Family-friendly nantes

Exciting ways to get away from it all

In the Charente-Maritime, Marans and the Marais Poitevin wetlands combine the best of history, nature and living, says Laurent Blanchard

When it comes to entertaining friends, it is hard to top Château de Chambord as a spectacular party venue. Set in a vast forested estate larger than the City of London, this flamboyant royal residence

A former convent, beautifully restored for 21st-century living, is inviting a new type of traveller to the glamorous French Riviera

Whatever your passion–be it gardening, fishing, sailing, shooting or equestrian sport– you can live the countryside dream in one of these idyllic Hampshire houses

Cambridge, Lynsted, Kent. A renovated Grade II-listed 16th-century house with later additions. It has herringbone and tiled floors, open fireplaces, a sitting room with triple-aspect windows, and a ne