Trading up, trading down

Trading up: Fore Street, Milverton, Somerset. Its hospitable past as one of the inns in the Somerset village of Milverton means the front door handle may be regularly rattled by the thirsty. But the sign is deceptive. The place has been lavishly converted into a £499,000 house with five bedrooms, an elegant first-floor drawing room, large kitchen breakfast room and three Travertine-tiled bath/shower rooms. You access your own private car park through the archway. The downside is that was only enough room left over for a small patio garden.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01823 325144 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff/PR

Trading up: Roe Buck House, Eversholt, Bedfordshire. Vast and stylish, this £555,000 house is in on the edge of Woburn Abbey’s parkland in the Bedfordshire village of Eversholt. London and Milton Keynes are an easy commute away and yet, from the back windows and the garden, unspoilt grassy vistas unroll. An extension has added a huge kitchen with vaulted glazed ceiling and a conservatory dining room. Fireplaces in the snug and the immense living room and exposed ceiling and wall beams in the four bedrooms soften the glazed chic of the new bits. The master suite has a bedroom-sized dressing area.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01823 325144 Photograph: PR

Trading down: Bell Street, Shaftesbury, Dorset. The level walk to the shops compensates for the vertiginous staircase in this 18th-century cottage. It’s in the centre of the Dorset town of Shaftesbury with a surprisingly large and prettily landscaped garden. Recent refurbishments have renewed the thatch and the boiler, installed a multi-room sound system and added a fully wired summer house which can serve as an office. There’s a large inglenook in the living room, a dining room opening onto the garden and two bedrooms. £315,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01747 850858 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff/PR

Trading down: Peckham. The glassy boldness of this new south-east London landmark earned an airing in the BBC’s Living with the Future. Insulation is so efficient that the underfloor heating was only required in the flat for three months last year. The 65 square metres of space in east Peckham’s regeneration area is styled with a spine steel wall curving into the open-plan living space, the floors are off polished concrete, the ceilings exposed industrial beams. The study area and bedroom both open onto balconies, one with a floating deck. An art gallery is downstairs and, round the corner, is Queens Road station, due to benefit from the proposed East London line extension. £309,950.
Wooster & Stock, 020 7708 6700 Photograph: Wooster & Stock/PR

Bargain of the Week: West Street, Titchfield, Hampshire. It began at £450,000 and is now £395,000, but would be worth nearer £500,000 if it had off-street parking. Those relaxed about leaving their car on the kerb-side will enjoy five bedrooms and four reception rooms in the ancient Hampshire village of Titchfield. Walls and ceilings are beamed and two large brick hearths dominate three of the downstairs rooms. A secret garden with a well leads off the visible terraces and opens onto a meadow.
Penyards Country Properties, 01329 844812 Photograph: Penyards Country Properties/PR