Snooping around: Sinfully expensive homes

Property of the week: Frinton-on-Sea, Essex. This cottage sits at the head of a tidal creek in the Hamford Water nature reserve, and beyond it stretches 5,000 acres of islands, creeks and salt marshes. During spring tides the only way to dry land is by boat, although an earth wall protects the house from flooding. Despite the £390,000 price tag the accommodation is limited - two bedrooms, one reception room and a narrow kitchen.
Essex Country & Village Homes, 0845 0172085 Photograph: Essex Country & Village Homes/Essex Country & Village Homes

Wreck of the week: Fallowfield, Manchester. This three-bedroom, bay-fronted Victorian terrace is just three miles from the city centre, but is shabby and dated. Hence the £125,000 price tag. A further £20,000 should beautify the bathroom, kitchen and paintwork. It is handsome and with two reception rooms is a good size. There’s only a yard at the back and this area of Manchester is student-heavy.
Kaye Mackenzie, 0161 224 7435 Photograph: Kaye Mackenzie/Kaye Mackenzie

Take three: sinfully expensive homes. An address on one of the most ostentatious streets in the land - the Bishops Avenue, London - is up for grabs, but it costs a bit. £22m in fact. Your many pennies will buy you three reception rooms, a cinema, nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms and a leisure complex, as well as 14,000 sq ft of oak- and marble-lined space off a triple-height hallway. Occupants of the two non-en-suite rooms have to share a shower room. The shame!
Glentree, 020 8458 7311 Photograph: Glentree/Glentree

Take three: sinfully expensive homes. This six-bedder is in Sandbanks, Dorset. For £7.95m you can enjoy three reception rooms, a games room, bar, cinema, gym, playroom, kitchen/breakfast room, wet room, eight bathrooms, a humidifed wine cellar, and a seven-car underground garage. Oh, and a twin-berth marina and private jetty, and plasma screens in almost every room. Beware the congested road to the peninsula in the summer months.
Lloyds Property Group, 01202 708044 Photograph: Lloyds Property Group/Lloyds Property Group

Take three: sinfully expensive homes. The vital statistics of this estate near Basingstoke, Hampshire, read: 84.8 acres, 15 bedrooms, nine bathrooms, five receptions, five cottages, two flats, one staff annexe, £14m. It also has a swimming pool and tennis court. The grounds were presented to two of Henry VIII’s wives, while the house was designed a century ago by Sir Reginald Blomfield, who also remodelled Regent Street. The cottages need work.
Savills, 020 7016 3784 Photograph: Savills/Savills