Snooping around: Rural, urban or renovation

In town: London SW6. This is the villagey part of Fulham, and Parsons Green tube station is but a short walk away. This flat is yours for £365,000 and is handsome, smartly fitted and with its own patio garden. It's also in the basement, so can be a little dark.
Chesterton Humberts, 020 7384 9898 Photograph: guardian.co.uk

In the country: Devon. This semi in Bovey Tracey, near Newton Abbot, is dwarfed by its land – more than four acres. It’s small – only two bedrooms – but boasts glorious rural views from the bedrooms, and outside there are stables. Cost: £420,000.
Bradleys, 01626 834900 Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Wreck of the week: Ayrshire. This three-bed, semi-detached stone house is in the village of Upper Skelmorlie, and it is exhausted. A new roof, timber treatment, rewiring and plumbing will not leave you much change from £100,000. But once you've got it sorted it's a good place from which you can indulge in the edifying views of the Clyde. Beware the burn which runs beneath the house, it irrigates the cellars when it rains. Yours for £95,000.
Neill Clerk, 01475 888400 Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Dream home: East Sussex. Once a local inn and before that three cottages, this £545,000 five-bedder has had a career spanning a good five centuries. All the ingredients are here for rustic bliss: beamed ceilings, a vast inglenook, a quarry-tiled living room floor, a bespoke country kitchen and wide views over wooded hills. The ancient abbey town of Battle is three miles away.
Freeman Forman, 01424 773888 Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Over the sea: Switzerland. The charms of the village of Ovronnaz are as potent in summer as winter, with 150km of lofty paths for walking and 300 days of sunshine a year. This two-bed wood-clad apartment is a stroll from the resort's natural thermal baths, each with a south-facing balcony with views over the Valais Alps and down the valley. Chair and ski lifts haul you from the village to the pistes, and you can stow your skis in your private storage room and refuel in one of the 13 local restaurants. Cost: £358,100.
Chesterton Humberts, 020 3040 8210 Photograph: guardian.co.uk