Snooping around – in pictures

In town: Berkshire. You can watch the horse racing from your living room in these trackside homes, built to mirror the grandstands at Newbury racecourse. You are in the middle of town, yet surrounded by green, but beware – during the racing season it will be hectic. Prices start from £185,000.
The Racecourse Newbury Photograph: The Racecourse Newbury

In the country: Northumberland. This £395,000 house in Whittingham enjoys sweeping views to the Cheviot Hills and 0.75 acres of garden and paddock. You can expand into two attic rooms and outbuildings, while it already has four bedrooms – two of which are downstairs. The interior could do with an update.
Smiths Gore Photograph: Smiths Gore

Wreck of the week: Dorset. This two-bedroom bungalow in Shaftesbury is to be auctioned on 11 October, with an expected price of about £200,000. It is very basic – about £50,000 would reinvent it. It’s on the idyllic Hovis advert hill with views over the Blackmore Vale, and has large gardens plus an orchard. You could also extend out back. Why you shouldn’t? You have to park in a town car park or at the bottom of the painfully steep hill.
Wolley & Wallis Photograph: Wolley & Wallis

Dream home: East Sussex. This four-bedroom villa is built into the bedrock of West Hill in Hastings, and the ground floor studio flat leads into natural sandstone caverns. The front rooms and garden overlook the old town and the sea, while the front door opens on to the green swathes of West Hill. A 90ft glass house with a fish pool was built to lodge tropical plants imported for sale. Yours for £925,000.
John Bray Photograph: John Brayea