La Dimora

Dazzling small hotel with pretty rooms and sparkling pool, set in lush gardens between the hills and coast of northern Corsica

This gorgeous 18th-century summer house offers what so many of us want: a cool little base with a glistening pool where we can spend our days doing nothing at all. Owners Carole and Antoine rescued the house from neglect, pouring in love and money, and now it shines. It’s the sort of place you see on the pages of a glossy magazine. You’ll find golden stone buildings, beautiful bedrooms, hammocks hanging from palm trees, sun loungers circling an aqua blue pool. You’re in one of the loveliest parts of the island with some interesting local diversions to keep you amused, and some delicious restaurants waiting up in the hills or down by the water. In short, all the necessary ingredients are here to cook up a wonderfully lazy holiday.

Potter about at the hotel and find serenely manicured gardens with beds of fragrant lavender, a shaded breakfast terrace, an ancient olive tree, even a boules pitch. You’ll probably spurn them all for the swimming pool terrace, where you can top up your tan, then retreat to sofas in the pool house for light meals. Bedrooms - there are 17, about half with terraces - are equally lovely: warm colours, beautiful bathrooms, crisply dressed beds and the odd antique. The coast is 7km north at St Florent, where boats whisk you off to sandy beaches. There’s a treatment room, too, and a hot tub by the pool. Fabulous.

Highs

• Seriously attractive house with gorgeous pool and terrace set in peaceful gardens
• Lovely, romantic bedrooms that pamper you rotten
• St Florent, a pretty seaside town that comes alive in summer
• The Cap de Corse, the beautiful northern peninsula studded with beaches and summer restaurants
• The nearby village of Oletta, up in the hills with its magical views of mountain and sea

Lows

• You’ll need a car, even though you probably won’t use it that much
• We've heard reports of average service, but didn’t experience this ourselves
• Breakfast is good, but expensive. Also, no restaurant, so you’ll have to go out at night, and you'll need to drive
• Some rooms have baths only, so if you want a shower, ask for one; ditto, request a terrace if you'd prefer that to first-floor views