peaceful countryside and this 1700s house and garden, scrupulously renovated and with plenty of space

Generous, convivial space for big gatherings. A fantastic pool, plenty of outdoor space, and fun and games to keep everyone entertained

Gite retreats in château grounds - welcoming and wonderful for young families. Build castles in the sandpit, make friends around the pool

A row of old brick stables now craftily converted into a light-filled and very peaceful place to stay with a garden room and gorgeous views

Rustic charm and homely hospitality – this 12th-century hideaway in a medieval village is perfect for slow days, wine and wandering

A peaceful, beautiful place to wake up in and to return to after glorious walks, with no near neighbours apart from curious sheep

A period manor and pretty rooms in old stables: a quiet base for Pas-de-Calais and Picardie. Madame loves the house, animals, story-telling

You are treated like nobility in this gorgeous Manoir, enveloped by the towering cliffs and Aurélia and Julien's generous hospitality

An incredible living museum, dedicated to the history of Sicily and the arts. Stay in the main house or in a cottage in the fecund garden

Traditional accommodation and organic food; handy for Bari but set peacefully in the countryside near Toritto, famed for its almonds

Sleek, smart apartments on the first floor of a 19th-century building in Verona's most fashionable residential/commercial neighbourhood