Snooping around: Rural, urban or renovation

Wreck of the week: Roadhead, near Brampton, Cumbria. This two-bed farmhouse has been uninhabited for years. £50,000 should be easily swallowed tarting it up. There are six acres of land and assorted outbuildings, plus planning permission for an extension to create a total of three reception rooms and four bedrooms. The large enclosed front garden contains fruit trees. It is very remote. Cost: £275,000.
Smiths Gore, 01228 546400 Photograph: Smiths Gore/Smiths Gore

In the country: Spittal, near Berwick-on-Tweed, Northumberland. This £295,000 Victorian end-of-terrace presides over one of the finest sandy beaches in the county. Below is the village promenade, part of the Lowry Trail, and behind and beyond is open countryside. Inside are four bedrooms and two large receptions, most with fireplaces and sea views, and all lavishly renovated (shot silk clads the dining room walls). It is a vertiginous climb from the car.
Smiths Gore, 01289 333033 Photograph: Smiths Gore/Smiths Gore

In town: Norwich. A remnant of Georgian gentry, this enormous four-bedder is in a quiet cul-de-sac. Over a couple of cellars sit two elegant reception rooms, the master bedroom, which opens on to a balcony, and a kitchen that would accommodate small-scale banqueting. Beware the courtyard garden – it is shared with the neighbours. Cost: £325,000.
Humberts, 01603 661199 Photograph: Humberts/Humberts

Dream home: Cornwall. Enjoy five-and-a-half acres of rugged scenery and a Georgian farmhouse from which to admire it, all for £595,000. Flagstones cover most of the ground floor where you can expand into three receptions, a large kitchen with Aga, a study, and four bedrooms trussed with beams. It is two miles to Lanivet and a couple more from Bodmin. The tempestuous north coast and the serene fishing villages of the south are both an easy drive away.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01872 261160 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff/Jackson-Stops & Staff

Bargain of the week: London. A singular aluminium clad growth in Peckham Rye with five floors, a roof terrace and views over London for £475,000. It is designed as a live/work unit – you work in the two office rooms on the ground floor and spread your domestic arrangements over the four bedrooms and vast glass-fronted living room above. Its eco credentials are impeccable, and it resides in a conservation area a 10-minute train ride from the City.
Wooster Stock, 020 7708 6700 Photograph: Wooster Stock/Wooster Stock