Old and new

New-build: Swansea. The Copper Quarter is taking shape two miles from the city centre and usefully straddles town and country – there is a retail park, park and ride, and a rugby stadium to the front, and woodland and rural freedom behind. You can walk the river tow paths from your door. Match your household to a menu of options from two-bedroom flats to a three-bed townhouse. Prices from £145,000 to £186,995.
Barratt Homes, 01792 472 843 Photograph: Barratt Homes/Barratt Homes

New-build: Norfolk. With a virtuous eco rating this development of flats and houses looks over pine woods to the sea – it is 500 yards from the quay at Wells-next-the-Sea. The county's best sandy beaches are a walk away across the salt marshes. This £395,000 three-bedder has two reception rooms, an expensively fitted kitchen/breakfast room, three bath/shower rooms and a courtyard garden with spreading green views.
Bedfords, 01328 730500 Photograph: Bedfords/Bedfords

Historic home: Derbyshire. This four-bedder was built by a gentleman farmer in the village of Hartshorne in 1629, and has changed little since. Inside the huge reception and bedrooms is a dizzying welter of beams, zigzagging walls and ceilings. A Rayburn cooker is tucked into a huge inglenook fireplace in the kitchen/breakfast room, and the landing has a grand stone hearth. Modernity has added an en suite to the master bedroom and a chic bathroom. Cost: £474,000.
John German, 01283 512244 Photograph: John German/John German

Historic home: Worcestershire. Clinging to one side of this £500,000, early 17th-century house is the archway to the local manor, and in the wide, walled gardens sits the old village bakery, now self-contained lodgings for an extra relative. The four reception rooms and five bedrooms in the main house are snugly beamed with a couple of mammoth inglenooks and tiled floors. It is in the centre of Beckworth village near Tewkesbury.
Knight Frank, 01242 246959 Photograph: Knight Frank/Knight Frank

Dream home: Devon. One of the most beautiful views in England unfolds from the window in the master bedroom. The village of Noss Mayo is perched on an estuary with wooded banks on both sides, and the sea across farmland behind. At low tide you can walk across the causeway to the pub at Newton Ferrers. This three-bed cottage, converted from an old warehouse, has a private quay from where you can join the busy local sailing fraternity. Yours for £360,000.
Luscombe Maye, 01752 872417 Photograph: Luscombe Maye/Luscombe Maye