Old and new

Historic home: West Sussex. Once a thatched estate cottage in the West Sussex village of Sutton, this property dates from the mid 16th century, but has since enlarged itself into a stately four-bedroom family house. Unfortunately the decor is also rather vintage, but once you've splashed out on some cosmetic enhancements you'll rejoice in two large reception rooms, one with an inglenook, a garden room opening onto the vast lawns and unsullied views to the South Downs. A barn in the grounds could be put to inventive use provided you didn't offend any planners. Cost: £750,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01730 812357
Photograph: Jackons-Stops & Staff

Historic home: Midhurst, West Sussex. The heavily beamed walls and ceilings and two inglenook fireplaces testify to the antiquity of this £425,000 four-bedroom cottage. There's more space than you'd expect behind the compact exterior. The living room opens into a study, the kitchen is large enough to breakfast in and there's a dining room for grander feeding, all the bedrooms are a decent size and cellars extend below. Alas, there's only a courtyard for a garden.
Strutt & Parker, 01428 661077
Photograph: Strutt & Parker

New build: Dorset. From your pillows in the vaulted, air-conditioned master suite you can gaze through full height windows across Dorset. This house, on the market for £750,000, was built in Corfe Mullen in 2008 as a fanfare to modern technology. A lift will hoist you from the cinema room to the first floor should the ash staircase defeat you. There's remote-controlled mood lighting, a central vacuuming system and triple-glazing. All four bedrooms are doubles and the open-plan reception area extends to 32ft and opens onto a spreading balcony.
Palmer Snell, 01935 814531
Photograph: Marcus Newey/Palmers Neil

New build: Brecon. This adventurous little development won an award for sustainability when it was built in the Brecon Beacons in 2006. It's 50 metres from the River Wye in the village of Boughrood with wild walks all round and an easy commute from the bookworms' utopia of Hay-on-Wye. The owner, who is selling privately, has knocked through various rooms to create an open-plan living area and a large master bedroom with views of wooded hills. For £375,000 there's also a bathroom to serve each of the three sleeping quarters and a balcony opens off one of them within the double-height conservatory.
Sales inquiries by email to bythewye@hotmail.com
Photograph: Vendor: bythewye@hotmail.com

Bargain of the week: Stepney, London. The newly-married vendor wants to hurry off into connubial bliss and is therefore asking a good £20,000 less than this chic London flat could be expected to fetch. The building used to be a school serving the east London borough of Stepney, hence the long windows and high ceilings, and you also benefit from security gating and a 24-hour porter. One of the two bedrooms is perched on a mezzanine, while you can feast your eyes on stylish swathes of exposed brick walls and wooden flooring. Yours for £399,950.
Chesterton Humberts, 020 7357 7999
Photograph: Chesterton Humberts