This heavenly retreat is bathed in light - and is equally light on the planet. It is a green-oak build of the highest order, vaulted to the ceiling and uplifting in every sense. It’s the perfect place for reuniting with family or friends, and is set on the edge of a cider orchard with the Malvern Hills to the east. Read more…

We just love it when a green place to stay has all the deep comforts and style you’d expect from the very best. It’s how it should be. A welcome hamper of local produce, underfloor heating (geothermal!), and bikes to borrow. Fabulous! Read on…

This annexe apartment of a late Victorian farm cottage is utterly self-sufficient in energy, thanks to photovoltaic panels and solar thermal power. There’s no TV (which, to some of you, will be bliss!) and it’s as peaceful as can be. Read on…

This is real find. It’s slap bang on the pebbly beach, with wide open windows to the sea and funky bits of driftwood furniture, hand-crafted by Mark in his studio down the road. And check out the bed! Read on…

Welcome to this inaugural post on our new blog about the latest and greatest self-catering spots around Britain from Sawday’s. You can consider it a campaign against the benality, soulessness and predictability of most self-catering places on offer. Here you’ll find the most recent and genuinely special places that we’ve uploaded to our self-catering site (www.special-escapes.co.uk)… a sort of sneaky preview.

If you haven’t already popped by for a peek at the truly Sawday’s-style wide range of special places to rent (there are surf shacks, castles, cottages, bothies, city apartments, follies, big country pads and tiny hilltop hideaways), make that bold step at www.special-escapes.co.uk

But, as a little aperitif…. here’s a taste of what we’ll be posting in the weeks and months to come

• Updown Cottage (Shaftesbury, Dorset), sleeps 6: a position to die for on one of England’s most famous cobbled hills, Egyptian cotton, low beams, spanking modern bathrooms and a farmhouse kitchen. What more can you want?