Snooping around: Homes near allotments

Property of the week: The Esplanade, Penarth, Cardiff. This flamboyant landmark was once a municipal swimming bath. Now the drained, handsomely tiled pool is the setting for a hot tub, sauna, steam room and gym. The rest of the £550,000 house is a drama of ornate brickwork and elaborate wrought iron with three bedrooms and large living areas. Outside is the seafront and pier, it’s just a shame there is no private outside space.
Savills, 0292 0368 930 Photograph: Savills/Savills

Wreck of the week: Gamesloup, Girvan, Ayrshire. This £99,000 wooden holiday chalet has planning permission to be a two-bedroom permanent residence. It’s uninhabitable just now, and to replace like with like you’ll need £10,000. To build the two-storey house reckon on £100,000. You’ll be right on the shore, with views of Ireland on a good day – but eight miles from the nearest shop.
£99,000. Strutt & Parker, 0141 225 3880 Photograph: Strutt & Parker/Strutt & Parker

Take three: homes near allotments: You get two reception rooms, kitchen, utility room, four bedrooms, loft room, two bath/shower rooms and a garage for your £565,000 in Thames Ditton, Surrey. And you only need to jump the wall to tend your veg in the allotments behind the house. Not that you need the extra land since the gardens of this corner plot are large enough to feed a family.
Townends, 020 8296 9111 Photograph: Townends/Townends

Take three: homes near allotments. In Bimport, Shaftesbury, Dorset, £475,000 will buy you this two reception room, three bedroom cottage which backs onto a panorama of fields. You just have to cross the lane to the allotments. A fetching lane it is, full of venerable old houses and a short walk into town. The house has been newly renovated.
Jackson Stops & Staff, 0174 785 0858 Photograph: Jackson Stops & Staff/Jackson Stops & Staff

Take three: homes near allotments. Open plan living in Woodford Green, Essex, for £269,995 – and your daily dose of vitamin C grows quite literally over your head. A 5,425sq ft roof terrace tops this new block and on it are raised allotment beds to be distributed among the residents. Central line tube trains reach the City in 20 minutes.
Higgins Homes,
020 8505 0614 Photograph: Higgins Homes/Higgins Homes