If that sounds like a holiday you would relish, the Historic Houses Association may also be of interest. The association represents 1,500 historic houses, castles and gardens throughout the UK, many of which are open to visitors.

Members of the association can visit 300 of the properties completely free of charge - visit www.hha.org.uk for details.

The National Trust also has a unique collection of over 350 cottages in locations throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Some of the new cottages due to open in June 2007 include a tower in Norfolk and a former summerhouse in Wray Castle, near Ambleside, Cumbria. For more information and to browse through the cottages available please visitwww.nationaltrustcottages.co.uk.

You may never have considered spending your holiday on a farm - but that is the premise behind Farm Stay UK. The organisation boasts the largest network of farm based accomodation in the UK - and extols the virtues of a warm welcome, country air and traditional farmhouse breakfast!

Visit www.farmstayuk.co.uk to find out more and to begin your search for farm accomodation.

If wildlife is your thing then why not centre a holiday on one of The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s several visitor centres? Here you will find a rich variety of wildfowl and it is not uncommon to get a glimpse of some rare birds. You can see a list of centres at www.wwt.org.uk.

Continuing the watery and wildlife theme, how about a canal boating holiday to get really close to nature? There are opportunities for barge holidays across the UK, where you can tackle locks, bridges, aqueducts and tunnels. This unusual UK break has a very slow pace of life, as barges cannot travel at more than 4 miles per hour! Just sit back, relax and watch the fabulous English countryside roll by!

Or, have you always dreamed of a magical, romantic break in a log cabin? Well a visit to www.forestholidays.co.uk could give you just that. With cabins in fabulous locations in Cornwall, North Yorkshire and Scotland, this really could be the relaxing and unusual UK break you have been waiting for.