Snooping around – in pictures

In town: Cambridgeshire. This three-bedder on the quayside is a stroll from Ely city centre with views over the river and cathedral. Yours for £600,000, there’s nearly 2,000 sq ft of space, original Georgian features and an idyllic walled garden. It’s a shame its waterside perch can get noisy in summer.
Savills, 01223 347147 Photograph: Savills

In the country: Dorset. This has been exquisitely renovated with large quaint rooms facing the church in Durweston, a former estate village in an area of outstanding natural beauty near Blandford Forum. Bizarrely, the third bedroom is across the garden. Cost: £340,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01747 850858
Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Wreck of the week: North Yorkshire. This stone barn in the parish of Patrick Brompton near Bedale has planning permission to be a four-bed house. It is unconverted and about £300,000 would do a comfortable job of making it habitable, but that’s on top of the £260,000 price tag. It’s one of the last unconverted barns in the area and overlooks Lower Wensleydale. Beware: you have to abide by mitigation measures such as bat boxes in the roof.
George F White, 01677 425301 Photograph: George F White

Overseas: America. North Star Ranch in La Veta, southern Colorado, is for serious horse lovers: it is 265 acres and includes a professionally designed horse barn with 10 stalls, a breeding area, foaling stalls, tack room and an indoor arena. The human accommodation was completed in 2008 and combines a Mediterranean old world style with modern luxury. Plaster walls, vaulted ceilings and hand hewn beams give it a homely but stylish feel. Outside, the owners and their visitors can enjoy stunning views over grassy meadows to the Spanish Peaks. On the market for $5.5m.
Hall & Hall, (00 1) 406/656-7500
Photograph: Hall & Hall

Dream home: Berwickshire. Glorious isolation needn’t be a threat – the A1 is eight miles away and it is two miles to the Borders town of Duns. Inside and out the horizons are unstinting. Beyond your 1.5 acres of grounds, including a paddock and pond, is billowing countryside; within this three-bed longhouse the accommodation can be expanded into a two-bed linked cottage. Yours for £360,000.
Knight Frank, 01578 722814 Photograph: Knight Frank