From the immense space and serenity of the Lake District to the sun-dappled vineyards of Tuscany, it feels good to leave your emails unchecked and breathe some clean, country air. You’ll have a field day when you pull up at a big country house, way out in the sticks, with nothing but a long soak in the tub on the agenda.

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  Cotswolds

  This is storybook England. Honey-hued villages, tumbledown inns with crackling fires and resident Labradors, plus some of the loveliest boutique hotels in the land; what’s not to love?

  
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  Tuscany

  Rural Italy at its most seductive. Spend tipsy afternoons in and out of centuries-old cellars, with a charming Tuscan villa to call home for a while.

  
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  Lake District

  The dips and peaks of this sublime region are a dream for walkers. Of course it’s absolutely acceptable – practically encouraged – to instead relax shore-side with a cashmere blanket.

  
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  Provence

  We are besotted with Provence. Famed for its fields of purple, little blue shutters and temperate southern climate, this is a place to fall in love – and fall in love with.