An enchanting escape immersed in nature yet only 40 minutes by train into the Eternal City for art and history-filled days

Cool, airy villa with Lake Como glistening below. Beautiful terraces and garden, plunge pool - and chilled prosecco and cake to welcome you

A wall of glass frames the sea view - take drinks on the waterfront lawn in summer, or by the crackling fire in winter

Soak up Provençal peace in a charming estate in the Alpilles, with stylish ground-floor B&B rooms, olives, vines and a friendly family dog

A stunning château with huge rooms, pretty balconies with views, peaceful garden. Super owners, excellent dinners - and child-friendly too

History, tranquillity and genuine warmth in a beautifully restored medieval château, deep in the heart of the countryside

Choose the atmospheric early Georgian house or the garden bedrooms, all have views, Paul's welcome is genuine and his dinners delicious

Magnificent views unfold over the glittering sea towards the Cap d'Antibes from this elegant 1750 manor filled with much art and history

Elegantly restored mariner’s cottage with tasteful interiors and sweeping, uninterrupted views over the ever-changing estuary

Up in the hills, with Hay Bluff towering beside, this old stone house is sheltered in the valley with the brook rushing past to a waterfall

Bask in the warmth of the owners at this chic 'maison de maître' in off-track Provence - 12km from lovely hilltop Gordes

A 18th-century house with pool in a small town with friendly owners and a tropical garden of banana, fig and, of course, frangipani

Rural French heaven at this lovely farm within four hectares. Natural materials, neutral colours and a lavender-lined pool all to yourselves

In a hamlet in the Loire countryside is a friendly estate with a family-sized gite, a shared saltwater pool and heaps of old-world charm

A hop from the Côte d'Azur is this elegant home: bring friends, explore the garden, curl up on the sofa, dip in the heated pool

On a farmstead near Ronda where views stretch for miles are 2 houses, one old, one new, brilliant for families, sharing a fabulous pool

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