This has to be one of the most glorious settings in the British Isles with nothing but hills and water visible from the windows. Going for £225,000, the main house was extended, somewhat unbeautifully, in the 1970s, creating five bedrooms and the owners bought the former Victorian schoolhouse which is ripe for conversion. The main house, on the banks of Loch Laxford, could do with some updating, but with views like that the decor is almost immaterial.
Strutt & Parker, 01463 723597 Photograph: Strutt & Parker
True remoteness is hard to find in Essex, but this £595,000 cottage is shielded by an acre of its own ground and is 1km from the nearest village. Its 17th century origins are visible in the forest of wall and ceiling beams, the inglenook fireplaces and brick floors. There’s an immensity of space – a 30-foot living room, a large dining room, a snug and five bedrooms, although two of these can only be reached by walking through two of the others and the only self-contained one is a tiddler.
Mullucks Wells, 01799 520520 Photograph: Mullucks Wells
Since only friends in possession of 4x4s can approach your rugged hideaway, you are assured of seclusion. Beyond a buffer of 0.75 acres is billowing countryside. The three bedrooms and three receptions can be expanded if planners agree to let you convert the attached stone barn, and a cosmetic refreshment will create an internal idyll with the beams and old stone fireplaces. On the market for £390,000.
Strutt & Parker, 01584 873711 Photograph: Strutt & Parker
Although this four-bedroom house is 15 miles from the nearest town, the isolation need not oppress you for you can install friends or extended family in the separate two-bedroom cottage, which has paid its own way as a holiday let. The 2.1 acres of these former estate cottages is bounded on two sides by a river for which you have fishing rights. For £435,000 there are three receptions, a study and a conservatory in the main house, all quaintly beamed.
Strutt & Parker, 01743 284200 Photograph: Strutt & Parker,
True there’s a hamlet beyond your boundaries, but this five-bedroom house is well buffered by its grounds with views over sweeping farmland and a drive away from the nearest village. £247,799 funds a castle-like residence with exposed stone walls and grand fireplaces inside and an attic with conversion potential. There’s a swimming pool in the garden, cellars for the local wines and two covered terraces overlooking the garden.
Leggett, 08700 11 51 51 Photograph: Leggett
