A period manor and pretty rooms in old stables: a quiet base for Pas-de-Calais and Picardie. Madame loves the house, animals, story-telling

Year-round Alpine fun at this peaceful home a short hop from the peaks with calm bedrooms, delicious breakfasts and mountain views

Created around a Georgian house, with lake, woodland and fields, this hotel and members' club offers great food, fresh air and much comfort

A delightful harled stone and wood house yards from the sea with glorious hills behind, for walkers, dreamers, nature lovers and adventurers

Leave crowds behind for this charming stone farmhouse in the olive groves of rural Umbria – bring friends and have it all to yourselves

A pretty little cottage in a holiday hamlet surrounded by fields, just a stone's throw from the coast and Binic for happy escapes

Experience the pleasures of traditional Tuscan living with fabulous food and fine wines from the family vineyard

Ease through a beautiful wrought iron gate to a courtyard and an elegant 1700s creamy stone holiday house, part of the château estate

Explore country markets, churches and châteaux - return to a gite in private parkland with an artist's studio on site, and a blissful pool

Walkers and wild-lifers, here is your place in the Pyrenees. Colour, character, a welcoming family, log fires and delicious home cooking

A gentle, calm, immaculate place for an all-season family stay, near wine tastings, castles, caves and canoeing. Everyone loves the Dordogne

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

Live in the lap of luxury in a 600-year-old regenerated farmhouse, enjoy fine fittings, great lighting, games, castle view and infinity pool

Sofas in front of the fire, English wines and local ales, ambrosial food and smart rooms, all a short stroll from Sissinghurst Castle

In an leafy quarter of central Milan, 2 inviting apartments run by generous Jane. Perfect for families and romancers

An 1820s farmhouse at the end of a quiet road in the North York Moors National Park, overlooking a forest and surrounded by fields

Sun-soaked stillness, saltwater dips and garden scents of fig and rosemary - slow days unfold between olive trees and a sky full of stars

A light larch-clad space for lovers, or a retreat for walkers and writers in pretty Orford, once a medieval sea port but now on the river