Elegant country château with a family feel, for big groups with or without children, and those who seek inspiration

What a setting! Gentle terraces, gardens, meadows and jaw-dropping views of Mont Blanc - just metres from Courmayeur

A beautifully renovated lighthouse with stunning views from the lantern room. Pretty bedrooms, great walking and fabulous breakfasts

A beautiful old building with generous windows, arched doorways and opulent interiors in the glorious countryside by a fairy tale château

Between Paris and Rouen, a handsome country house in Monet scenery. Cows graze, bedrooms soothe, friendships bud over bountiful breakfasts

Hike the Wild Boar Fells, get cosy at home with books, games and DVDs, and meet the farm’s hens, cows and sheep

A lovely gîte, once a hunting lodge, with two private terraces overlooking the manicured gardens of an 1830s manor house

Stay a while... lulled by lapping sea and fragrant hanging gardens - cool, light, balconied, classic, intimate, unpretentious

Wrapped in fields and woods, this big traditional house has crisply furnished interiors and plenty of gadgets. Terraced gardens and pool too

Feel French in this very beautiful 300-year-old house with a large garden and pool in a hilltop medieval village of winding, cobbled streets

A big, rambling inn – welcoming and unpretentious with deep sofas, eclectic artwork, tasty food and exceedingly comfortable bedrooms

Friendly owners settle you in to this cool, creatively styled barn. Perfect for groups & families with big pool & garden

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

Vast house on an ancient Roman site with big terraced garden and pool. Grand yet homely, with air-con, spa and only 8 km to the city

An elegant, super central bolthole for two (or three): stroll everywhere, hop on a vaporetto, sit in piazzas drinking cappuccino, live like a local

A sophisticated and friendly Basque beauty overlooking the Bay of Biscay, in Txakoli vineyard country – prepare to be thoroughly spoilt

High in the Tuscan hills, at the end of an avenue of cypresses, surrounded by parkland and acres of olives... a 13th-century dream

A small, charming house with ravishing sea views within walking distance of a bohemian coastal village at the foot of the Teix mountain