The man behind Hotel du Vin has opened a radical rural retreat. The Pig puts a modern spin on the concept of the country house hotel

Robin Hutson is the best hotelier you’ve never heard of. He ran Chewton Glen in the New Forest for a decade, making it the best-known country pile for rilly, rilly posh people. And Michael Winner. He moved on to found the Hotel du Vin

Two street names stick in my mind above all others: Nice View in Leeds and Perfect View in Bath.

They seem to send out the same message but no two roads could be less alike. Nice View's red-brick terrace looks out to the blank, back wall of a former factory – its neighbour, Milan Street, gives the game away so far as the name's Mediterranean origins are concerned.

The Top Ten UK Beaches

St. Ives boasts a quartet of golden-sand beaches. Sheltered coves draw swimmers and sun-worshippers, but water-sports aficionados visit St. Ives for great surfing, windsurfing and water-skiing conditions.