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

Bedrooms with terraces and views over St Michael’s Mount Bay. Explore the gardens; walk from the door to glorious beaches

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

A sprint from London: a Cotswolds pub modernised with sympathy and care. Happy staff, organic ales and food, gorgeous rooms

Character and quirk in old and new design and furnishing – private terraces, a shared pool, great walking, cycling and wine-tasting

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

Just the ticket if you want to escape from the hurly-burly and wind down with fresh air, good food, walks in nature and sublime views

Authenticity and originality combine at this family chateau with its panelled rooms, theatrical flourishes and charming candlelit dinners

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

A pool, pines, and hosts that give you figs from their garden! Stroll to a pizzeria through the olive groves, return to 2 lovely apartments

Feel very private in this light and bright B&B room with your own patio and pleasing views over garden and countryside

A treat in any season, a place to stir your soul, yield to nature and learn how to play again - with a pretty fine roost to come home to

Gather loved ones and come for a family holiday with oodles of space, a gorgeous pool and a tropical garden with views of mountains and sea

A lovely, spacious 1830s house in the heart of arty Westport with nearly an acre of garden, an apple orchard and the river running past

A lovely old 19th-century inn by the sea with hand-pumped ales, fresh local and seasonal food and spoiling bedrooms, some with sea views

Georgian country house with rustic charm and a home-from-home feel. In the heart of Wiltshire just outside historic town Bradford-on-Avon

Lodge and gardens – superbly designed, immaculate, fresh, eco friendly – rest in unspoilt Picardy. Anglo-French hosts take turns to cook