Snooping around: Continental retreats

Property of the week: East Sussex. This three double-bedder is on the edge of Camber Sands. When you breakfast in the top-floor, open-plan living room and kitchen you can survey the dunes over your neighbours’ rooftops. The house was designed and built by the vendors with a galvanised steel staircase, oak floorboards and full-length reception windows. A utility room, handy for storing beach stuff, is at ground level near the carport. Cost: £395,000.
Georgina Holt, 01797 225202 Photograph: Georgina Holt/Georgina Holt

Wreck of the week: Bradworthy, Devon. This two-bedroom semi is unmodernised - £30,000-worth of new kitchen, bathroom and wiring would transform it. Its character shines through the cracked paint and vinyl, there are two fireplaces, and exposed A-frames in the bedrooms. The village is 10 miles from the sea at Bude, while the nearby Tamar lakes offer the chance to sail, windsurf and kayak. The kitchen and lounge occupy an L-shaped room. Yours for £195,000.
Kivells, 01409 253888 Photograph: Kivells/Kivells

Take three: continental retreats. From the lavender and citrus-filled garden of this Portuguese three-bedder you can wander into surrounding pine forests and gaze across to the hills of the Serra Lousã. £105,000 buys you an open-plan reception, a kitchen and bathroom. The living room has a wood-burning stove and french doors. For an extra £2,000 you get the contents. It’s a short walk to a river beach and two hours to Lisbon or Porto airports.
Elysian Property, 01580 766599 Photograph: Elysian Property/Elysian Property

Take three: continental retreats. These four tiny barrel-roofed vault houses cluster around a cobbled courtyard 500m from the beach and a five-minute stroll from the famous town of Oia, on Santorini, Greece. Between them there are three bedrooms, two reception rooms, three bathrooms and three kitchenettes. There are sea and sunset vistas from the terrace. The fourth house is unconverted. All four are yours for £330,579.
Elysian Property, 01580 766599 Photograph: Elysian Property/Elysian Property

Take three: continental retreats. This old mill house near Bergerac, France, is poised above a private pool with its own stream coursing through the large gardens. The original mill workings survive inside. For £258,358 you get two living rooms, five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a separate apartment for guests. Woodland surrounds it, the coast is a day trip away, and it’s 4km from Bergerac airport.
VEF, 020 7515 8660 Photograph: VEF/VEF