Snooping around: Homes near schools

Property of the week: Montgomery, Powys. This gatehouse was once the portal to the town jail. The inmates now are respectable mortgage-payers and this portion of the gate is a four-bed house. From the large sitting room you can gaze across to Montgomery Castle, while the roomy kitchen can do reckless hospitality. Most of the floors are glossy pine. There is no chain. You only get half the gateway, and cars pass below. Cost: £220,000.
Parry Lowarch, 01743 343343 Photograph: Parry Lowarch/Parry Lowarch

Wreck of the week: Rugby, Warwickshire. This grade II-listed Georgian farmhouse will initially set you back £650,000. A further £60,000 should bring the interior into the new millennium. The main reception hall has a fitted Georgian corner cupboard, a black-and-white tiled floor and a carved oak staircase. Outside is two acres of grounds with a detached, one-bedroom bungalow. It's a little small inside.
Knight Frank, 01789 297735 Photograph: Knight Frank/Knight Frank

Take three: homes near schools. This four-bedder in Perth and Kinross is five minutes down the road from Milnathort primary school, which has been enthusiastically rated by HM Inspectorate of Education. It’ll set you back £585,000 and has two receptions, a kitchen, a utility room, a cloakroom, two bath/shower rooms and a self-contained one-bed flat. The rooms are large and ornate, and the garden ample. The couple pictured are not included.
Knight Frank, 0131 222 9600 Photograph: Knight Frank/Knight Frank

Take three: homes near schools. Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire is the setting for this £475,000 three-bedder. You get a reception room, a kitchen/breakfast room, a cloak/shower room, conservatory, bathroom and a detached garden bedroom with en suite. It is immaculately renovated with flagstones, panelling and beams. There are Catholic and Church of England primaries and an outstanding local comprehensive on your doorstep.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01386 840224 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff/Jackson-Stops & Staff

Take three: homes near schools. This four-bed, grade II-listed house in Newport, Shropshire, has a cricket ground to the front and playing fields behind the walled gardens. Adams Grammar and Newport Girls rank among the top state schools in the land and both are less than half a mile away. For £525,000 you get three receptions, a kitchen, a utility room, two bath/shower rooms, a cellar and coach house. The decor and fittings are a little weary.
Savills, 01952 239500 Photograph: Savills/Savills