Heaps to do on-site: organic farm shop & café, cookery & cheese-making courses, farm tours. A brilliant base for exploring the Cotswolds too

Colourful coastal apartments and studios where you can be nicely independent, and enjoy a communal café and health club with Art Deco pool

Come for hearty Lakeland adventures, pretty towns and villages, and a rather special stay in this warm and welcoming country inn

On a quiet road leading to the sea, this sleepy village pub has been sensitively restored. Enjoy good food, sleep in comfy bedrooms

Secluded villa with glorious views, infinity pool and lovely gardens, a three-minute walk from one of Italy’s most beautiful villages

A bright, light newly built annexe flat adjoining a farmhouse and sitting on a hill looking out over a lake and fields beyond to the village

Escape to the edge of the Atlantic. Find airy rooms and good food served from terraces overlooking the ocean - all with a green conscience

A delightful eco-friendly, off-grid bolthole in the Northumberland National Park with much comfort, massive views and in a Dark Sky area

Straight out of a fairy tale, a rustic cottage by a babbling brook: a magical escape for couples, the craggy coast in easy reach

A lovely big house with huge riverside gardens and an easy-going charm – a 15-minute walk from bookish Hay-on-Wye

This lovely, beamy, uncluttered Tuscan farmhouse with separate apartment is an elegant lodging on a vast fruitful estate with pool, and lovely owners

Good bolthole with two terraces offering spectacular views over the historic town, and restaurants and bars a short stroll

Ensconce yourselves in the Black Périgord and stay in the East Wing of a 16th-century castle with private garden and surrounding parkland

This shuttered, stone maison in Gascony on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrims' route is a joy for families to spend time together

Restored 18th-century farm building surrounded by countryside, with a good pub a short walk away and Lake Windermere a ten-minute drive

A pretty stone single-storey house, now renovated beautifully into a comfortable hideaway with wonderful views to woodland and river

A large tranquil apartment with garden and pool surrounded by Tuscan countryside, just over half an hour's drive from Siena