Snooping around: Mountain homes

Property of the week: Rye, East Sussex. This Elizabethan six bedder has it all - fireplaces, stained glass, antique panelling. Legend has it that Elizabeth I commanded that the mulberry tree, still ornamenting the large gardens, be planted while she was visiting Rye. Napoleonic prisoners are thought to have stayed here and the top floor was once used by Flemish weavers. This portion of the house is fitted out as a two-bed flat. Cost: £950,000.
Phillips & Stubbs, 01797 227338 Photograph: Phillips & Stubbs/Phillips & Stubbs

Wreck of the week: The Keep, London. This 1950s three-bedroom house is weary. Upwards of £20,000 would cover a rewire, replace the kitchen and bathroom, and update the interior. You’ll experience leafily landscaped community living where house and garden merge. Hence the full-width and full-height windows overlooking the 50ft garden. It’s an easy walk to the village, heath and train station, and you get a separate garage. Yours for £395,000.
John Payne, 020 8318 1311 Photograph: John Payne/John Payne

Take three: mountain homes. This two-bedder is perched on an outcrop in a valley between Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake in Keswick, Cumbria, with almost 360-degree views to the surrounding fells. The planners are happy for you to annex the barn to create a four-bedroom house with garage. Beware turning tractors - it’s located at the entrance to a working farmyard. The town is a mile’s trot down the lane. Yours for £395,000.
Edwin Thompson, 01768 772988 Photograph: Edwin Thompson/Edwin Thompson

Take three: mountain homes. This divinely converted church on the banks of a loch near Glenshiel has views of the Five Sisters mountains. For £290,000 you get a reception, a kitchen, a utility room and two en suite bedrooms. The kitchen cupboard doors have been hewn out of the pews, the floors are polished wood, the ceilings beamed, and the 28ft living room warmed by a wood-burning stove. The garden, however, is only wee.
Strutt & Parker, 01463 719171 Photograph: Strutt & Parker/Strutt & Parker

Take three: mountain homes. This £250,000 two-bedder near Garndolbenmaen, Gwynedd, is in the Snowdonia national park. An ex-barn, it’s been chicly converted with tiled floors, exposed beams and a wood-burning stove, and consists of an open-plan living area, a bathroom, a loft area and a barn. If you find the 1.5 acres a little suffocating never fear, you can buy an extra four. It’s nine miles from the nearest shops and schools.
Carter Jonas, 01248 360410 Photograph: Carter Jonas/Carter Jonas