Snooping around

Property of the week: Ashurst, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent. This converted oast house is a rarely available symbol of Kent. The triple-aspect living room - with an inglenook fireplace in its circular walls - and main bedroom are snug within the tower, while an eccentric space inside the wooden cone is accessed via a ladder. A door opens from the living room into the half-acre garden. The reduced £625,000 price is explained by a nearby busy main road.
Winkworth, 01892 519600. Photograph: Winkworth/Winkworth

Wreck of the week: Narborough, near Swaffham, Norfolk. Sitting on the river Nar, this unconverted grade II-listed Georgian water mill is just as the millers left it, with a flimsy, weather-boarded back wall, and is in need of around £300,000 to make it habitable. Once complete, you’ll have three floors, 4,300 sq ft of living space, views downstream through the garden, and a smokery next door. It’s yet to receive planning permission. Cost: £350,000.
Bedfords, 01328 730500. Photograph: Bedfords/Bedfords

Take three: homes with planning permission. This 17th-century cottage near Hexham, Northumberland, is tucked into a valley with 11 acres of garden, paddock and an arboretum. There are two reception rooms, a kitchen, utility room, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a barn. Planners have sanctioned two extra bedrooms with en suites and dressing rooms, a cloakroom and a shower room in the barn. The next worry is the weary interior. Yours for £400,000.
George F White, 01434 674244. Photograph: George F White/George F White

Take three: homes with planning permission. You get two reception rooms, three bedrooms, a bathroom and outbuildings at this £340,000 pad in Welshpool, Powys. The original core has wooden floors and beamed ceilings, while permission has been granted for a two-storey extension with an expanded kitchen, a third reception and an en suite bedroom. There are extensive nine-acre grounds, but it could prove a touch lonely for sociable types.
Lane Fox, 01743 284200. Photograph: Lane Fox/Lane Fox

Take three: homes with planning permission. This old schoolhouse near Milton Keynes has gothic windows, a vaulted ceiling in the living room, a reception room, dining area, three bedrooms, bathroom and cloakroom. An extension would create a bedroom out of the kitchen, with the kitchen moving to the current front bedroom. A shame the third bedroom is exposed on a mezzanine, while the courtyard garden is a tad small. Still, £350,000 is not bad.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01525 290641. Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff/Jackson-Stops & Staff