Leave the car, everything is walkable & buses are practically free. Visit restaurants, vineyards & markets from your lofty village bolthole

A timbered, fire-warmed village farmhouse, home-grown dinners, delightfully French hosts. Deliciously authentic, generous and calm

A trulli hamlet immersed in nature, on the wilder side of Puglia with visits to white-washed hilltop towns and cooking with Nonna Maria

Cakes from the host & eggs from the hens. Bring a party, bring the dogs, and soak up the history from a very fine house in the Cotswolds

Anglo-Irish meets Italian and Indian; the owners have peppered this charming home with furniture and artefacts from their broad travels

A charming home-from-home in the Yorkshire Dales with stunning country views; come for Fell walks, great pubs and cosy fireside board games

Year-round Alpine fun at this peaceful home a short hop from the peaks with calm bedrooms, delicious breakfasts and mountain views

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

Wisteria, clematis and roses clamber up this pretty stone barn conversion with its own big garden surrounded by mature trees and many birds

Welcoming and friendly place in a non-touristy area of the city within walking distance of the centre and with a fabulous roof terrace

A converted farmhouse set in a large mature garden, well located for exploring the delights of the Lot et Garonne south of the Dordogne

This 300-year-old Cotswold pub, the hub of picture-book Sapperton from which there are glorious walks, is a superb place to eat and stay

Unspoilt Coverack has all you need for a fun beach holiday and this terraced fisherman's cottage on the coast path is cosy all year round

In the heart of the East Sussex countryside, a fun community inn, with rustic-historic bedrooms, scrumptious food, and a great welcome for dogs

Rooms in the house overlook the vineyard, the lodges are surrounded by it - check out the vines, then drink their wine with a good dinner

Steeped in history and romance, with a great big sleigh bed and open fires, is this 14th-century defence tower above the river Tweed

Elegant country château with a family feel, for big groups with or without children, and those who seek inspiration