Trading up, trading down

Trading up: Hereford. You can combine wood-and-water rambles with city glamour in the riverside village of Hampton Bishop. Four reception rooms, four bedrooms and nearly an acre of garden will whiz you up the property ladder if you have £435,000 handy. Stone hearths, timber-clad ceilings and views across the Wye valley should ease the stress of moving. The village is in a coveted school catchment area with a gourmet pub down the lane.
Andrew Grant, 01432 355292 Photograph: Andrew Grant/Andrew Grant

Trading up: Lincolnshire. There are five double bedrooms and four reception rooms here (not including the playroom and grand conservatory), and a walk-in pantry and utility room to absorb unsightly essentials from the kitchen. It’s a former farmhouse sitting in the middle of its own large lawns in the village of Pinchbeck. Shops and services are a stroll down the lane and it’s two miles to Spalding. Cost: £395,000.
Longstaff, 01775 766766 Photograph: Longstaff/Longstaff

Trading down: Bath. £185,000 entitles you to an address on a footbridge which spans the river Avon. The fact that the city centre and the mainline station are a stroll across the water should compensate for the compactness of life in this former toll house. There are two bedrooms (one a decent double), two long reception rooms and a top-floor kitchen, all handsomely renovated. Sadly it's all very thin, there's no garden and nowhere for the car.
Cooper & Tanner, 01225 445167 Photograph: Cooper & Tanner/Cooper & Tanner

Trading down: Gloucestershire. The joy of this £250,000 two-bedroom cottage in Northleach is the elegant renovation work, which has melded flagstoned floors, Victorian fireplaces, beams and stone quoins with a stylish bathroom, fully fitted kitchen and chic lighting. It’s in the centre of this quaint market town with Cotswold glories in all directions. There’s an unexpectedly large garden and space for a study area and third bedroom.
Butler Sherborn, 01993 822325 Photograph: Butler Sherborn/Butler Sherborn

Dream home: Falmouth. Inside you would suppose yourself in a swanky district of a big city, but when you breakfast on one of the four balconies the backdrop will be a bustling harbour. This is the £395,000 penthouse in a converted listed building on the quayside. Two balconies open off the dining room, which leads into a cavernous 10m by 8m living area. Ships cruise by outside the front windows and the town’s piazza lies below. There is a private garage.
Savills, 01872 243 200 Photograph: Savills/Savills

Bargain of the week: Suffolk. Last year, this expensively restored cottage in Withersfield was on the market for £200,000. It still might be but for the unexpected décor (the black laminated kitchen units don’t befit a cottagey kitchen and the lively carpets are, er, retro), plus the fact you have to leave the car down the lane. Now this two-bedder with beamed reception rooms and planning permission for a first floor extension costs just £149,950.
John D Wood & Co, 01245 344 222 Photograph: Savills/John D Wood & Co