Old and new

Historic home: Bedfordshire. A Tudor manor with millennial embellishments in the village of Gamlingay. From the outside it looks pretty much as the 16th-century visitor would have seen it, while inside the fireplaces and ceiling beams give a cosy air of antiquity in many of the three receptions and five bedrooms. The 20th century has, however, contributed a swimming pool, triple garage and an oak and granite fitted kitchen. In the 1.25 acres of grounds the ancient dovecote has begun a new life as a games room. Yours for £1m.
Taylors, 01767 313136
Photograph: Taylors

Historic home: East Sussex. Beamed ceilings, brick floors and fireplaces and latch doors display the vintage of this three-bedder. It’s stood in the village of Arlington for 400 years and progress – one bedroom has an en suite and there are three loos – has respected its history. There is a miniature study beside the large reception room and you can concentrate family dining in the farmhousey kitchen. Half an acre of grounds surround it and the oak framed windows overlook the South Downs. Offers between £540,000-£575,000.
Freeman Forman, 01273 812061 Photograph: Freeman Forman

New build: Essex. Eight years ago this was a bungalow in the sailing village of St Lawrence, distinctive solely for its views to the Blackwater estuary. Then it was replaced by a Canadian kit house and has since been prinked and polished to resemble a £320,000 de luxe beach hut. The open plan kitchen and living area is lined with large windows, which open on to a decked terrace with views to the water. The largest of the three bedrooms has french doors on to a balcony. There is room for several cars and a boat, and the back garden unrolls towards the shore.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01245 467468
Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

New build: Gloucestershire. When the Westonbirt estate yard was reinvented as a small housing complex, the old bothy became a home for modernists with a traditional heart. Part of the £340,000 three-bed house is a pretty stone gabled cottage, but the main bedroom is on stilts at the end of an indoor bridge. Bridge and bedroom are built in a stone barn attached to the front of the main house. Your cars slot snugly beneath the bedroom once through the arched barn doorway. The famous arboretum is across the road.
Chesterton Humberts, 01666 502284
Photograph: Chesterton Humberts

Bargain of the week: Cornwall. Access is an adventure up vertiginous hairpin bends from the town of West Looe, and although you can unload your shopping fairly near the door there is no parking. Then there is the issue of a 60-year lease, which will distress lenders. Hence the £100,000 asking price for an otherwise winsome two-bed flat with aerial views over the town and harbour, a front patio and an uncultivated back garden.
Bradleys Estate Agents, 01503 264888
Photograph: Bradleys Estate Agents