Snooping around: Rural, urban or renovation

Wreck of the week: Chichester, West Sussex. This grade II-listed cottage needs a new kitchen and bathroom, for which you should set aside £20,000 on top of the £259,000 price tag. It is an elegant, three-bed slice of Georgiana with freehold, and the inside is furnished with exposed beams and an open fire. Outside is a garage and it is a walking distance to town. One of the bedrooms is tiny.
Stride & Son, 01243 782626 Photograph: Stride & Son/Stride & Son

In the country: Lee Moor, Devon. This £243,000 three-bed is in a converted stone stables and is all wood beams, refurbished modernity and hanging baskets. You're in semi-rural moorland on the edge of Dartmoor and nine miles from Plymouth's bright lights. There is a huge kitchen/breakfast room, two bathrooms and a first-floor reception room. The garden is communal – shared with four other conversions.
Fulfords, 01752 347347 Photograph: Fulfords/Fulfords

In town: Marylebone, London NW8. It is a great time time to rent and with this two-bedder you can snap up an architectural gem. This loft apartment was designed by architects Munkenbeck & Marshall and is housed in an art deco former factory. It is not for those who like to be well connected though – it is 10 minutes to the nearest tube station. Yours for £575 a week.
The Modern House, 0845 634 4068 Photograph: The Modern House/The Modern House

Dream home: Dorset. When credit crunches it is comforting to retreat into an era when swallows nested in the thatch and roses climbed the whitewashed walls. There is no visible reminder of Brown's Britain beyond the windows of this four-bed cottage – merely more thatch and general floriferousness undulating up the lane to Piddletrenthide church. A garage houses the car while you lodge cosily among beams and inglenooks. There are spectacular walks all round. Cost: £450,000.
Symonds and Sampson, 01305 265058 Photograph: Symonds and Sampson/Symonds and Sampson

Overseas: France. Why tolerate your UK semi when you could be housed on the banks of the Dordogne for £348,000? This Napoleonic monument boasts six or seven reception rooms and a similar number of bedrooms strewn about the upper storeys. Outside is a one-bed guest cottage. All this is garnished with marbled fireplaces, a stone staircase and moulded ceilings. Beyond the walls is the town of Castillon-la-Bataille, around 30 miles from Bergerac and Bordeux airports.
Knight Frank, 020 7629 8171 Photograph: Knight Frank/Knight Frank