Trading up, trading down – in pictures

Trading down: London. A pretty, west-facing patio garden opening off the open-plan living room will help disguise the shrinkage. Tucked into this walled sun trap you can nurture geraniums, dine from a barbecue and forget you’re in Bethnal Green in the East End. Although it’s one-bed only, the £250,000 flat feels larger, for the rooms in this period mansion block are bright, high-ceilinged and elegantly appointed. Liverpool St and Spitalfields are a walk away and the underground is round the corner.
Finzels Reach, 020 7613 4044 Photograph: Finzels Reach

Trading down: Cornwall. Your perch may be small – this is a two-bed terraced cottage – but your horizons are wide, for the famously beautiful harbour of St Ives lies below. You can watch storms roll in across the Atlantic as well as sunbathers on the sandy beach. The idyll, however, is clouded by the fact the house, although elegant with period features, needs a thorough upgrade inside, and if you want a private parking space you’ll need an extra £30,000. Moreover, you share the main terraced garden with your neighbour, and must make do with a covered rear courtyard for private pottering. Yours for £195,000.
Bradleys, 01736 793300 Photograph: Bradleys

Trading up: Northumberland. For £189,000 you buy a lifestyle, as the surrounding countryside is endless in its offerings of fishing, hill walking and beachcombing. This detached house, four miles from the town of Coldstream, could run to four bedrooms if you sacrificed the study. A large family kitchen and utility room dominate the ground floor and lead on to the back garden. The three bedrooms lead out into the upper levels of the terraced gardens through patio doors on the landings, but the bathroom is a commute downstairs – unless you have bagged the master suite.
Smiths Gore, 01289 333030 Photograph: Smiths Gore

Trading up: Kent. A Grade II listing and a position in the conservation area of the resort of Deal has preserved the Georgian integrity of this five-bed, three-reception house near the seafront. Inside are beams, panelling, stripped wooden floors and open fireplaces. The kitchen, with its pantry and utility room, takes in the whole of the lower ground floor with access into a small, attractively walled garden. You’re on the high street, which means the shops are on your doorstep – as are the summer crowds. Yours for £495,000.
Bright & Bright, 01304 374071 Photograph: Bright & Bright

Dream home: Shropshire. If your fantasies involve total solitude free of fumes this is your perfect retreat. Only 4x4s will make it across the 1.3 miles of soggy, turfy common land that separates your home from the nearest lane – there’s not so much as a mud track. Once achieved, your £390,000 will get you unsullied country views and 0.73 acres of land. You can keep horses in the stable yard and paddock, and could expand into the attached barn. Renovations have begun on the three bedrooms and three receptions, but there is scope for fine-tuning. Bear in mind, it’s a five-mile commute to the village of Cleobury North and more than a mile to your mailbox.
Strutt & Parker, 01584 873 711 Photograph: Strutt & Parker