Trading up, trading down

Trading up: Norfolk. The Georgians and Victorians have tinkered about with the 15th-century core of this five-bed house in New Buckenham, but the coat of arms over the dining room fireplace and the timber-latticed walls and ceilings testify to its antiquity. The village church towers over the large walled garden, and the summer house through the stone archway is thought to have been the local bowling club pavilion. This has power (electricity not an aura) and could be an office if the three receptions start to cramp you. Cost: £535,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01603 612333 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Trading up: Northamptonshire. Once part of the stable block of a Victorian mansion in Dallington, a mile from Northampton station, this has been converted into a £299,000 three-bed house with its own modest grandeur: a gravel driveway leading to a double garage, a walled garden, mullioned windows, granite work tops, and a master bedroom suite.
Winkworth, 01604 824854
Photograph: Winkworth

Trading down: Devon. This three-bed house has commanded the best river views for more than 400 years – upstream to Brunel’s Tamar bridge and downstream to the Lynher river. Saltash Passage, where troops embarked for the D-day landings, straggles along the waterside on the outskirts of Plymouth. All the bedrooms are doubles, the master suite has a balcony and, beyond it, a landing large enough to serve as a study or dressing room. From the two greenhouses at the top of the garden you can gaze over infinite horizons. Yours for £250,000.
Marchand Petit, 01752 873311 Photograph: Marchand Petit

Trading down: Hampshire. This was the water tower serving the former Park Prewett hospital in Basingstoke. The penthouse resident will rejoice in a three-sided panorama over the home counties from its 105ft summit, and there are big views from most of the four other apartments – some of them split-level – spread over the 10 floors. The whole estate is part of the Limes Park development in a conservation area on the edge of town. Prices start at £175,000 for one bedroom rising to £375,000 for the two-bedroom penthouse.
Connells, 01256 464566
Photograph: Connells

Dream home: North Yorkshire. If you can muster in excess of £700,000, then life’s a beach. From the flagged terrace and front rooms you can absorb the length of the sands and the breadth of Runswick Bay near Whitby, while steps give you private access to the shore. The four-bed house tactfully disguises its extreme youth – it was built only a few years ago – to blend in with the winding lanes, thatch and pantiles of Runswick village. The wilds of the North York Moors national park unroll all round.
Smiths Gore, 01904 756303 Photograph: Smiths Gore