Snooping around: Flats with private gardens

Property of the week: Great Bardfield, Waltham Cross, Essex. Sell your London flat and move in here for £345,000. Trains run regularly into the capital from nearby Braintree and Witham, and you’re handily placed for the M11. At night you return to Georgian thatch and thaw before the wood-burning stove in the living room before checking on your horses. There are only two bedrooms, but a large garden unrolls beyond the back windows.
Fenn Wright, 01376 530 135 Photograph: Fenn Wright/Fenn Wright

Wreck of the week: Birtley, Hexham. Uninhabitable, and you’ll need to spend £250,000 on top of the £165,000 asking price to change that. But, you’ll end up with 2,250 sq ft of living space and half an acre of garden, plus sweeping views over the rugged North Tyne valley. It’s close to the A68 which can get you to Newcastle quickly, but shops and schools are 11 miles away.
Strutt & Parker, 01670 516 123 Photograph: Strutt & Parker/Strutt & Parker

Take three: flats with private gardens. Twickenham in Middlesex is where you’ll find this handsome £499,950 two-bed home. The garden is landscaped and there’s a separate patio outside the second bedroom. French doors lead from the large living room on to the lawns. You also have the grounds of nearby Marble Hill House to romp in and Richmond’s shops are just across the bridge.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 020 8940 6789 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff/Jackson-Stops & Staff

Take three: flats with private gardens. This grand house in Glasgow's Belhaven Terrace is on a stately boulevard in the heart of the west end. Close by are the botanical gardens from where you can transfer ideas to your own private plot. There are hardwood floors and a designer bathroom and kitchen in this lower-ground-floor segment, plus private parking. Yours for £359,000.
Savills, 0141 222 5891 Photograph: Savills/Savills

Take three: flats with private gardens. Priced at £190,000 this one bedroom flat in Apsley Road, Clifton, Bristol, has French doors connecting the prettily styled kitchen to the private walled garden (bare and not landscaped at the moment). Large windows, a fireplace, high corniced ceilings and working shutters lend distinctive period grandeur. It’s also close to a large park and the chic charms of Clifton village.
Andrews & Partners, 0117 973 2551 Photograph: Andrews & Partners/Andrews & Partners