Old and new

Historic home: Norfolk. This rakish monument was built in Norwich the 1830s and is intended to absorb the full drama of its surroundings. From the two balconies and the large terraced gardens you can gaze towards the Norfolk Broads. The three receptions and five bedrooms are grandly proportioned and embellished with a vast pillared drawing room and a dining room opening on to a terrace. It's half-a-mile into the city centre. Cost: £745,000.
Savills, 01603 229 229 Photograph: Savills/Savills

Historic home: West Sussex. It once served as the village pub in South Ambersham and its ancient pedigree is exposed by the inglenook fireplace and bread oven in the sitting room and the beamed walls of the dining room. Now all the action is next door on the adjoining polo ground. The study could double up as a fourth bedroom, while a utility room frees up the kitchen for prettier fitments. A half acre of garden unrolls into open countryside. Yours for £695,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01730 812357 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff/Jackson-Stops & Staff

New build: Yorkshire. The future of urban living? This 10-acre spread is on a riverbank within York's city walls. Otters will be moving into the Hungate nature reserve being constructed alongside the residential blocks. Human incomers can choose between an eco-virtuous flat or town house, each with its own bicycle stand and a year's free membership of a car pool scheme. Not that you need wheels – the city centre is a stroll away. Prices start from £150,000.
Knight Frank, 0113 246 1533 Photograph: Knight Frank/Knight Frank

New build: Swansea. There's an art deco nostalgia about this clutch of houses in the grounds of Clyne Castle. Parkland extends in one direction and the coast in the other. The remaining four units have an enormity of glossy-floored living space, four bedrooms each and views of the 18th-century castle and the sea. It's a five-minute drive into town and the wilder pleasures of the Gower Peninsula are on hand. Prices from £650,000.
John Francis, 01792 360060 Photograph: John Francis/John Francis

Bargain of the week: Dorset. The village of Okeford Fitzpaine is a pretty springboard to greater countryside glories and has hung on to its post office, pub and school. This 18th-century cottage for £448,000 might have fetched £50,000 more but for an old chicken factory in the village which is likely, after planning wrangles, to become a housing development. Inside are three receptions, five bedrooms, a study and the option to use the rear extension as a self-contained annexe.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01747 850858 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff/Jackson-Stops & Staff