Old and new

New build: Buckinghamshire. This collection of buildings in Wolverton used to house the royal train, and Queen Victoria apparently killed time in the reading room once while awaiting departure. This will become a restaurant while the buildings where the first national locomotives were built are being converted into canalside and parkside apartments. Prices start at £70,000 for 50% shared ownership and £140,000 for full ownership of a one-bed apartment, and 100% mortgages are also available. Modern trains depart for London across the canal bridge.
Knight Frank, 01908 319748 Photograph: Knight Frank/Knight Frank

New build: Essex. A former psychiatric hospital, the apartments being created here will look out over the capital as far as the London Eye. Flamboyant Victorian embellishments survive in the conversions, many of which have vaulted ceilings, elaborate wooden trusses, ornate plasterwork and mullioned windows. They are arranged round garden courtyards in Brentwood's green outskirts, a five-minute walk from direct trains to London. From £255,000 for a one- or two-bed house.
The Galleries, 01277 202 122 Photograph: The Galleries/The Galleries

Historic home: Worcestershire. The carved beam over the inglenook fireplace in the second sitting room is thought to have been prised from Evesham Abbey after the dissolution. The house, which Elgar once visited, is in the village of Cleeve Prior and dates back to the 16th century. Recent renovations have preserved the flagstoned floors, ceiling beams and exposed stonework. It is large – three receptions, a kitchen/breakfast room, a study and four double bedrooms – and is buffered by a delectable cottage-style garden. Yours for £635,000.
Hayman Joyce, 01386 858510 Photograph: Hayman Joyce/Hayman Joyce

Historic home: Wiltshire. A successful clothier had this grade I-listed mansion built for himself in 1722, and it later served as a dower house for the nearby stately home of Longleat, before Warminster council adopted it as offices and a library. This £198,000 two-bedroom chunk appropriates some of the principal ground floor rooms, the grandeur of which lives on in the high ceilings, marble fireplace and sash windows with shutters and window seats. Communal gardens unfurl beyond.
Chesterton Humberts, 01747 853 492 Photograph: Chesterton Humberts/Chesterton Humberts

Bargain of the week: Argyll and Bute. Even in the more remote reaches of Scotland a three-bedder with sea views in a fifth of an acre should set you back more than £125,000. In fact a couple of years ago the price tag was £50,000 more. Yes, it could do with a little 21st-century styling inside, but the rooms are a decent size and there are enormous views over rolling green hills to the Irish sea. It is eight miles from Campbeltown on the Kintyre peninsula.
Strutt & Parker, 0141 225 3880 Photograph: Strutt & Parker/Strutt & Parker