An expansive and generous 13th-century Catalan farmhouse, restored with verve and colour in the Pyrenees - a wonderful spot for groups

Rooms are good value, breakfast is taken overlooking the garden and there's superb veggie food next door - a Sawday's Community Champion

A cool little inn lost in beautiful hills, child- and dog-friendly, with happy staff and award-winning food

A cosy, courteous, family-run hotel with ‘chocolatines’ and cherry jams at breakfast, Basque dishes at dinner, and gorgeous rolling views

Close to Saint-Jean-d'Angély, an elegant and spacious manor house with unfussy, comfortable interiors, bucolic views, big garden and pool

Elegance and ease mark this gentle group of Loire-Valley buildings, with soft-textured interiors and the owners’ fine hospitality and food

Bring the family for a traditional Tuscan apartment holiday with a restaurant and pool on site, all surrounded by rippling green countryside

A beautiful villa with a medieval tower surrounded by formal gardens, gentle slopes of perfectly maintained vineyards and wooded hilltops

Escape to your own barn. Brimming with beams and natural colours - surrounded by peaceful lavender-filled gardens and corn fields

Slowly does it at a rustic haven run with infectious enthusiasm and kindness by a truffle hunter with a passion for nature and food

Classic-modern luxury, a charming young hostess and a peaceful setting – perfect for breakfast-lovers, wine buffs and all the family

Provençale-meets-English country house to great effect – cycle Mont Ventoux, walk to the monastery, visit Roman towns and vineyards

You're overlooking the main square in medieval Umbertide from this cosy, second-floor apartment, so you'll feel very much like a local

Birders will love escaping up here, golfers too - visit Hatfield House, Knebworth, Cambridge - come back to a good local pub and a comfy bed

A cosy cottage on a farm down a long winding track, wonderfully rural with footpaths across fields or along the canal

An upmarket, very comfortable old stone village house with tasty breakfasts and a sunny courtyard full of colourful flowers

Take your pick from guided horse-trekking to grand banqueting at this traditional château; drive to explore WWI history and the lovely coast

A small, delightful hotel, perched on a high hill within a 14th-century convent with stunning views, garden and pool - very special indeed