Snooping around: Woodland homes

Property of the week: Ramsgate, Kent. This five-bed Georgian house is a short stroll from sandy beaches, and is just £265,000. The reason for this is Ramsgate which, despite its heritage, is not one of the nation’s glamour destinations, although it is on the up. The house has been refurbished - wooden floors, cast-iron fireplaces and original doors linking the two receptions - while a balcony opens off one bedroom. There is a landscaped back garden.
Cooke & Co, 01843 600911 Photograph: Cooke & Co/Cooke & Co

Wreck of the week: Saffron Walden, Essex. If you don’t mind a free-standing toilet in one bedroom, no real bathroom or kitchen, and some corrugated iron roofing, you can move straight in to this three-bedroom Victorian cemetery-keeper’s lodge. The more fastidious will want to spend at least £80,000 doing it up. Its name, Peace Lodge, says it all: a scenic cemetery surrounds the garden. A gothic bay window swells the living room. Cost: £295,000.
Mullucks Wells, 01799 520520 Photograph: Mullucks Wells/Mullucks Wells

Take three: woodland homes. Buffered by 1.25 acres (with stream and pond), and with woodland beyond, this two-bedder in Hermon near Crymych, Pembrokeshire, is all rustic glamour: slate and wood floors, ceiling beams and an inglenook. For £410,000 you get a reception, a kitchen, a study, two bath/shower rooms, a garage, a workshop and a detached one-bed cottage. An ordinary car might struggle down the unmade track.
Town, Coast and Country Estates, 0870 060 7644 Photograph: Isle of Wight Homes/Isle of Wight Homes

Take three: woodland homes. This four-bedder in America Wood on the Isle of Wight is yours for £375,000. Your neighbours are the red squirrels in the bluebell wood, four acres of which are yours. It is a mile’s walk to the shops and beaches of Shanklin. But for the cons - no vehicular access, though a farmer lets the vendors use his drive, and a weary interior - this would cost more than £500,000. Three receptions and four beds flesh it out.
Isle of Wight Homes, 01983 721831 Photograph: Gillespie Gifford and Brown/Gillespie Gifford and Brown

Take three: woodland homes. This former forester’s cottage near Moffatat, Dumfries and Galloway, is surrounded by woodland owned by the Forestry Commission and has views from every window. It is tastefully presented with a sprinkling of original fireplaces, two reception rooms, a sun room, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. There is spectacular walking all around, and urban indulgence an hour away in Edinburgh. Yours for £140,000.
Gillespie Gifford & Brown, 01387 255351 Photograph: Town, Coast and Country Estates/Town, Coast and Country Estates