Free from information offices at the Channel Ports, or from the French Tourist office, London 0891 244123 (calls 39p-49p per minute)TURKEY OTTOMAN-STYLEWith Turkey this year a hot holiday favourite, they'll be gasping for air in the hotels of Bodrum and Marmaris, Alanya, Side and the increasing number of popular spots in the main package brochures. Fares are not included but can be arranged.La France des Villages 01449 737664Note: To avoid congested motorways in high season, send for the Bison Fute roadmap which shows picturesque local alternatives. Typical prices: the shepherd's cottage sleeping seven costs pounds 700 a week in August, the Breton bakery pounds 450-pounds 475. A week's rent for Mason Island is pounds 388 in August, pounds 220 in September.Shamrock Cottages 01823 660126PETIT FRANCEThe aim of La France des Villages is to find parts of rural France that most Brits never reach - the French themselves call them "les petits pays", regions with a distinctive identity, often by-passed by holidaymakers belting down the autoroutes to the Cote d'Azur and the Dordogne.The firm can come up with an old shepherd's cottage in Gascony, traditional Breton farms and old bakeries, quayside houses along the canals of the Poitou-Charente, houses in rugged Finisterre, and in the rolling Burgundy countryside.

This and other Irish cottages on the mainland are available from Shamrock in the latter half of August and throughout September. In Orta itself, the San Rocco, once a monastery, now converted to an understated, quiet luxury hotel costs pounds 734 half-board for a week, while Hotel Orta, right at the water's edge is simple, charming, old-fashioned and family run with a terrace on the main piazza, and costs pounds 499-pounds 514, half-board.Inghams Lakes and Mountains 0181 780 4444MAROONEDFor the ultimate getaway - Mason Island, just off the Irish coast at Carna in Carna, Co Galway - holidaymakers are ferried across the 14-mile strait in the owner's curragh, then left in peace - with only a radio telephone to summon help or supplies.Completely uninhabited most of the year, Mason Island is about 34 mile long and 12 mile wide with tiny beaches, interesting birdlife, a few derelict cottages and one renovated house simply furnished, sleeping up to eight escapists. There's a huge market at Omegna every Thursday, and an eccentric island in the middle of the lake where the local Saint did what all good Saints do and slew the resident dragon and snakes.Rooms at three very different hotels are offered in Inghams Lakes and Mountain programme; the Giardinetto on the outskirts of the village of Patennasco is best for families, or for active holidaymakers, costing pounds 458 for a week's half board (including flights). About 50 miles north of Milan, 15 or so from Lake Maggiore which heaves with summer crowds, Lake Orta has only a sprinkling of hotels and villas around its waterfront and in the enchanting capital called Orta, all cobbled streets, tiny piazzas and faded frescoes. The Cortijo Aguila Real in the village of Guillena, 13 miles north of Seville has its own chapel, stables, a swimming pool and shady gardens The simpler, more rustic Cortijo Las Navazuelas in a valley of olive and oak trees in Cazalla della Sierra, a converted 18th century olive mill has its own pottery and ceramic workshops. B&b prices in the Cortijos start at pounds 29 per person per night in August.Mundicolor 0171 828 6021HIDDEN DEPTHSLake Orta is such a well kept secret that even most Italians can't place it on the map. The Hospederia de San Francisco at Palma del Rio, 30 miles from Cordoba is a converted Franciscan Monastery, dating back to 1442.

Most have been converted to hotels with high standards, many with pools, and serving local food. You can expect some rain and wind, so remember to pack the worthy books you've been meaning to read. Kuoni Travel 01306 740500CORTIJOS AND HACIENDASKeeping well away from the crowded Costas, Spanish specialists Mundicolor's "Country Collection" programme features old cortijos (ranches) and haciendas (arable farms) in unspoilt Andalucia, aimed at holidaymakers who like walking, riding and exploring the great Moorish cities of Seville, Cordoba and Granada and the little white towns (pueblos blancos) of the High Sierras. Guests of Kuoni can leave their footprints on lonely sandy spits, ponder on life all day in the hammocks outside their thatched huts unless they wish to bestir themselves sufficiently to go snorkelling in the reef around the island, windsurf, take a diving course or sign up for a night fishing trip to catch the next day's supper. Prices are modest; end of July departures cost pounds 589 a week half board, better still, around pounds 680 for 2 weeks, with no supplement for single occupancy.