There are hotels that are just a room for the night and a place to head out from in the morning. Then there are glass pods in Lancashire, treehouse rooms in Worcestershire at a ‘summer camp for adults’, or kayaks at the bottom of the garden in the Lake District. There are hotels that get you out of your room for shared meals in the garden or croquet on the lawn, converted Pyreneen farmhouses, thatched French cottages and even the odd windmill.      

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The total freedom of Self-catering oftens comes at the cost of being a little isolated. But there are cottages on Florentine agriturismi where you can join the hosts for a cookery course, ancient Catalonian fortresses where the owners will talk you through their region’s history and huge Gloucestershire houses that come with membership of the local spa. There’s even a place in Perugia where you can borrow a dog for walks in the hills. Forget isolation.  

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You might think that B&Bs are a bit old fashioned, but you’d be amazed what people come up with. There’s a barge on the Thames with a rolltop bath, an eclectic country house with an honesty bar and cabins in the woods of the Garonne where breakfast is delivered to your door. Even the old farmhouse barn has been reinvented, with a great glass dining room and a unique feel that challenge any label you put on it.

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Alberghi Diffusi are hotels spread across Italian villages. Your bedroom is with one resident, meals are served by another and you wander from house to house, feeling a real part of the community. They are Italy’s pioneering way of using tourism to revive isolated rural communities. Relais del Maro, in Borgomaro in the north of Italy, is a lovely example.

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Coes Faen is the best bits of everything. It’s a Welsh stone farmhouse with the chic feel of a design hotel but warmth and charm in the communal Cwtch. It’s a spa where you can come for relaxing treatments or hang out in the hot tub and it’s even an adventurous place where you can stable your horse if you’re riding up to visit.

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This spectacular retreat on the coast near Almeria can be self-catering if you wish, a B&B if you’d like and will surprise you at every turn regardless. There’s a dojo with a sprung floor, a Tiki-bar, an amphitheatre, chic cave dwellings and a solar-heated pool with a bar and Indian temple. Whatever you call it, it’s incredible.  

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