Trading up, trading down – in pictures

Trading up: Cornwall. Pretty it ain’t, but you get a goodly chunk of land for your £259,950. This is an ex-officer’s house on the RAF St Eval Base – fighter command HQ during the Battle of Britain in the 1940s. Army personnel still live on the base, which is a couple of miles from the sea and a short drive from Padstow, but a number of vacant houses, including this one, have been done over by developers for civilian buyers. It has four bedrooms, two receptions and a study, all recently groomed.
Start & Co, 01637 875 847 Photograph: Start & Co

Trading up: Devon. If you only know the county from giftshop calendars, you’ll find this three-bed cottage combines all the cliches. There’s a huge stone inglenook, lashings of ceiling beams, window seats, and views of Dartmoor from the large garden. Beyond it the village of North Bovey clusters quaintly round a green and a medieval church. The cottage has two different faces: white rendered from the lane in front, and exposed stone facing the lane behind. The downer is that said garden lies across the front lane. Cost: £385,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01392 214222 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Trading down: London. This is a duplex in an elaborately louvred and mesh-panelled East Dulwich block, winner of the Riba award for Best New Housing in London. The £375,000 price tag may seem a lot to expend on two bedrooms, but sheer style is the palliative – full length windows, hardwood floors, bespoke fittings and sweeping views from two balconies. A secure underground parking space will cost you extra.
The Modern House, 08456 344 068
Photograph: The Modern House

Trading down: Surrey. Quaint good looks allows Chipstead to regard itself still as a country village; in fact it clings to the side of Sevenoaks close by junction five of the M25. So you get a village green and pond, a Norman church and this handsome stone cottage within a dervish whirl of the metropolis. Two brick outbuildings have expansion potential, which is just as well for there is only one bedroom so far. Cost: £275,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01732 740600 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Bargain of the week: Kent. This would qualify for Dream Home status – a 15th-century farmhouse with large wood-floored, wood-beamed rooms and half-an-acre of garden – but for the rub: the A21 shaves close by, and is clearly audible from the garden. The happy news is that the inconvenience has lopped a good £150,000 from the sort of price you’d ordinarily pay for three receptions, four bedrooms and an attic. For £600,000, therefore, you can live luxuriously just half-a-mile’s walk from Hildenborough station.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01732 740600 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff