Trading up, trading down

Trading up: Isle of Bute. This three/four-bedder safely hugs the fringes of town, yet looks out over rustic wilds: three-quarters of an acre of garden and a long driveway buffer it from the outside world. Inside it has been handsomely upgraded with wooden floors and rustic wooden mantelpieces in the study (which could be a fourth bedroom), the open-plan sitting/dining room and the kitchen. There’s also a separate lounge. It is just over half a mile to Rothesay harbour where regular ferries leave for Wemyss Bay with direct rail links to Glasgow. Cost: £320,000.
Strutt and Parker, 0141 225 3880 Photograph: Strutt and Parker

Trading up: Oxfordshire. Life here is unsullied by modern infelicities. Home is a £550,000 grade II-listed house in the Cotswold village of Fulbrook, near Burford, within an area of outstanding natural beauty, and provisions lie a walk away across the river in the ancient town of Burford. Inside is large and similarly unblemished with flag-stoned floors, window seats and beamed ceilings in the three receptions and the breakfasting kitchen. There’s a cellar and the principal of the four bedrooms has an en suite shower and dressing room. A petite garden is its one weakness.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01993 822661 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Trading down: London. The bijoux charms of Wimbledon village and the common in SW19 are your playground, and there’s an Italian restaurant beneath you if you can’t face the stove. This is a roomy eaves flat – even the bathroom and kitchen are capacious – with two good-sized bedrooms and vast views across south London. There is no chain and it is on the market for £325,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 020 8879 0099 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Trading down: Northampton. Dallington Hall, an early 18th-century manor which was once Earl Spencer’s town house, has been converted into flats, and its lodge house, in the communal grounds, is now a miniature dwelling with its own access. It’s stylishly groomed inside with a vaulted beamed ceiling over the larger of the two bedrooms and views of the parish church. Dallington village still has vintage rustic charm, but is only a mile from Northampton station and an extra half-mile into the centre of town. Yours for £185,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01604 637837 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Dream home: East Sussex. Its past as an oast house is obvious in the dining room, kitchen and one of the three bedrooms, which are all circular. It’s in the village of Mayfield, near Tunbridge Wells, and there are timbered ceilings, flag-stoned floors, a dressing room and shower room off the master bedroom. It’s surrounded by large gardens including an orchard and a fountain, with views of fields and woodland. It is yours for £695,000.
Freeman Forman, 01435 873803 Photograph: Freeman Forman