If you want to come to Venice as an open-hearted traveller rather than a tourist then this is the place for you - just walk to everything

Come for gloriously independent B&B in your own cosy retreat with a belter of a breakfast brought to your door and plenty of local walks

Recharge and reconnect with your creative side in one of Ania's workshops; secret coves, wild swimming and coastal walks are all close

Treat yourselves to a stay on one of the oldest wine estates in Provence and a family house from the 1740s, complete with antiques

A thatched farmhouse only just over the channel near Rouen that’s well hidden in lush gardens, but worth finding for the gourmet food alone

A fabulous party spot with an outdoor covered eating area, a wood with fairy lights, fire pit, dark skies - and much comfort indoors

An island of oyster farms, salt pans and white beaches, woolly donkeys, countless push-bikes and the odd celeb – we love the Ile de Ré!

Retreat to this sweet, peaceful cottage with suntrap courtyard garden enveloped in rolling hills just a short hop from the Jurassic Coast

A light-filled, modern house with wonderful sea views through vast picture windows stretching all the way to St Kilda on clear days

You'll feel at home in this immaculate yet cosy 1800s brick and pantile cottage with a pretty patio and stunning views across the Lincolnshire Wolds

Remote three-bedroom cottage in Northumberland National Park, with far-reaching views over hills and valleys and walks in all directions

This old stone building, a former olive warehouse, is beautifully restored and sits on its own – a simple bolthole for rest and recuperation

One of five cottages on the Wern Estate, all comfort and charm, with a garden for kids, rockpools at Black Rock Sands and a mountain railway

A comfortably stylish renovation of a 19th-century farmhouse, perfect for big groups & multi-generation families to reconnect in rural peace

A cracking spot for this thatched and beamed 17th-century village inn with lovely gardens, just a half-mile stroll from Lulworth Cove

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

Taste the wine, plunge into the granite pool, play billiards in the library, linger outdoors as swallows swoop – eat delicious local dishes

A beautifully-restored Devon bank barn at the end of a quiet lane in the glorious South Hams, just right for a couple or small family