There is something very special about staying in a 600-year old French manor with views of sunflower fields and a castle in the distance. We have a suite at the Manoir de l’Abbaye in the Loire Valley, and at 150 euros per night for four people including breakfast, it is a steal.

Our rooms have two immense fireplaces, big enough to roast a pig in. There are huge, exposed wooden beams and an uneven stone floor. There is a four poster bed. There is a winding stone staircase. There is a pool outside. Fields of sunflowers are on the doorstep. Some of them have been carved into smiling faces.

For breakfast, there is home-made yoghurt, piles of croissants and pain au chocolat, baguettes, butter and jam, coffee and hot chocolate and juice. 

This is the life.