Trading up, trading down

Trading up: Hampshire. Once you've breakfasted in the storybook farmhouse kitchen, walked it off among the tiered ponds in the walled garden, then thawed before the venerable fireplaces in the five reception rooms, you will never want to grow out of this £599,000 house in Lydd. If your guests fill the six bedrooms you can expand into four unconverted attic rooms.
Hobbs Parker, 01233 506220 Photograph: Hobbs Parker/Hobbs Parker

Trading up: Cheshire. A stroll from Chester city centre, this four-bed, four-bathroom house has been used as a B&B. Once the interior is reinvigorated you can unfurl amid Victorian splendour: original shutters survive alongside some of the almost-full-length windows, dainty plasterwork garnishes the three receptions, and there are panelled doors and fireplaces. Copious cellars will absorb household excess. Cost: £350,000.
Reeds Rains, 01244 328257 Photograph: Reeds Rains/Reeds Rains

Trading down: Berkshire. Step out of the back door and you are near the countryside, while out of the front is Hungerford's pretty high street. This £199,000, 200-year-old two-bed cottage sits on the tow path of the Avon and Kennet canal with views over the watermeadows. It has been redecorated inside and there are exposed wall and ceiling beams and a brick fireplace in the reception room. Unfortunately you have to park on the high street.
Humberts, 01488 682349 Photograph: Humberts/Humberts

Trading down: Suffolk. This pocket-sized former school is in the village of Bromeswell, two miles from the riverside town of Woodbridge. For £250,000 you get an unexpectedly spacious sitting room with a brick fireplace, a utility room opens off the dining room and both bedrooms are ribbed with exposed beams. The back garden is large enough for horticultural ambitions and there is a goodly bit of land to the front.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01473 218218 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff/Jackson-Stops & Staff

Dream home: Wester Ross. This eco extension of a croft is not what you will be looking at: turn around and contemplate a celestial landscape with aerial views across Loch Torridon and Applecross Forest to Skye. Through your own portion of ancient oak woodland to the cliff edge you can scramble down to the shore. The Scandinavian-style four-bed house costs £550,000; for an extra £350,000 you could buy two four-star holiday cottages.
Knight Frank, 0131 222 9600 Photograph: Knight Frank/Knight Frank

Bargain of the week: East Riding. Five bedrooms in the coveted Yorkshire village of Elloughton ought to deprive you of at least £420,000, but the owners want a quick sale so it is yours for £360,000. Recent expansion has provided the ground-floor fifth bedroom with its own bathroom, plus a large study to supplement the two reception rooms, conservatory, kitchen/breakfast room and utility room. There are generous landscaped gardens behind.
Hudsons, 01422 645100 Photograph: Hudsons/Hudsons