La Sablonnerie

A horse-drawn carriage conveys you over a dramatic, narrow isthmus 80 metres above the sea to this 17th-century farmhouse on a tiny island with no airstrip, no tarmac road and no cars. Since she was in her mid-twenties, the ‘charming, charismatic’ Elizabeth Perrée has run a hotel begun in 1948 by her family with just three guest bedrooms. Now she presides over what she calls a 'time warp of simplicity'; 22 rooms, spread over the main house and surrounding cottages. Her motto is ‘nothing is impossible, and everything must be tickety-boo’, and everything is indeed tickety-boo, albeit in a traditional way. That means quaintly charming rooms with fringed lamps, floral curtains and fresh cut flowers (indeed, we have readers who have been coming here for more than 50 years). You can eat in the rustic, whitewashed dining room, or in the rose-filled garden, among the brimming flower borders. Dishes might include roasted sea scallops with garlic butter, deliciously fresh lobster, or fillet of Sark beef. Days can be spent cycling, sea-fishing, scuba diving and puffin-spotting off white sandy beaches, while the night sky is something to behold.