The holiday starts on the bumpy track along to this Arts & Crafts style modern house with plenty of space and a wrap-around garden

Wild Northumberland awaits beyond your garden at this eco-friendly cottage on a beautiful organic farm where you’re encouraged to explore

Charming half-timbered house at the start of the Alsace wine route, with spacious rooms, tempting breakfast and a swimming pool

An elegantly renovated coaching inn with inspired design, beautifully simple pub food, tempting ales and gloriously comfortable bedrooms

Rustic, sophisticated, relaxed, charming… ancient Follonico is all these things, and gazes on the loveliest hills in Tuscany

A red-brick cottage and Shepherd’s hut in a magical garden with a cookery school and views over the South Downs

A B&B in a WWF-protected botanical garden beside Lake Maggiore. Wander and explore, take a dip in the lake. This place invites you to unwind

Birders will love escaping up here, golfers too - visit Hatfield House, Knebworth, Cambridge - come back to a good local pub and a comfy bed

Throw open French windows to this sleek self-catering space, with off-street parking. Walk to the beach & the pub, visit historic Chichester

A harmonious B&B in Chinon wine country. Home-cooked food, comfortable beds, easy conservations with your host and starry skies at night

Warmth and comfort on the Pink Granite Coast where the wind and waves lull you to sleep, and bedrooms overlook the cedars or the sea

Former blacksmith’s workshop in a chocolate-box corner of the New Forest, where clematis climbs the trellis and all you hear are the birds

A dog-friendly cottage in a tranquil village, formerly the bakery, now restored to perfection with oodles of space and much comfort

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

A light-filled studio with a sweet private terrace on the estate of a 16th-century manor - river views, glorious gardens and pure peace

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

Landscaped gardens, orchard and potager blend into Normandy countryside. Return from rural walks to a log fire and comfortable armchairs

Gloriously green rural self-catering apartments with pool and lovely, friendly owners