Trading up, trading down

Trading up: Cornwall. When you wake beneath the vaulted ceiling in the master bedroom you can gaze across farmland, over the rooftops of Perranporth to the sea. For £595,000 you get a thatched cottage on Cornwall’s north coast extended and glamorised to produce three reception rooms, a kitchen breakfast room, a study and three bedrooms. If the long descent to the beach is too daunting, lie at your own waterside in the 0.25 acre garden.
Chesterton Humberts, 01872 278288 Photograph: <a href="http://www.chestertonhumberts.com/home">Chesterton Humberts</a>

Trading up: Derbyshire. The huge kitchen breakfast room is refitted with a tiled floor and a Rayburn beneath the old beams, an en suite has been added to the master bedroom, the bathroom replaced and the multitude of rooms (three receptions, a utility room, cellar and five bedrooms) rebirthed in stylish neutrals. It’s a walk into the centre of Glossop. Yours for £360,000.
Ryder & Dutton, 01457 862329 Photograph: <a href="http://www.ryder-dutton.co.uk">Ryder & Dutton</a>

Trading down: Wales. The downsizing is purely an internal matter. Outside you have an acre of Wales, including two paddocks and a stable to distract you. Beyond is the village of Defynnog and the glory of the Brecon Beacons. Inside the cottage is a snug nostalgia of whitewashed stone walls, field and wooden floors, a woodburning stove and two eaves bedrooms, all for £250,000.
Russell Baldwin & Bright, 01874 622756 Photograph: <a href="http://www.rbbproperty.co.uk">Russell Baldwin & Bright</a>

Trading down: Kent. You’ll have to be shrinking from an elevated starting point to afford the £365,000 price tag, but such is the status of Sevenoaks. At least you will only have two bedrooms and one double reception room to vacuum and a Grade II listing will prevent you sabotaging any lingering medieval touches. Outside is a generous length of garden with steps leading to the river. It’s in the village of Chipstead, and is a walk away from supplies.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01732 740600 Photograph: <a href="http://www.jackson-stops.co.uk">Jackson-Stops & Staff</a>

Dream home: Cairngorms. If wild and wooded isolation is for you here is your fantasy. It’s a four-year-old chalet-style house perched aloft over its own five acres of garden and croft land with a glass fronted, open-plan ground floor, priced at £700,000. The best of the four bedrooms has an en suite bathroom and dressing room. It has glossy wooden floors and wide windows throughout. It’s a mile from the Highland resort village of Boat of Garten.
Knight Frank, 0131 222 9600 Photograph: <a href="http://www.knightfrank.co.uk">Knight Frank</a>