If you associate cottage living with a tiny house, painted shutters, and a backyard vegetable patch, England's "Premier Cottage" site will probably disappoint you. Or maybe you side with Jane Austen's definition of a cottage. In Sense and Sensibility, she described Barton Cottage as "poor and small indeed" with only four bedrooms, two sitting rooms, and two garrets. If you take the Austen viewpoint, you'll enjoy looking through the listings on this site...

Premier Cottage describes itself as "an outstanding collection of over 880 independent 4 & 5 star holiday cottages, apartments, lodges & houses in Great Britain, Ireland & the Channel Islands." We agree - the buildings are pretty extraordinary and definitely worth a look.

• 1 Bee Hill, Northumberland
• 2 Staffield Hall, Eden Valley
• 3 Upper Courth, Cotswalds
• 4 Giffords Barn, Somerset
• 5 Gonwin Manor, Cornwall

For more information, click here.