When you rent a country cottage for a week or two to visit Britain, it becomes your own private ‘home from home’, somewhere you can close the door and be yourself. You are master of your own time and can organise your holiday, your way.

Browse the following cottages and houses in different parts of Britain to note how the architecture, building materials and finish is different in each part of Britain. It may just help you decide on where you would like to take a British holiday.

East Anglian holiday cottages may be colour washed, half-timbered or Tudor style:

This street of cottages is in the pretty Suffolk village of Boxford. It is a good example of a historic village where centuries old cottages are well maintained and still in use. Lavenham is arguably the most picturesque and best preserved Suffolk village. It is a fabulous place to stay and tour Suffolk.

This is the village green in the north Essex village of Finchingfield. There are numerous beautiful houses and cottages in this East Anglian village. Some are painted in pastel shades, others are traditional black Essex barn conversions.

A barn conversion in Finchingfield displaying black weatherboarding. Barn conversions are often holiday homes in the British countryside.

Modern riverside holiday homes in the Norfolk village of Loddon. Note the weatherboarding, this time in white.