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

Chiara’s blissfully informal hillside home is a hard place to leave... Guests can get involved with cookery courses or the olive harvest

Elegant farmhouse B&B. Drawing room with a log fire, generous breakfasts with home produce, cookery courses and friendly welcoming hosts

Set off on blissful walks, trek home to crumpets and tea. There’s no better place to escape the 21st century than rural Devon

An artist's house imbued with an understated elegance. Stay for dinner; be charmed by the garden where fruit trees throng, hens loiter

Three comfortable, modern apartments with private terraces, a lovely garden to wander, a pool, a vineyard and views of rolling hills

Choose the atmospheric early Georgian house or the garden bedrooms, all have views, Paul's welcome is genuine and his dinners delicious

You’ll eat well here, among locals who love the food. The village is quiet, the rooms serenely modern. A great base for a holiday en famille

Luxurious living combines with bleating sheep and bells from the church next door - 4 fabulous retreats on the Cotentin Peninsula

A chic bolthole in a sleepy Suffolk village with seriously good food, stylish bedrooms, riverside walks and Suffolk’s wild coast

Your own apartment in a listed manor house with lovely light rooms and stunning grounds with views over farmland to the coast and Lundy

Great value country inn with friendly staff and a superb restaurant. Sleep in comfortable rooms, play boules in the pretty gardens

A 200-year-old typical Mallorcan house with wooden beams, tiled floors, a view-filled garden and a big pool in beautiful Sóller

Farmhouse B&B with thoughtful hosts and superb breakfasts; Michelin-star dining is in the village and thermal baths are near

Great for comfort, beauty, character and home baking. Borrow vintage bikes to explore Cambridge: Christine knows it inside out

A beautiful 18th-century manor house on a productive wine estate with an enticing garden, spa and pool by a nature reserve. Views soar

This famous old country house might not come cheap, but where else can you splash out in such decadent style for life’s big celebrations?

A destination B&B. Hunker down in thoroughly spoiling surroundings with delightful owners near St Jean de Luz, Biarritz and Bayonne