Have you read The Shell Seekers? Rosamunde Pilcher is the author. I picked it up at a library sale and really enjoyed it. It is set in both the present and WWII, I believe? (It's been a few years). I need to try more of her books for easy, enjoyable reading.
I also love (and I'm not sure how to categorize them, but they are absolutely charming) the Miss Read series of books. These are books about a schoolteacher and are set in fictional English villages, Thrush Green and Fairacre.