Trading up, trading down – in pictures

Trading up: County Durham. The 1.2 acres of paddock plus outbuildings behind this house in Rowley will accommodate equestrian ambitions while the expanding family can be distributed among four bedrooms, two of them en suite. If the space runs out you could apply to convert the outbuildings. A large pantry and a utility room in the old dairy are compensation for the fact that the kitchen is only about 2 metres wide. You’ll probably wish to align the decor with 21st-century tastes. Offers in excess of £399,995.
SmithsGore, 01434 632404 Photograph: SmithsGore

Trading down: Cornwall. Just around the corner from the beach in the fishing village of Kingsand is this 300-year-old one-bedroom cottage – two-bedroomed if you don’t mind the large kitchen area doubling up as a lounge. The glory of Kingsand is its pretty winding lanes set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; the downside is you have to leave the car in the local car park and walk round the block to your front door. On the market for £199,950, inside it’s prettily decorated and thoroughly quaint and the size will keep multitudinous guests at bay.
Marchand Petit, 01752 829000 Photograph: Marchand Petit

Trading up: Buckinghamshire. When this 18th-century house in Padbury has been renovated it will be a graceful retreat with an inglenook, window seats and exposed beams. Once a village pub, the £400,000 home has three bedrooms and a study with room to expand into the old stables and the cellar. A stream flows along the quarter of an acre of garden which ends in woodland.
Smiths Gore, 01865 733303 Photograph: Smiths Gore

Trading down: London. In an unloved stretch of south-east London, old riverside buildings are being resurrected as flats, shops, bars and a gallery in the company of a new residential tower. This Paynes & Borthwick development faces Canary Wharf across the water from its landscaped perch in Deptford and a pedestrian boulevard will link the area to Greenwich town centre. Admittedly the area has remained unloved for a reason and this new cultural hub will have an unglamorous hinterland, but for £250,000 for a one-bedroom off-plan flat it is a relatively affordable way to achieve waterside living, and escape to the City is swift and easy via Deptford station, a short walk away.
Paynes & Borthwick, 0207 087 5000 Photograph: Paynes & Borthwick

Dream home: Cumbria. Five acres of lakeland belong to this £595,000 stone cottage in Seathwaite, including two streams coursing through woodland. Recent glamorisation – an en suite to one of the four bedrooms and a log burning stove – has spared antique features such as the wall of original cupboards and service bells in the kitchen, window shutters and the old privy.
Carter Jonas, 01539 722592 Photograph: Carter Jonas