Luxury cottages with private swimming pools

Armed with a flamboyant swimsuit and all of the ingredients for a hedonistic cocktail hour, you're all set to escape the heat of the city and head towards a holiday home with the most important feature of all: a private pool. As the children float past on inflatables, you can sit back with a good book and let the world dissolve behind well-thumbed pages. These luxury holiday cottages with swimming pools and hot tubs are the ultimate in family-friendly breaks that feel more like private spa retreats in the country.

You needn’t travel past the British Isles for sunrise swims and moonlit paddles; our luxury holiday homes with swimming pools include island towers and woodland manors. Think morning laps among the Cotswolds wildflowers while the dogs run alongside, and waterside sundowners in folkloric Cornwall. And pools aren't just for summer; on those cool autumn mornings, there's nothing like tiptoeing across a frosty lawn and sinking into the steaming waters of a heated secret garden pool.