Snooping around: Rural, urban and renovation

In town: Cheltenham. This is one of the best addresses in this Regency town. The study opens on to a castellated balcony, and the principal of the three bedrooms has an en suite shower. It’s a shame that, for the price (£425,000), it is but a flat with a shared garden and a 101-year lease.
Knight Frank, 01242 246959 Photograph: Knight Frank

Wreck of the week: Nottingham. This three-bed 80s bungalow in Lenton is yours for £220,000. It’s habitable but in need of a general upgrade inside and out. It’s in a private close with half an acre of garden. Oddly, the third bedroom is by the front door and is rather small.
Chesterton Humberts, 0115-950 5444 Photograph: Chesterton Humberts

In the country: Cornwall. This four-bedder in St Tudy, near Bodmin, is hidden deep down a lane with spreading gardens. Fireplaces survive in the kitchen, while both sitting rooms and three of the four bedrooms are beamed. It’s a shame the kitchen is small and the dairy that serves as an entrance hall has a polycarb roof. Cost: £495,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01872 261160 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Bargain of the week: London. Ordinarily you would need more than £700,000 for a three-bed penthouse with a wrap-around roof terrace in the most desirable part of Shoreditch. In this case, however, you need stalwart muscles, for it’s a four-storey ascent to paradise and there’s no lift. Budget fittings have depressed the price still further. The result is a marvel of newly created space atop an old warehouse for a (relatively) mere £620,000.
Winkworth, 020 7749 7650 Photograph: Winkworth

Overseas home: Finland. This log cabin is in the heart of Finland’s lapland territory and sleeps up to 10 people. Set in Äkäslompolo, with cross country ski tracks right outside and a ski bus stop a few minutes away, the cabin was finished to a high standard in 2003. It has 13 bedrooms, a luxury sauna with deluxe stove, and an outside store with ski wax room – all for €335,000. It currently belongs to the owners of the property company selling it (who have used it as a family holiday home).
Above the Arctic, 01277 824 200 Photograph: Above the Arctic