Trading up, trading down – in pictures

Trading up: London. This chain-free, £479,950 five-bed house in south-east London has been groomed to showhome standards, from the wooden floors and granite worktops to the single papered wall as a trendy feature in most rooms. A huge reception folds open on to a decked terrace below the lawn, and the master suite occupies the entire top floor. Either a blessing or a curse is the secondary school across the road. It’s a 12-minute walk to Forest Hill station and shops.
Woosterstock.co.uk, 020 8613 0060
Photograph: Woosterstock.co.uk

Trading up: Essex. Two 350-year-old cottages have been merged to create a quaint four-bedder full of fireplaces and period fancies near the centre of Manningtree. The kitchen is handmade with a dining area opening off it, a dressing room expands one of the bedrooms, and there’s a conservatory. If you like a soak in a tub you’ll have to commute downstairs, for there’s only a shower room upstairs. England’s smallest town is equally pretty, with views across the Suffolk coast from its beach. Cost: £350,000.
Beresfordsgroup.co.uk, 01206 764444
Photograph: Beresfordsgroup.co.uk

Trading down: Kent. The artists Charles and Dorothy Mahoney lived in this 16th-century house in the village of Wrotham, and drew inspiration from its ancient rooms and large garden. House and garden have decomposed since then, and its Grade II-listing will inhibit overly grand ambitions for a makeover, but the ingredients are promising: beams in the two receptions and study, a copper-canopied inglenook, a fireplace in one bedroom and panelled walls in the other. Cost: £245,000. To be auctioned April 12.
Ibbettmosely.co.uk, 01732 452246
Photograph: Ibbettmosely.co.uk

Trading down: Devon. The price tag, £290,000, might be a nerve-racking sum for two bedrooms, but it’s the glory not the space you’re paying for. Roses climb the walls, thatch fringes the upper windows, and there are views on all sides over the South Hams countryside surrounding the village of Ermington. A recent revamp has bequeathed modern chic, including a ceramic floored kitchen/dining room which looks out towards the river, and a detached garage.
Marchandpetit, 01548 831 163
Photograph: Marchandpetit

Bargain of the week: Devon. Sadly this is a repossession, so your £219,950 will get five bedrooms a stroll from the centre of the estuary town of Kingsbridge. It needs a little cosmetic enhancement, but it’s a broad canvas to work on with four storeys including three bathrooms. Conservative souls may take fright at the layout – one en suite bedroom is alone on the groundfloor with the kitchen and sitting room a stair-climb above. You and one visitor get an allocated parking space. The downer is that the garden, like three of the bedrooms, is slender.
Marchandpetit.co.uk, 01548 857588
Photograph: Marchandpetit.co.uk