Snooping around: Rural, urban or renovation

Wreck of the week: Ramsden, Oxon. Set in an expensively delectable village, this two-bed cottage is a few decades behind the times – £30,000 should install central heating and modernise it, on top of the £225,000 asking price. Although it is tiny inside an inglenook fireplace and exposed beams continue the country idyll.
Martyn R Cox, 01993 779020 Photograph: Martyn R Cox/Martyn R Cox

In town: Beverley, East Yorkshire.This £299,950 effort is handsome and boasts good transport links – the train station is at the end of the road. Inside are four smartly revamped bedrooms and two receptions. Outside there is a landscaped garden and carport. And the road: the front door opens on to the pavement.
Dee, Atkinson & Harrison, 01482 866844 Photograph: Dee, Atkinson & Harrison/Dee, Atkinson & Harrison

In the country: Lydacott, north Devon. Inside this 17th-century, grade II-listed cottage is an Englishman's fantasy of rustic life with exposed beams and open fireplaces. It sits in three-quarters of an acre of garden and you can gaze to the estuary from one of the three bedrooms. It is tucked away by itself down a lane, at the end of which is the A39. Yours for £345,000.
John Smale & Co, 01271 342000 Photograph: John Smale & Co/John Smale & Co

Bargain of the week: Croydon, London. The £129,950 asking price (the vendor is open to offers) makes allowances for certain internal blemishes: a dated kitchen and bathroom to be precise, both of which could be sorted out for £10,000 or less. The rest of this two-bed flat is in decent order – glossy wooden floors, big windows and a sitting room fireplace. It shares large lawns with the neighbours.
Townends, 020 8680 8585 Photograph: Townends/Townends

Over the sea: Spain. This has all the ingredients for unsullied bliss – a pool winking through your arched veranda, views over palm trees to the sea, spreading gardens and a large terrace leading off the master bedroom. This villa perches high on the Balearic island of Menorca and has a bathroom for each of the three bedrooms, plus a garage and an office if you can't face going home to work. It comes partly furnished. Cost: £597,000.
Prestige Property, 01935 817188 Photograph: Prestige Property/Prestige Property