Snooping around – in pictures

In town: London. A chic symptom of Hackney’s regeneration, this is a development of hi-spec flats and houses a walk away from wide green spaces and Dalston station. Parts of the immediate area, however, remain run down. Prices start from £250,000.
Currell and Fyfe McDade
Photograph: Currell and Fyfe McDade

In the country: North Yorkshire. On the market for £335,000, this four-bedder is balanced on a hillside in Gunnerside with views over the dale. It has an iron range in the kitchen, a stone-shelved cheese room and a one-bed annexe. It’s a shame the terraced garden is vertiginous and not for the faint hearted or immobile.
George F White, 01677 425301
Photograph: George F White

Wreck of the week: Cumbria. This is the site of an old Co-op in Garrigill with planning to become a four-bed house. In truth it’s just a gaping hole, although materials from the dismantled building can be reclaimed: expect to spend between £70,000 and £100,000, which is on top of the £59,000 price tag. The north Pennines village clusters prettily round a green, which is good because a courtyard is the only outside space.
George F White
Photograph: George F White

Dream home: Surrey. Sir Edwin Lutyens built this manor in Woking for the Earl of Balfour, and Gertrude Jekyll laid out the gardens. Sadly, even £565,000 is not enough to buy you their vision in its entirety – you get only a quarter of the original house – but from your four-bed confines you can savour the famed harmonies of these two luminaries. The apartment, one of four, is larger than the average house and you get a garage and the run of the gardens – but the interior needs some cosmetic pampering.
Townends, 01483 761943
Photograph: Townends