A stunning château with huge rooms, pretty balconies with views, peaceful garden. Super owners, excellent dinners - and child-friendly too

Wild beauty and hundreds of birds on the shore of a freshwater lake. Frank and Daniella look after you in a homely, fuss free way

An artistic escape with a stunning kitchen in sleepy, gastronomic Lot – stroll to the village market and feast on local produce

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

11 rooms yet huge personality: travel mementoes, bright colours, local breakfasts... in a fun market town under the Cotswold escarpment

A spick and span little hideaway full of character in a manor estate cottage. Explore the gardens, walk to the beach in 25 minutes

A wonderfully simple and modern studio with stunning sea views in an almost Jurassic landscape, dotted with the owner's sculptures

In a small town in Salento is a cool southern house of elegant simplicity, ideal for a large family, near to beaches & 45 minutes from Lecce

An 18th-century stone cottage sitting in the glorious Yorkshire Dales. Nature-lovers and walkers will be well pleased and so will their dog

Inspiring scenery for this lavender farm near a Provençal village. Rustic eco-friendly cottages, a hump-backed bridge, a hammock by the pool

This fine old inn stands in blissful peace, a field or two back from the coastal path, with cosy rooms, delicious food and a rustic style

A neatly-converted old farmhouse on a quiet country lane with bright living spaces, heated pool, garden and hot tub just minutes from sandy beaches

A surprisingly roomy interior for this pretty chocolate-box cottage in the middle of the village, just a ten-minute walk from Lulworth Cove

A beautifully converted building, part of an old mill, now a gorgeous place to stay with the stream running through and shared parkland

High in the Tuscan hills, at the end of an avenue of cypresses, surrounded by parkland and acres of olives... a 13th-century dream

A bit like staying with friends in a smart country house, but not having to help - an elegant refuge near Bradford-on-Avon

A very swish 1610 house, thoroughly refurbished, in the heart of old Chichester with oodles of space and a surprisingly large garden

Charming gardens for you and your dog in a barn conversion in rural Norfolk half an hour from coast