Heaps to do on-site: organic farm shop & café, cookery & cheese-making courses, farm tours. A brilliant base for exploring the Cotswolds too

Breathe, relax in peaceful Provençal countryside: olives, lavender and budding fruit trees. Aix's lively markets are 10 minutes away

An idyllic hotel-restaurant in a postcard-pretty medieval village. Warm interiors, a varied menu of local produce, masses to see and do...

A hop to Montpellier, but deep in the countryside: a romantic pad, with Moroccan rugs, ochre-limed walls and bikes to ride into the country

Gather your loved ones and come for colourful, exuberant interiors, an absolutely gorgeous covered veranda and a pool with moveable floor

A beautiful renovation: light, bright and seemingly suspended over a lush valley with cool, contemporary interiors and stunning views

Tucked at the bottom of a long track and surrounded by a gorgeous natural landscape, is this generous end-slice of a 17th-century stone farm

A light and airy barn conversion, very comfortable and rural, sitting on a hill with views to the south overlooking the Stour valley

Airy interiors, good local food and a blissful rural setting for this refurbished inn, popular with locals and with a happy, bustling vibe

Fire up the BBQ, watch the sunsets, stroll to one of the best stretches of coastline in the world. Bliss for walkers, birders and escapees

A relaxed home-from-home feel at this Spanish house with old-fashioned charm, a big garden and pool and lovely views from every window

Great taste – in decor and food – and a delicious heated pool. Views swoop over field and valley; trails, villages, wineries tempt

Up in the hills, with Hay Bluff towering beside, this old stone house is sheltered in the valley with the brook rushing past to a waterfall

Three charming rustic lodges with private gardens and a laid-back vibe in a small rural hamlet surrounded by vines and truffle orchards

Warm interiors, pretty bedrooms and excellent breakfasts – good value in a very handy central spot

An 18th-century beamed inn with tasty food, pretty bedrooms and a large garden just a ten-minute drive from Chichester

Contemporary boathouse for all the family. Find rock pools, a shingle beach and plenty of ozone in the salty Cornish air

Hear the rooting of wild boar and the odd splash of the pool. For those who love fresh air, great food, and the sweet hills of Umbria