Snooping around

Property of the week: Deal, Kent. This unusual house was built in 1884 to succour seamen sheltering from storms, and looms imposingly over the beach. No doubt they found solace in the cellar, which has racks for 3,000 bottles of wine. Stone-mullioned windows frame the sitting room, there’s a family room with gothic windows opening on to a conservatory and walled garden, plus three double bedrooms. Cost: £600,000.
Strutt & Parker, 01227 451123. Photograph: Strutt & Parker/Strutt & Parker

Wreck of the week: St Mabyn, near Bodmin, Cornwall. You could move straight in to this two-bed, grade II-listed cottage, but it will cost at least £15,000 to smarten up the kitchen, bathrooms and fittings. And that’s on top of the £350,000 asking price. It comes with 1.4 riverside acres at the foot of a seductive hilltop village on the edge of beastly Bodmin moor. It’s liable to flooding, although a modest wall betwixt house and river should prevent this.
Bradleys, 01637 850500. Photograph: Bradleys/Bradleys

Take three: wooden homes. This four-bedder near Halesworth, Suffolk, is a shrine to green living. It is angled to even out the sun it receives and is formidably insulated. A rainwater storage system irrigates the garden and washing machine, and grey water flushes the toilets. Inside you get a reception, kitchen, study and two bathrooms, and a one-bed annexe. Cost: £525,000.
Savills, 01473 234800. Photograph: Savills/Savills

Take three: wooden homes. By Surrey prices this £275,000 two-bedder is a starter home, and a particularly fetching one at that. Timber framed, with wood cladding, it has fireplaces in two rooms, wooden flooring in the sitting room and slate across the rest of the ground floor. Sitting on a pedestrianised lane means you have to leave your car elsewhere, but it’s only a short walk to Leatherhead station.
Patrick Gardner, 01372 360078. Photograph: Patrick Gardner/Patrick Gardner

Take three: wooden homes. This six-bedder offers an “energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, socially sustainable” lifestyle in Bishops Castle, Shropshire. It's part of a development of 40 homes priced from £299,000 to £500,000. All have solar panels, triple glazing, super-insulated timber and heat exchange systems. The building work scheduled until 2009 is a small price to pay for a reduced carbon footprint.
Living Villages, 01494 670760. Photograph: Living Villages/Living Villages