Describing itself simply as "a charity which rescues buildings in distress", the Landmark Trust has covered a lot of ground since it was founded by in 1965. It began with a small project (the "modestly gothic" Church Cottage in rural Cardiganshire), but swiftly moved on to tackle larger, grander and often more challenging worthy causes, each driven by the trust's guiding principle: that a new and useful life for abandoned or redundant buildings can be supported by renting them out to paying guests.
The trust celebrates its 40th anniversary next weekend with a nationwide Open Doors event, allowing visitors to explore 40 of its beautifully restored buildings. But there is much more to see and savour for those who can afford the charity's justifiably high rents.
This year's handbook offers a choice of 183 Landmarks, including the latest, the Grange in Ramsgate (the former home of Victorian architect Augustus Pugin and currently a restoration in progress). And though the trust is best known for garden follies set in aristocratic 18th-century landscapes (a pineapple-shaped summerhouse in Dunmore springs to mind), the complete collection reads like a history of British architecture.
Ranging in age from the medieval Stogursey Castle in Somerset to a 1960s modernist house in Devon (Anderton House by Peter Aldington), it includes a Napoleonic Martello tower on the Suffolk coast, Georgian townhouse flats in London's Smithfields, an apartment in Hampton Court palace, an Italianate railway station in Alton, a Victorian water-tower in Norfolk, chapels, mills, farmhouses, numerous vernacular cottages, a converted Yorkshire pigsty ("an exercise in primitive classicism"), and a tiny corrugated iron hut on Lundy island.
Landmark's projects also represent the work of some our finest architects: a Lutyens in Surrey; a Rennie Mackintosh in Perthshire. And because many Landmarks were not designed as living spaces, some have entailed some inventive modern design solutions (like squeezing kitchens into slender gothic towers).
In short, this is a remarkable collection of unique buildings, each offering a "life-enriching" experience, combining comfort and careful conservation - and the chance to do our bit to protect the endangered species of our built environment. For further information on the Landmark Trust's Open Doors scheme (May 14-15), to book properties, or to ask for the full-colour anniversary handbook (price £11), call 01628 825925 (or visit landmarktrust.org.uk). All properties are available for holidays and shorts breaks (subject to availability).
· Read all about Jon Ronson falling for the strange charms of the Landmark Trust.
Saddell House, Kintyre, Scotland
After years of fund-raising, this lovely seaside house on the west coast of Kintyre was opened to guests at the end of last year, thereby completing a group of longstanding Landmarks (the house, plus a castle and four cottages) on the Saddell estate. Built in 1774 by Colonel Donald Campbell, the house was reconstructed, circa 1900, after a disastrous fire. Large but "sensible", it remains a typical laird's seat with a splendid dining room and antique-furnished rooms with views of Kilbrannan Sound - all within a stone's throw of the beach at Saddell Bay (where Paul McCartney filmed the video for Mull Of Kintyre).
Sleeps: 13 in two doubles, four twins and one single.
Perfect for: Family get-togethers; well-behaved house parties.
Facilities: Three bathrooms, open fireplaces.
What's nearby? Saddell Bay beach, Campbelltown, The isle of Arran.
How much? £618-£2,383 per week.
Clytha Castle, Monmouthshire
Built in 1790 by William Jones of nearby Clytha House, this mini castle was intended as a garden retreat to relieve "a mind afflicted by the loss of a most excellent wife". Later, it was used to house Clytha's gamekeeper; but when Landmark took it on in 1973, it had been empty for 25 years. Restored (but not overdone), it is every bit the fairytale castle with faded pink render, gothic windows (or fake arrow slits), its rooms in a series of turrets (one of them roofless, another providing a circular bedroom), and views across parkland, best seen from a rooftop platform on the ramparts.
Sleeps: six in two twins and one double turret.
Perfect for: Honeymooners (according to one entry in the guest logbook).
Facilities: Private gardens, open fires and two floors, linked by a spiral staircase in a tower.
What's nearby? Monmouth, Usk, the Brecon Beacons, the Forest of Dean.
How much?£768-£1,731 per week.
Old Light, Lundy Island
When it was built by Daniel Asher Alexander (the architect behind Dartmoor prison) for Bristol's Merchant Venturers in 1819, Lundy island's first lighthouse was the highest in Britain. Unfortunately, it was so high that its warning light was frequently obscured by low cloud, and its working career was short. However, it was not the only abandoned building on Lundy when Landmark took on the restoration of the island in 1969.
The most prominent, and one of the most remote, of Lundy's 23 Landmark properties, the Old Light offers two modestly furnished flats in the former keeper's quarters, both of which have access to the tower. A rather perilous upward climb, is rewarded by dizzy views of the whole island (the Bristol Channel in one direction, the Atlantic in the other), from a circular glass light deck furnished with deckchairs. Other Landmark properties on Lundy include the 13th-century castle, a late Georgian gentleman's villa, the Admiralty Lookout and a fisherman's chalet.
Sleeps: four on the ground floor (one twin and two singles), and five on the upper (two twins and one single).
Perfect for: A group of nature-lovers.
Facilities: Shower rooms (no baths) and solid fuel stoves.
What's nearby? The village (and the Marisco Tavern) is a 10-minute walk across fields.
How much? From £401-£1,045 (plus return fares aboard Landmark's ship, the MS Oldenberg from Ilfracombe or Bideford).
Swiss Cottage, Endsleigh, Devon
Acquired in 1977, this is one of two Landmarks in the grounds of Endsleigh House (now owned by hotelier Olga Polizzi), a former home of the Duke of Bedford. The garden was landscaped by Humphrey Repton and the thatched Heidi house, originally used as a picnic venue, is attributed to Jeffrey Wyattville, circa 1815, reflecting the early 19th-century passion for all things Alpine. The theme extends to the interior, with its dolls-house rooms and Swiss furniture. The elevated riverside setting is sublime, the rustic veranda looking down over a wooded stretch of the Tamar valley.
Sleeps: four in one double bed, and two bunks.
Perfect for: Mum, Dad, Hansel, Gretel and the dog.
Facilities: Rooms on three levels and a private garden (on an appropriately Alpine slope).
What's nearby: Tavistock in Devon, Launceston in Cornwall, Dartmoor, and, soon, Olga Polizzi's new Endsleigh hotel (due to open in August).
How much? £378-£1,083 per week.
The Ruin, North Yorkshire
It took Landmark 15 years to acquire this tiny Georgian banqueting house, but even then it wasn't quite what they expected. The Ruin was indeed a ruin (in the collapsed and roofless sense), but part-way through restoration, the project's archaeologist realised that it was meant to look like one. Set in the remnants of Hackfall, a once magnificent estate, it has one "polite" public face and a sham ruined one. Landmark thinks it might be the work of Robert Adam (due to its striking similarity to a building depicted in the architect's watercolour Capriccio On Ruins), but it is its own diligent efforts (six years in all) which has created today's little masterpiece. Completed earlier this year, it offers a decorative Georgian interior and a terrace overlooking a wooded gorge.
Sleeps: One or two in a double room.
Perfect for: Couples, reclusives, history buffs.
Facilities: Three unconnected rooms opening on to an terrace and a small garden.
What's nearby: Ripon Cathedral, Studley Park, the Yorkshire Dales.
How much? £289-£611 per week.