Casa Nostro

Walk through the door of Casa Nostro and you're met with space. Everything spreads across one level: a living room with TV and garden doors that open onto an enclosed patio, a separate dining room, and a kitchen equipped for proper cooking—oven, hob, dishwasher, washing machine. Four bedrooms branch off, with combinations of doubles, singles and bunks to sleep eight. There's one bathroom with both bath and shower, plus a separate toilet. Essentials like heating, electricity, bed linen, towels and Wi-Fi are covered; two cots and two highchairs are available if needed.

Wooler sits on the edge of the Cheviot Hills and Northumberland National Park, a market town with independent shops and pubs a few hundred yards downhill from the cottage. The enclosed garden has a patio, furniture and a children's play area, with a BBQ for outdoor meals. Parking fits three cars. The property does have a steep driveway approach and a few steps as alternatives, and there is a pond in the garden with a safety grid; the garden also slopes. One well-behaved pet stays free.

From here, walking and cycling routes run through the hills for all abilities, fishing is available on the Till and Tweed, and Alnwick Castle, Chillingham and Holy Island are within reach. Seahouses, 30 minutes away, runs boat trips to the Farne Islands. No smoking indoors.