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

Elegance and ease mark this gentle group of Loire-Valley buildings, with soft-textured interiors and the owners’ fine hospitality and food

Glorious Elizabethan manor house lovingly furnished with exceptional art and antiques by its welcoming owners

A stunner of a setting for this restored croft house with long views to a sparkling loch and a lively village nearby. Good beaches too

Grade II-listed country hotel with lovely gardens and an excellent restaurant, a short walk from Ambleside and the top of Lake Windermere

Come for big skies, grand walking and hilly cycling. Style and comfort abound in this cottage set on the hillside with views to North Uist

Friendly touches everywhere, terrific food and drink, smart bedrooms above the sparkling bar – dogs and children welcome

Traditional and modern, verging on the opulent. Find a stone-flagged tap room for walkers, top modern food and Chatsworth-perfect bedrooms

A rustic and elegant farmhouse retreat in Provence with a pool, vineyards and wildlife-filled pond – a launchpad for the Luberon

A quirky, colourful house with views to the Aveyron river, green forests and stunning cliffs across the valley. A short stroll into town

An ivy-covered old mill, newly restored as an inn with a relaxed feel, acres of manicured grounds, comfortable bedrooms and great food

Agriturismo at its best - delightful hosts, communal meals of superb home-grown food, homely rooms, a garden filled with fragrant flowers...

Off the beaten track and into the hills – this remote, unknown bird-filled region is faultless for outdoorsy people

Come for big open skies, sweeping beaches and the charming towns of north Norfolk from this pretty flintstone cottage in Docking village

A 18th-century house with pool in a small town with friendly owners and a tropical garden of banana, fig and, of course, frangipani

A seaside inn on Babbacombe Bay with views of sea and sky, rooms to feel happy in, a spa and homely, hearty dining

Retreat to a classically styled, elegant apartment for four - private and peaceful - in a characterful, super-central area of Rome

A 16th-century characterful gem right on the harbourside, serving excellent food at reasonable prices and with pleasant bedrooms