Life should not be too uncomfortably shrunken in this Victorian semi close to Newmarket in the Cambridgeshire village of Cheveley. The kitchen is large enough for the family dining table and opens onto the patio garden. It’s handsomely heated by a multi-fuel stove set in a cast-iron fireplace. More French doors lead from the double-aspect sitting room to the garden. One of the two double bedrooms has an en suite bathroom and dressing room. The car lives in style in the garage. £279,000.
www.jackson-stops.co.uk, 01638 662231 Photograph: Jackson Stops
If you can muster the requisite £475,000 you can spread yourself out across two-thirds of an acre of Essex, with four large reception rooms, four double bedrooms, and two attic rooms up a concealed staircase. The Grade II-listed Georgian house is in the village of Weeley, ten miles from Colchester and six from the coast.
www.fennwright.co.uk, 01206 763388 Photograph: Fennwright
Nearly 1500 sq ft of white, glossy space in south-east London, less than half a mile from London Bridge and Borough tube station and a walk from the City. The 25ft kitchen-living area merges with a private terrace and the third bedroom is a regal affair beneath a vaulted ceiling with huge floor space lit by full-height windows. Keep some cash aside to fund a parking space, which is available separately. £695,000.
www.stirlingackroyd.com, 020 7940 3888 Photograph: Stirling Ackroyd
This is what Basingstoke used to look like. The ancient heart of Old Basing remains pretty unsullied while the new town has swollen beside it. Here in this two-bedroom cottage you rejoice in the best of old and new – a mainline station two miles away delivers you rapidly to the capital, but you return to a quaint brick fireside and lavishly beamed ceilings. It’s immaculate with wooden floors and stylish fittings. Progress has added a garage and a summer house in the garden. £350,000.
www.carterjonas.co.uk, 01256 473388 Photograph: Carter Jonas
If that London flat is squeezing your horizons, consider trading it in for archipelago of Scottish islands in the North Sea. For £250,000 you get, along with 620 wild acres, a fishing and crafting community, harbour and airstrip. Why so cheap? Out Skerries is seriously remote – nine miles off Shetland, there’s no estate house to lodge you and the rent from the 15 crofts is a mere £167 a year. On the upside, the islands are utopia for botanists, birdwatchers and fishing enthusiasts.
www.knightfrank.com, 0131 222 9600 Photograph: Knight Frank
