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

A fabulous Belle Epoque château with much wow factor set in vast grounds with lawns and lakes, circled by a dense forest

In wine country, a beautifully revived 16th-century manor and hospitable B&B. Visit Angers’ cathedral, cruise along the Loire to Saumur

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

A pretty stone single-storey house, now renovated beautifully into a comfortable hideaway with wonderful views to woodland and river

There's a lovely relaxed feel to this rather grand house, garden, ponds and orangery. Ashley and Amanda are easy-going hosts

There's a lovely welcome at this manoir near the sea with its family-friendly room arrangements (cottages, kitchens) and its outdoor pool

Large, unpretentious and very comfortable family house in splendid isolation with swimming pool, tennis court and well-tended gardens

A cool pub with smart rooms, English ales and Thai-inspired food. Farringdon tube is round the corner and you can walk to the Barbican

A big old house with a lovely pool, surrounded by ancient olives just 3kms from the sea and deep in the heart of Bandol wine country

An 18th-century cottage for four on a working sheep farm: walk the Pentland Hills, get the bus to Edinburgh for culture

An elegant 1892 building, once the village school, now a very comfortable, colourful B&B with warm owners and delicious breakfasts

A bright, light newly built annexe flat adjoining a farmhouse and sitting on a hill looking out over a lake and fields beyond to the village

Classic coaching inn in a bustling village offers restful rooms, real ales and the Cotswolds on your doorstep

By a lake, enclosed by woodland - a contemporary house and barn, full of handmade furniture – laze in a hammock, walk the Jurassic Coast

A charming inn on the village green with beautiful interiors - you’ll find low ceilings, pretty rooms and a fire that burns on cold days.

Gracious Florentine hospitality, elegance and comfort, gazebo breakfasts, a flower-filled garden with pool and views of olive groves

Towering 5 storeys above lively Palermo, a gracious B&B with sunlit rooms, lovely Sicilian hosts and breakfast in fine china on the terrace