Snooping around

Property of the week: Chalford, near Stroud, Gloucestershire. Built into a hill next to a canal, this 18th-century silk mill is yours for £650,000. An artful marriage of old and new sees huge stone fireplaces, beams and a bread oven alongside a designer kitchen and a dashing mezzanine-level music room. It’s not short of space either, with three reception rooms, a study, utility room and four bedrooms.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01285 653334. Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff/Jackson-Stops & Staff

Wreck of the week: Devizes, Wiltshire. You can spend as little or as much as you please on this dated ex-residential home and separate cottage. With minimal effort this could be turned into an enormous family home - there are eight bedrooms with their own loos in the care home and three in the self-contained cottage, plus a lounge and conservatory. Be prepared to buy an awful lot of creeper to cover the plain exterior. Cost: £495,000.
Straker Goodman Ingram, 01249 652717. Photograph: Straker Goodman Ingram/Straker Goodman Ingram

Take three: houseboats. You won’t find a home on this scale for this price on dry land round here. £295,000 gets you a 30m, 1912 Dutch seafaring barge at Turnberry Quay, Millwall Outer Dock, London. With a self-contained captain’s cabin and a hull conversion, the inside boasts two receptions, two kitchens, a laundry room, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Be aware that you have to reapply annually for the mooring, which costs £9,000.
Chesterton International, 020 7510 8300. Photograph: Chesterton International/Chesterton International

Take three: houseboats. This floating penthouse has huge windows looking to Putney Bridge and Wandsworth Park in south London. The main reception room is 58ft long, the kitchen handmade in solid wood, and the two bathrooms luxuriously trimmed. There are also two receptions and three bedrooms. One of the three decks is 68ft. The lease, however, only has 50 years remaining. Wince at the £1.2m asking price.
Winkworth, 020 8788 9295. Photograph: Winkworth/Winkworth

Take three: houseboats. This 92-year-old steam tug in Goole, east Yorkshire, was restored and fitted 20 years ago. Inside there is a living room, three bedrooms, galley kitchen and bathroom. Summers can be spent on the teak-laid deck; winters, snugly embedded in oak-panelled cabins. Central heating, air conditioning and an alarm system are all fitted. Life on board is intimate, but is that really a problem? Drop anchor for a rather reasonable £99,500.
Alan G Pease, 01405 768435. Photograph: Alan G Pease/Alan G Pease