Trading up, trading down

Trading up: County Durham. Behind the slimline façade is a glory of space and character, all just a stroll away from the market town of Barnard Castle. Both receptions and two of the four bedrooms have fireplaces, there is a study, two bathrooms and a conservatory which opens on to a walled garden. Even the car is comfortably accommodated in a single garage. A long front lawn shields it all from the road. Cost: £299,000.
George F. White, 01833 690 390
Photograph: George F. White

Trading up: Cornwall. This is how life must be as a seagull. Step on to the covered balcony from the fourth bedroom and you gaze dizzyingly across the estuary to miles of wooded hills and fields and the town of East Looe. Winter blasts can be sat out before the living room hearth. The garden has been turned over to parking – a rare commodity in Looe – but could resume its floral heyday. It is a swift descent to the harbour. Yours for £245,000.
Bradleys, 01503 264888
Photograph: Bradleys

Trading down: Yorkshire. This £275,000 two-bedder once lodged the smithy on a 17th-century farm, the outbuildings of which have been converted into homes. The humble face is misleading, for inside is spacious stylishness with beamed and trussed ceilings in the living room and two mezzanines, a flagstoned farmhouse-type kitchen and a large bathroom. A private paddock extends behind. The surrounding area of Lower Nidderdale is a designated area of outstanding natural beauty near Harrogate.
Carter Jonas, 01423 523423
Photograph: Carter Jonas

Trading down: London. If it’s a large and costly house you are relinquishing, this two-bed London flat could launch an adventurous new life. The glamour is in the postcode: it’s a few moments from the chic revelry of Kings Road in Chelsea, and the river Thames and Battersea Park are a brief commute across the bridge. Inside it is small but smart and, by London standards, it is a good price per square foot, mainly because it’s on a busy main road: £450,000.
Marsh and Parsons, 020 7591 5570
Photograph: Marsh and Parsons

Dream home: Suffolk. This £295,000 three-bedder is on the beach in the old, cute part of Felixstowe, and each morning you pull back the curtain to contemplate the village green and boats scattered on the shingle. The hamlet, two miles from the port, still has a working fishing fleet and is buffered by a golf course on one side and a river and marshland on the other. Tucked away next to the Ferry Inn, the house was built in 1810 and has exposed brick walls, beams, fireplaces and wooden floors. The largest bedroom opens on to a balcony overlooking the water.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01473 218218
Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff