A nicely priced inn on Shaftesbury's high street with a warm contemporary style and some excellent food – fine local walking waits

A harmonious B&B in Chinon wine country. Home-cooked food, comfortable beds, easy conservations with your host and starry skies at night

Come for peace and quiet down a long lane, pretty buildings and big, beautifully-kept gardens with a secluded outdoor pool

A very special design-led garden apartment on the ground floor of an elegant 1835 house on one of the prettiest crescents in the city

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

An airy, well-designed hideaway for two in an ancient barn on a quiet farm. This is prime walking country with Hadrian’s Wall nearby.

A beautifully renovated traditional manor house with extensive gardens and orchard, a pool with a deck in a meadow and a terrace for dining

Come for big open skies, sweeping beaches and the charming towns of north Norfolk from this pretty flintstone cottage in Docking village

A luxurious eco-retreat plus extra room in the Space Conker in private woodland with views to the Chaîne des Aravis and Mont Blanc

A welcoming, warming inn for locals and visitors alike with a blazing log fire, excellent local and seasonal food and proper Devon ales

Step back in time at this wonderfully authentic château, loved deeply by its owners - 25km from Beaune and the Route des Grands Crus

Delightful little antique-filled cottage with large walled garden and an allotment near Versailles. Gardeners will be happy

A niftily converted barn with high vaulted ceiling sitting on a hill with wonderful views over a newly-created lake and the Stour Valley

Welcome to a dreamy fortified castle, once owned by French royalty, the perfect place to stay for history lovers and comfort seekers

This fine old Dordogne house is run by well-travelled owners, has superb views and is a luscious mix of old charm and contemporary design

A large, light-filled house sitting very much on its own in the middle of the peaceful Eden Valley with masses of space inside and out

A majestic renovation of a Victorian 'model' farm with underfloor heating, open plan design, light bright lines and not a whiff of IKEA

An artist's house imbued with an understated elegance. Stay for dinner; be charmed by the garden where fruit trees throng, hens loiter