Stylish interiors, beautiful rooms, lovely staff and wonderful food – all this in the Forest of Dean with great walking and cycling trails

Cool, airy villa with Lake Como glistening below. Beautiful terraces and garden, plunge pool - and chilled prosecco and cake to welcome you

Like staying in a family home, only with Henri III furniture and rolling green views. Energetic hosts cook, farm, hunt, chat over champagne

A beautiful little house in a corner of the garden: walk for miles or just to the local pub, barbecue on the deck with its rural views

Come for a spot of indulgence, with seriously good food and wine, oodles to do in the courtyard, great bedrooms and a cool spa for a splurge

High in Ávila's unspoilt nature is this stylish, eco-brilliant family hotel: mountains, massages, pool, organic dinners... a special escape

Painting courses on request, gardens full of roses, a parasol’d terrace, a seductive pool… we love this welcoming, traditional hotel

A swish and very generous eco barn with a wood-fired hot tub and a view-filled deck close to fabulous walking in the Dales or the Lakes

Blissful tranquillity - yet an easy drive from St Paul de Vence (legendary haunt of Matisse and Picasso) and 10km from the Riviera

A gorgeous wooden-clad off-grid cottage deep in the National Park with far-reaching views, unfussy interiors and spoiling extra treatments

A heartwarming 250-year-old pub with roaring fires in the flagged bar, attractive bedrooms and a special welcome for children and dogs

An elegantly renovated coaching inn with inspired design, beautifully simple pub food, tempting ales and gloriously comfortable bedrooms

Few inns can rival the scale or history of this one. Dogs doze by the inglenook, food is sourced from local suppliers, bedrooms are gorgeous

An impressive manor house set in gentle rolling countryside ten miles from Oxford with a delightful garden, warm hosts and organic breakfast

A little gem tucked on a rural Northumbrian estate with other cottages. The rugged coast and lovely Alnwick make for super day trips

On the banks of the river Avon, a handy Park & Ride from Georgian Bath, this charming pub is hugely popular, and rightly so!

Stylish seaside inn with stunning salt marsh views from a decked terrace, delicious food, wine and ales and sea-breezy modern bedrooms

5 houses near Siena to make design-lovers happy; come for the rural solitude of ancient stone farm buildings with urban interiors