The communal gardens of this Georgian mansion end in the greens of Brentwood Golf Club and you can keep an eye on play from the sash windows of your two-bedroom portion. Although the town touches the tag end of London’s sprawl there is the whiff of country gentry about this spot surrounded by surviving fields. A long driveway leads through the acres of ornamental gardens shared by residents and a grand panelled entrance hall is the prelude to your newly renovated quarters. The rooms are graciously proportioned, both bedrooms are served by a bathroom and the car lodges in an allocated port. Asking price: £369,995.
Beresfords, 01277 888624 Photograph: Beresfords
Across the road from this three-bedroom semi is Exeter Golf and Country Club and it’s a five minute stroll to the pool and gym of in the stately club house. You can also leave the car on the drive and walk the mile to the city centre. It’s larger than it looks with two receptions, a dining kitchen and a small conservatory. The boiler, wiring and windows have all been replaced in the last three years and a downstairs shower room has been added, although the renovations have not yet reached the barren paved garden. Asking price: £295,000.
Wilkinson Grant & Co, 01392 427500 Photograph: Wilkinson Grant & Co
A £640,000 price tag is the only impediment to life on the fairway. This steading is on the first tee of Thornhill golf course, surrounded by practice ground and the fairway to the 18th hole. You can watch the action from the sink in the modern three-bedroom bungalow built to supplement the original Victorian farmhouse which also has three bedrooms plus space to expand into the attic. The planners have agreed to the conversion of the stables and byre into further accommodation where you could lodge holidaymakers and earn an income from your outlay. All the buildings command sweeping green views to the village church and hills.
CKD Galbraith, 01556 505346 Photograph: Ross Bay Photo/CKD Galbraith
Thirty minutes by train from London, but well buffered by green is this Berkeley Homes estate beside a new park overlooking the Surrey National Golf Course. Four acres of communal grounds include a woodland walk and children’s trail and nearby vineyards and stables disguise the fact that you’re within the M25. It’s a mile to Caterham station with services to London Victoria and London Bridge. The theme, since this is greenbelt land is inoffensive nostalgia with traditional gables and casements set in leafy avenues and oak doors, wool carpets and stone work tops inside the three- to five-bedroom houses. Prices start from £460,000 for three bedrooms in the second phase.
Berkeley, 01883 330 390 Photograph: Berkeley
You can choose between 15 championship golf courses within 12 minutes’ drive of this complex in Florida, including two on-site, and get free social membership of the Championsgate golf club. And you have Disney World four miles down the road. Eighty Mediterranean-style three- and four-bedroom villas with communal swimming pools are priced from £212,512. The blurb promises the chance to experience the 'real Florida'. That vanished decades ago under a swathe of theme parks and fairways; what you get instead is a foothold in the land of make-believe and a management service is on hand should you wish to profit from the thousands who flock to sample it each year. You can only move into your property after five years when the management agreement ends. Until then you just have to sit back and enjoy the rental income.
Brooke & Co, 01621 875925
Illustration: Brooke & Co
