Country cottages with class

There's nothing like a break in the countryside to clear the head and put a bit of colour in the cheeks.

YORKSHIRE

Tucked away in the centre of Whitby close to the quayside, the beach and Whitby's main shopping street, Flowersgate, Bakehouse Cottage is Grade II listed with original features including a cast-iron wood-burning range, spiral staircase, fresh plain colours throughout, original features such as beamed ceilings and stone walls, and a freestanding tub in a bathroom with pastel wash shades echoing the sea.
Next booking: 17 June-1 July
One week: £717 (sleeps eight)
Shoreline Cottages (0113 2893539; www.shoreline-cottages.com)

SHROPSHIRE

Windy Mundy Farm's unusually high ceilings come from its previous life as an 18th century threshing barn and deer shelter. Still part of a working arable farm and surrounded by fields of wheat and barley, six miles from Shrewsbury, the building has its own courtyard garden with stone wall, terrace and barbecue and views towards the Shropshire hills. The living room/dining room has an open suspended fire, rugs on the oak floor, warm red-brick walls and a spiral staircase leading up to the bedrooms.
Next booking: throughout June
One week: £1,607 (sleeps 14)
Call English Country Cottages (0870 442 2515; www.englishcountrycottages.co.uk).

INVERNESS-SHIRE

Deep in the Scottish Highlands 13 miles from Inverness, Cawdor Cottages are five remote hideaways with simple, tasteful interiors, owned and managed by Lord and Lady Cawdor, an architect and ex-Vogue fashion stylist respectively. Achneim Cottage is a one-storey, one-bedroom, stone-built cottage dating from the 19th century, formerly occupied by workers on the Cawdor Estate. Cream walls, bare floorboards, jute matting, large velvet chairs, chunky antique lampstands, and beds with white percale cotton duvets and iron frames.
Next booking: 14-24 June
One week: £586 for seven nights (sleeps two)
Cawdor Cottages (01667 404666; www.cawdor.com)

OXFORDSHIRE

Dating from the 1890s and deconsecrated in the 1970s, the village church of St Michael and All Angels in Hollocombe, 10 miles south-west of South Molton in Devon, is beautiful both outside and in. Every one of the seven rooms has plenty of space and light, some have stained-glass windows, and the whole is filled with a mixture of modern furniture and antiques, including a monk's settle. The master bedroom is huge, yet tucked away beneath the steeply slanting wooden church roof. Next booking: 15-22 June
One week: £600 (sleeps six) Classic Cottages (01326 555555).
No children under eight

The Dovecote in Wantage dates from the 18th century, but its new interior is a free-standing steel frame inside the walls of the listed former bird home, which has a spiral staircase, shower room with sauna, chrome Sottini bathroom fittings and oil-fired underfloor heating. There's also a CD player, TV/video and an exposed roof with background eaves lighting. Perfect for a weekend in bed, or head off to the dreaming spires of Oxford, a 20-minute drive away.

Next booking: 19-22 August, 26-29 August
Two nights: £275 (Friday to Sunday) or £200 two nights (weekdays); sleeps two Distinctly Different 01225 866648 .