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

Big house with bags of character and easy access to beaches, cafés and cobbled streets, coastal paths and hidden coves

Generous apartments in a 300-year-old farmhouse with beautiful grounds and a swimming pool

A thoughtful conversion of an old farm barn with beautifully-beamed interiors - a flawless, rural escape for romantics and dreamers

With Snowdonia on the doorstep and the Menai Strait at your feet, this handsome Welsh manor has history, heritage and heavenly views

Restored stone barn on a farm in the Lake District National Park, with views of fields and woods and an excellent pub nearby

A bustling inn with beautiful interiors, lovely food and deep peace all around - beaches, castles and Roman palaces wait on your doorstep

Hideaway in the hills complete with private pool and outdoor kitchen. Spend days hiking or on a sun lounger - perfect for families

Get away from it all in 'old' France, where melons taste like melons & hikes start from the door. This rural bolthole is a serious treat

An extraordinary, inspiring place: eat 100% vegan food, drink organic wine, sleep in natural materials, swim in the salt-water pool

A very pretty Victorian gothic house of limestone and brick, sitting peacefully on the edge of the village, eight miles from foodie Ludlow

A blissfully quiet and welcoming New Cross home. English and oriental blend - including breakfast! Rooms are airy, richly decorated and fun

A beautifully designed wooden lodge with hot tub on the deck, glass-front wood-burner, plenty of space and complete immersion in nature

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

This stylish little art-filled inn has comfortable rooms, is surrounded by good walking countryside and serves delicious food - rest here

It's not often you get an entire hamlet to yourselves but here it is – 10 traditional stone houses with big communal spaces in rural bliss

In the National Park with all its glories (Ashbourne for antiques, Chatsworth for history, Bakewell for its market), a sweet village cottage

Climb the candle-lit marble staircase to dream between lavender-scented sheets in splendid rooms, some with balcony or terrace