Snooping around – in pictures

In the country: Berwickshire. A cast-iron fireplace in the living room and wood-burning stove in the kitchen-diner make this two-bedder in Blackerstone, near Abbey St Bathans, snug. Yours for £155,000, both beds are doubles and it has great views. It’s just a shame it’s seriously remote and can get cut off in winter. The garden also needs landscaping.
Smiths Gore
Photograph: Smiths Gore

Wreck of the week: Powys. This six-bed, 16th-century house in Carno is weary, but at least there’s a lot of it to be so – for £250,000 you get a vast amount of space. You’ll also need about £100,000 to renew the wiring, heating, fittings, etc. This outlay will get you dramatic period features in a dramatic rural landscape, though not everyone might appreciate the neighbouring tombstones.
Strutt & Parker
Photograph: Strutt & Parker

In town: Sheffield. This is glossy, chic and spacious with two large doubles, big windows, communal gardens and a gym in the Sharrow area of the city. The balcony overlooks a handsome street near green spaces, which also means it’s a fair hike to the city centre. Cost: £200,000.
Spencers
Photograph: Spencers

Period property: Kent. You can live in Great Bulleign Farmhouse near Tenterden and watch as someone else works the neighbouring fields, as your 0.7 acres is laid to easily maintained and secluded gardens. Inside, the mid-18th-century property is showing its age in the best possible way, with exposed beams, high ceilings and inglenook fireplaces. More recently an en suite to the master bedroom, a double garage and a modern kitchen have been added. Your £845,000 buys you five bedrooms, or six if you accommodate someone in the dressing room, which is part of the master suite. Planning permission has been granted for a summerhouse.
Savills, 01580 720161
Photograph: Savills

Dream home: Leicestershire. You can be the lord or lady of your very own Manor House in this Grade II-listed pad near the market town of Melbourne. At the end of the sweeping driveway is a stately looking property in 3.5 acres. Inside has been done up to the nines, with a study, music room and gym offering respite from the huge family you could fit in the seven bedrooms. The cellar provides ample wine space at one end of the house, while a sizeable attic provides room at the top. Beware, there is a right of way through the grounds to the next door church, but the agent says this is only ‘occasionally used’. Cost: £1.5m.
Chesterton Humberts, 01159 505444
Photograph: Chesterton Humberts