The former gate-house to Dillington House in Ilminster, Somerset, is Grade II* listed and looks like a miniature castle, built of hamstone, with arched stone mullion windows and turreted roof. With two bedrooms (one just 9ft by 6ft7ins), open fireplace in the sitting room and outside, landscaped gardens, fish pond and parking space Price pounds 53,500. (Greenslade Taylor Hunt, 01460 57222.) Medley Cottage in Rayne, near Braintree, Essex, is a Grade II- listed cottage with timber frame and pitched roof. The two bedroom property has exposed beams, open fireplace in the sitting room and gardens.

It has been dated as 17th century, but local experts think it may be older Offers invited around pounds 75,000. (Trembach Welch, 01371 872117.) An 18th century cottage 45 minutes from the beach in Brittany comes with two period barns and more than three acres. The four-bedroom, two-bathroom house is about an hour and a half from the ferry at St Malo. The owners, from Sussex, chose their holiday home to give their children the chance to enjoy wildlife, sailing, swimming and water-skiing Around pounds 47,000 (Domus Abroad, 0171 431 4692.). With the increasing commercialisation of the Sabbath day and the decline in families eating together, it sounds like the bell tolls for Sunday lunch.. or does it? For what we are about to receive... If you have followed eating trends in the press recently, you could be forgiven for thinking that we are a nation of overworked, solitary guzzlers, munching microwaved meals in front of our favourite soaps. Changing social lifestyles are reflected in eating habits - take the booming restaurant industry for example But eating lunch out isn't always a piece of cake.

Who hasn't experienced the abrupt manner of the strict gauleiters in black apparel who patrol the reservations book with the charm of a tetchy Rottweiler, telling us that we might try in "a few weeks". So, we, the hungry punters, are left with a distinct feeling of low self-esteem, and are forced to cast our sights ever downward.Oh ye of little faith, our redeemer, the pub, is at hand. Spit and sawdust, revamped perhaps, to a mock-rustic style has now settled into the styling midground with half-decent beers and a tolerable attempt at real food. We don't imagine that the dreadful days of the draught-excluder lasagne are quite gone, so seek... and ye shall find.Lunch at the pub is one of the great ways to spend a Sunday, and as national standards gradually improve, they may prove to be the Sabbath's salvation.