Old and new

Historic home: Essex. The original mid-18th-century hearth still presides over the beamed living room of this three-bedder in the hamlet of Ugley, near Bishop's Stortford. The rooms are larger than the miniature façade suggests – a small family can eat in the kitchen – and one of the three bedrooms has an en suite. Outside, the village green that the first residents would have wandered over remains intact. Cost: £339,950.
Mullocks, 01279 755400
Photograph: Mullocks

Historic home: Norfolk. This miniature estate in the village of Scoulton is in an acre of land with a two-bed cottage reached by its own driveway. The main house has more than 300 years of history, an antiquity marked by beams and stone fireplaces in the three receptions, the study area and five bedrooms. Double doors open the large drawing room on to the sun terrace and windows on the other side overlook fields. Yours for £675,000.
Abbotts, 01603 616898
Photograph: Abbots

New build: Essex. There is 850 sq ft at the base of the “lighthouse” portion of this riverside building available to anyone with £200,000. Part of a quayside development in Maldon, you can watch boating on the river Blackwater from your open-plan living room, and stroll within minutes to the shops. There is a bathroom, two bedrooms, sleek fittings and a parking space.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01245 467468
Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

New build: Cheshire. Modern life, for people who have £2.2m, looks something like this: a symphony of cedar wood gathered round a pond in Knutsford. It was conceived by architect Nicholas Tye as a series of pavilions – house, self-contained office and car port in an acre-and-a-half of gardens overlooking a wildlife sanctuary. Inside it is all sleek chic in wood, steel and stone, and there is also a cinema room. All five bedrooms have balconies.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01625 540340
Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Bargain of the week: London. It’s not a particularly pretty sight inside or out, but it is a cheap way of gaining a berth in Sydenham. One-bed flats round here can fetch up to £175,000; this one is hoping for £135,000 because it’s a probate sale and needs some cosmetic intervention inside. About £10,000 would perk it up, and you'll end up with a decent-sized pad 12 minutes walk from Forest Hill station.
Wooster Stock, 020 8613 0060
Photograph: Wooster Stock