Trading up, trading down – in pictures

Trading up: Shropshire. There are three main glories to this £375,000 town house: its size (five bedrooms and three receptions); the parking (a garage and hard standing for several cars reached by a shared driveway round the back); and its location near the heart of the Georgian gourmet town of Ludlow. Recent renovations have glamorised the kitchen and added underfloor heating to the shower and bathrooms. There’s a decent expanse of lawn behind, although a few flower beds would be an enhancement, and the railway station is round the corner. Just don’t try borrowing sugar from the attached neighbour – it’s an accountancy office.
Nock Deighton, 01584 875555
Photograph: Nock Deighton

Trading down: Dorset. When one of the farms in the village of Iwerne Minster pulled out of agriculture its farmyard was converted into homes, including this diminuative stone bungalow which sits behind its own gated driveway off the entrance to the farm. It’s weeny – one bedroom and a through reception room – but it’s been thoroughly refurbished with underfloor heating and chic fittings, and the double garage and workshop will absorb extraneous household necessities. Yours for £230,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01747 850858
Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Trading up: Devon. She craves period quaintness; he is signed up to Cool Britannia. The union can be saved by this three-bed hybrid in the valley village of Thorverton, near Exeter. A modern oak extension melds with the vintage cottage to create a kitchen/breakfast room ribbed with wall and ceiling beams that is nearly 30ft long, and a capacious master suite. She’ll love the inglenook fireplace and bread oven; he’ll be placated by the chic claw-foot bath presiding over the centre of the huge beamed bathroom. There’s also that useful modern invention: a garage. Cost: £425,000.
Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01392 214222
Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff

Trading down: Glasgow. It’s been valued at £145,000, but this shapely slice of a Victorian Glasgow terrace hopes to tempt speedy buyers for £132,000. Renovations have spruced up its period allure by polishing the wooden floorboards in all the rooms, installing a free-standing roll-top bath and refitting the kitchen off the living room. One of the two bedrooms has a walk-in wardrobe and recessed study area. There are spreading views from the top floor perch and it’s handy for the shops of Shawland.
Slater Hogg & Howison, 01412 787 348
Photograph: Slater Hogg & Howison

Bargain of the week: Suffolk. Two years ago the owners bought this cottage for £481,000 and spent nearly £100,000 extending and refurbishing it. And now, resigned to a huge loss in order to speed up the purchase of their next home, they’ve shrunk the asking price from £550,000 to £499,950. This counts as a modest sum for seven bedrooms, four receptions, a mammoth kitchen and more than half-an-acre of East Anglia. Rampant beams and cavernous hearths, including what is said to be the largest inglenook in Suffolk, are a legacy of its medieval core and 16th-century expansion. It’s close to the Norfolk border in the village of Oakley near Diss.
Strutt & Parker
Photograph: Strutt & Parker