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

Traditional house with a contemporary and imaginative interior; stroll to shops and restaurants, jump in the car to explore Provence

Up at the top of Scotland’s west coast, a small, stylish and welcoming hotel with lovely owners and some nicely priced rooms

Painting courses on request, gardens full of roses, a parasol’d terrace, a seductive pool… we love this welcoming, traditional hotel

A small, rural cottage high in the wooded hills with long views, your own private pool, utter peace and quiet and a superb restaurant nearby

If you want to come to Venice as an open-hearted traveller rather than a tourist then this is the place for you - just walk to everything

A spacious, luxurious family retreat, remote but close to Audierne. Watch surfers shoot the waves as seagulls wheel above

This lovely, beamy, uncluttered Tuscan farmhouse with separate apartment is an elegant lodging on a vast fruitful estate with pool, and lovely owners

A glamourous escape in central Nice. Creative art-filled interiors, a fabulous tropical garden, sumptuous buffet breakfasts, pool and spa

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

Great gulps of ozone will engulf you at this architect-designed 1960s beach house - light, bright and sparkling, just like the ocean

Beautifully refurbished inn with good food, calming rooms and the South Downs all around. Chichester, Petworth and Goodwood are close

A deliciously cool loft hideaway set among tall sycamores in the grounds of the main house, with a New York Tribeca feel and much comfort

A lovely old stone cottage in a group round a pretty courtyard, with your own private patio and seating area, on the Pink Granite Coast

Four beautiful bedrooms, acres of gardens and parkland, restaurant and café, tennis, outdoor pool and gym, a gallery and events. Just come

A newly-renovated barn in a picturesque Cotswold village with an enclosed front garden and the river Eye at the bottom of the drive

Welcoming, dog-friendly pub with food to rave about, cracking countryside views and very comfortable bedrooms

Books, meadow flowers, a rocking chair by a cosy fire at this treasure-trove cottage of beautiful things - down tiny lanes in west Cork