Our self-catering accommodation gives you the freedom to do your own thing in a place with the character and creativity of a real home. They range from the humble to the grand, the modern to the ancient, but we’ve visited every one and can safely say we love them all.

The joy of self-catering accommodation is eating whatever you want, whenever you want. Forage local markets for fresh produce and cook up feasts in massive farmhouse kitchens, or stay out late and raid the fridge for cheese and biscuits when you get back.  

While any soulless self-catering apartment gives you free rein over your mealtimes, we look for a little more. Our network of inspectors search from the wild Scottish coast, to the villages of the Dordogne and the Algarve’s natural pools, for self catering homes and holiday cottages that help you feel a part of the local culture.

Read more Up arrow

Find your perfect match

Personally inspected and selected places that you'll love for their individual character

Back a B Corp

Dedicated to doing business better and inspiring responsible travel

Support small business

Direct contact and booking with owners saves you high commission fees

Join our mission

Carbon off-setting isn't enough, so we're reducing, becoming Net Zero by 2030

 

Featured self-catering accommodation

Wraxall Yard - Gallery

Wraxall Yard

Dorchester, Dorset
Trelowarren - Gallery

Trelowarren

Helston, Cornwall

 

Where to stay

Featured self-catering destinations

 

Inspiration for your next self-catering holiday

Five best self-catering cottages in Cornwall

As beautiful holiday cottages go, Cornwall has a plethora to choose from and you’ll find lots of unique places in our collection. Here we choose five of our best self-catering cottages in Cornwall – as always every place is inspected and loved by us.

Read more >

Our best self-catering cottages in Devon

Devon will always have a place in our hearts – a holiday that gets your feet sandy, your belly full and your hair windswept from all the country walks is therapy for the soul. We’ve rounded up five of our favourite Devon cottages in our collection.

Read more >

Self-catering houses with private chefs

Choose one of these gorgeous places with the services of an experienced chef and suddenly all that pressure of cooking for a big group is immediately lifted and you can simply sit back and enjoy.

Read more >

Sign up to our newsletter

 

Be part of our community – receive travel inspiration, discover our favourite places, and be the first to hear about our newest spaces.

 

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Who are Sawday’s?

We’re an employee-owned company, based in Bristol, with a passion for thoughtful travel. For 25 years, we’ve carefully nurtured our collection of inspected and selected self-catering accommodation, cottages, small hotels, inns and B&Bs. We champion places that buck the trend for bland, soulless boxes and bring your holidays something special through their creativity and character. Rather than booking through us, you deal directly with independent owners, helping to support them and their local communities rather than fund an offshore tax haven. 

 

Where can we take you?

We have a team of inspectors (and enthusiastic employees from all across the business) who go looking for self-catering accommodation in France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and of course Britain, where our unique staycations are now more popular than ever. We want you to feel instantly at home anywhere from Cornwall to Scotland, Norfolk to west Wales and all over Europe. See all our destinations for amazing self-catering holidays here.

What sort of places will you stay in?

Our collection isn’t your usual handful of identical holiday cottages. We love something a bit original, from ancient crofts in Dorset to sweeps of curved glass on the banks of the Douro that frame magnificent views. We end up with quite a spectrum, so we describe our places honestly, laying out what you’ll love and what you might not. You might find a rustic bothy in Scotland that’s perfect for a wild escape, alongside a chic townhouse in Edinburgh that’ll put a lively urban fizz into your self-catering holiday. Each one has been hand-picked by us for the wonderful memories it’ll leave you with.

 

How do we choose our places? 

Firstly, we always go and look for ourselves, because we want to know exactly how it will feel when you stay. While we’re there, we chat to the owner, take a look at the rooms and see if it has what we’re after. As well as ensuring good quality and comfort, we look for something unusual from all our places. We love a spark of creativity, a real sense of place, a warm welcome – things that will make you smile. It could be an outdoor bath in your luxury self-catering cottage in Devon, a jar of gravy bones and brick-red tea in your dog-friendly barn conversion in Yorkshire, or the moment when you see that windmills, castles and even air control towers have been turned into incredible places to stay.