Waverley station is a few minutes’ walk from this three-bedroom flat and so are all the thrills of central Edinburgh. A full-length window in one of the bedrooms is a legacy of the Scottish colourist who used it as his studio. The location, above a shop and on a busy throughway may now be too noisy for artistic inspiration, but the size of the place is compensation for the three-storey climb. The enormous main bedroom could be a grand drawing room if the open-plan kitchen/reception area cramps your style. Asking price: £260,000.
Strutt & Parker, 0131 718 44874 Photograph: Strutt & Parker
The rustic feel of this 400-year-old forge is pleasantly deceptive. For although the garden patio overlooks protected woodland, the 4/5-bedroom house is in the middle of a busy village with a major hospital, a number of shops and train services to Leeds, Bradford, Manchester and London departing from the station less than half a mile up the road. In this green backwater, though, time has seemingly stalled, although not before adding a double garage with annexe above, two swanky bathrooms, full digital wiring and a newly fitted kitchen. The ceilings are latticed with beams, fireplaces dominate the main rooms and the walled garden is invisible to neighbours. Asking price: £435,000.
Hunters, 01756 700 544 Photograph: Hunters
£470,000 is an unnerving price for three bedrooms and a small backyard, but space is of secondary importance when the location is overshadowed by York Minster in the centre of the walled city. The fact it’s a few minutes walk from the station is as well for there’s nowhere to park a car here. The vendor bought the 300-year-old house off the church and stonework from the previous minster and Roman bricks on the lower ground floor suggest ancient origins. With antiquity comes character that is not always convenient – one bedroom is in the basement below the kitchen, the living room is upstairs with bedroom two, and the third bedroom has the one bathroom all to itself on the top floor.
Jackson-Stops, 01904 625 033 Photograph: Jackson-Stops
The fact that a scene from the James Bond film Quantum of Solace is the most glamorous thing about this postwar landmark, but the brutish beige architecture is a small grief given the location of the development in extensive water gardens close to Hyde Park, Oxford Street and the West End. Paddington and Marylebone stations are a walk away and it is surrounded by tube stops. It’s the postcode you’re paying for, of course, since the £475,000 asking price funds only a slim kitchen/reception and a modest bedroom, but the place has been newly refurbished and so its small contours are glamorous.
Kay & Co, 020 7262 2030 Photograph: Kay and Co
There are glorious views as you cross the river on the 450m walk from home to the station where trains leave for Bordeaux and Perigueux and the river embellishes the panorama from the balconies of this hilltop house. The main building dates from 1870, but the foundations, including the cellar date back to the 12th century. The 21st century could do with a bit more of a look in – the kitchen is unfitted and you’ll want to replaster the bathroom walls and convert the huge attic, but beautification will leave you with an elegant house with the potential for more than its current four bedrooms. The park outside will have to double as a garden since you have no outside space of your own. Asking price: €159,000.
Sextant Properties, 020 7428 4914 Photograph: Sextant Properties
