This three-bedroom house has been in the same family for 90 years. While a few of its vintage fittings are desirable, such as the open fireplaces in both receptions, most of the interior needs hauling into the present century. You may also want to expand and reconfigure the layout. It’s set in a fetching part of the stockbroker belt with miles of National Trust common land commencing at the end of the lane. There’s a garage and level gardens, but it’s half a mile from the village amenities. Guide price: £325,000.
Hamptons International, 01483 789 578 Photograph: Hamptons International
This home is in the centre of Lymington, a Georgian waterside town in the New Forest, and has been stylishly refurbished. The beamed sitting room is reasonably large and a dining room supplements the galley kitchen. A summer house in the courtyard garden could be used as an office. However, there are only two bedrooms and you have to leave the car a street away. Asking price: £395,000.
John D Wood, 01590 540 068 Photograph: John D Wood
Once part of a 15th-century longhouse with a spacious cottage garden, it’s everyone’s fantasy of rural bliss and as winsome inside as out. It has window seats in stone mullioned windows, a wood burning stove and bread oven, exposed stonework and wooden floors. It’s a shame that you’re paying for its character as much as its space, as there are only two bedrooms. Guide price: £319,000.
Marchand Petit, 01803 847 979 Photograph: Marchand Petit
The combination of a quaint 19th-century exterior with a super-modern interior is what you get from this detached three- or four-bed converted mission hall in the Itchen Valley in Hampshire. On the market for offers around £650,000, the Mission Hall’s attractions include a new spiral staircase, a wet room, a large, decked roof terrace and a double garage.
Strutt & Parker, 01962 869 999 Photograph: Strutt & Parker
