10 holiday cottages: top self-catering stays

Hidden treasure

Thinking of taking a self-catering holiday? We've selected some very different properties for very different guests. By David Wickers

Despite Britain's limited, densely packed acreage, there are some remarkable great escapes, worlds where rush-hour traffic peaks at a midday sighting of maybe three backpackers and the silence is disturbed only by wind, birdsong, sheep baas and sometimes the heaving of the ocean. The lonely Old Rectory, situated - as the photograph reveals - in isolation above the wide, sandy beach at Rhossili Bay on the Gower Peninsula in Wales, with Worms Head Island on the horizon, is a classic. It sleeps seven, has a wood-burning stove, costs between £851 and £2,394 and, say the booking instructions, arrival by daylight is recommended. National Trust (0844 800 2070; www.nationaltrustcottages.co.uk)

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