FAMILY SEASIDE
1 GUSTIVEAN, Cornwall Here’s a chance to holiday as a guest of the next king. This pair of dapper stone-and-whitewash cottages is on a Duchy of Cornwall farm a mile from Newquay’s wondrous Whipsiderry beach. As you’d expect, they’re put together with artful “heritage” styling; trimmings include free logs for your burner, Duchy Originals biscuits and decor that succeeds in being tweedy yet bang with the times – not unlike HRH himself. Sleep 4 and 6, four-berth £700/£1,300; duchyofcornwallholidaycottages.co.uk

LOVE SHACK
2 BEACH HUT, Cornwall Woo your lover, write your novel, wash your socks... all of these might be on your to-do list at the cutest little cuddle cabin in the west. Salted away beside a lonesome strand near Widemouth Bay, this is a one-room clapboard shack awash with stripped wood, candlelight and romance. There’s no washing machine, though. Guests who have gushed over it include Kate Winslet and Demi Moore. Sleeps 2, £1,500/£1,500; thebeachhut.uniquehomestays.com

FAMILY SEASIDE
3 MALTSTERS, Cornwall Can chintz be charming? Put it in a 17th-century village inn, then add a garden full of flowers, and you might decide it can. The Maltsters is brilliantly located in Little Petherick, 10 minutes from Padstow, with its serious eateries and yummy-mummy boutiques. The artist owner moves into his studio for the summer, leaving the slate floors and open fire all for you. Sleeps 6, £459/£1,025; cornishhorizons.co.uk

RUSTIC CHIC
4 GREAT BURROW, Devon A “linhay” is a lean-to turnip shed, mainly found in antique farming manuals, RD Blackmore novels – and at Great Burrow, in Bratton Clovelly. Justin and Mary Ellery have transformed their tumbledown storehouse into a boutique bothy, with beds under the eaves, hammocks in the garden and a firepit for barbecues. There’s even a stable, so you can take your own horse and yomp off across Yes Tor. Sleeps 5-7, £495/£795; greatburrowcottage.co.uk

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CONTEMPORARY COOL
5 OLD CHAPEL, Devon White, white, white is the watchword at this snazzily converted chapel, wedged between the upmarket boating town of Dartmouth and bucket-and-spadey Blackpool Sands. It has a surround-sound iPod system, WiFi and a PlayStation, as well as ensuite bathrooms with Spanish tiles and Turkish washbasins. Even the loos are designer-labelled. Immaculate. Sleeps 6-7, £755/£1,455; bluechipvacations.com

FAMILY SEASIDE
6 SWEETS, Devon Stream twinkling through the garden, summerhouse overlooking the ocean, thatch right down to its ankles: presumably, this cottage got its name from all the chocolate boxes it has starred on. Set up perfectly for two families – two doubles, three twins and a sofa bed – it’s in a super setting, overlooking the surfy seaside town of Croyde, and comes with barbecue, board games and guest bodyboards. Sleeps 12, £1,348/£2,180; marsdens.co.uk

PARTY HOUSE
7 OLD SAIL LOFT, Devon Flying like a bright yellow pennant high above town, the Old Sail Loft is the perfect base for soaking up the salty-sea-dog attractions of Salcombe. Its four floors are crisply contemporary and flooded with light – move fast and you’ll bag a bedroom with balcony views of the estuary and all its bobbing yachts. It’s a five-minute stroll down Bonfire Hill to the sailing school, boat yard and boutiques. Sleeps 10-15, £900/£2,000; theoldsailloft.com

RUSTIC CHIC
8 NATTERJACKS, Dorset A touch of Spain in Thomas Hardy country, this cracking cart-shed conversion hunkers down in the oak-upholstered Char Valley, its low-slung ochre walls and pinkish pantiles more redolent of Catalonia than Casterbridge. The soft hills scrolling away towards Lyme Regis are unmistakable, however, and indoors is all England – winged leather armchairs gathered around the inglenook, pleasingly uneven masonry propped up by venerable beams. Even the mauve master bedroom manages to be a winner. Sleeps 5, £423/£1,132; helpfulholidays.com

FAMILY SEASIDE
9 COBWEB, Dorset Two-foot-thick walls, check. Beamy eaves, check. Shiny Rayburn, check. Creaky floorboards, check. Here’s the quintessential Dorset hidey-hole, set in pretty Winfrith Newburgh, 10 minutes from Lulworth Cove. It has a swanky new bathroom for contemporary abluting, and an inglenook, complete with original bread oven. The best spot, though, is the garden, where you can sip wine, gaze at the thatch and go aaah. Sleeps 4-6, £530/£915; dorsetcoastalcottages.com

LOVE SHACK
10 PUMPHOUSE, Somerset This dinky pied-à-terre is a dream from the outside, marooned in a private meadow right beside the village cricket ground. Indoors, though, it’s all a bit surprising. North Perrott’s original pump house has been given a 21st-century makeover, with a black-leather sofa zone, a sharp steel kitchen and spiral stairs to the loved-up little bedroom above. Sprawl on the patio, stroll to the pub or serve and volley on the owner’s court nearby. Sleeps 2, £327/£615; classic.co.uk

LIVE-IN HISTORY
11 COACH HOUSE, Wiltshire For a brief burst of aristocratic living, how about Sandridge Park, on the Wiltshire Downs? The estate’s mellow-yellow coach house comes with regulation sweeping driveway, spreading lawns, pikestaffs beside the hearth and portraits above it, so that you can pretend that grandpapa fought at Waterloo. A spiral staircase leads to a grand apartment for two (hired separately), in case you’d like to bring your aristocratic granny. Sleeps 5, £667/£816; ruralretreats.co.uk

FAMILY SEASIDE
12 DUNSBURY, Isle of Wight What’s your seaside passion? Surfing, sailing, sandcastles, kiteboarding, kiteflying, riding, mountain-biking? How about a dinosaur hunt? This stone bungalow is simple and spotless, but you’ve come for what’s outdoors – mile upon mile of National Trust downs and a five-minute farm-track ramble to Compton beach. Dunsbury’s owners can fix up surfing lessons, cycle hire and guided fossil hunts, and it’s a pukka working farm – you could even buy half a lamb for the patio barbie. (The more spectacular option is Dunsbury Grange, away from the main farm, with fabulous sea views. It sleeps 10, but availability is good only outside school holidays.) Sleeps 4, £435/£750; dunsburyfarm.co.uk

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