What will £250,000 buy you in the UK property market?

This cottage in Melcombe Bingham, Dorset. Thatch, beams and higgledy-piggledy ceilings in a pretty village come at a price: there are only two small bedrooms, one of them downstairs. Opinion will be divided over the wood-clad extension tacked on to enlarge the kitchen, and storage heaters are the main source of warmth. On the upside, there is a large garden backing on to countryside, a woodburning stove in the sitting room and an en suite to the master bedroom. Offers in the region of £250,000.
Zoopla 01305 266755 Photograph: Zoopla

This detached house in Leyland, Lancashire. On an estate at the edge of town close to open fields and the M6, the family can expand unimpeded into four bedrooms, two receptions, and kitchen/breakfast room. The £250,000 price tag also buys those modern domestic essentials: an en suite, a utility room and an integral garage.
Needaproperty.com 01245 249110 Photograph: Needaproperty.com

This flat in Catford, London. If you are prepared to compromise on the postcode, the London market will permit you a handsome two-bedroom foothold for £250,000. This Lewisham borough can offer Victoriana as pleasant as neighbouring hotspots and this split-level flat is in one such house, half a mile from three stations. The rooms are large, the ceilings high and there are several original fireplaces. You can host a dinner party in the kitchen/breakfast room and there are two bath/shower rooms.
Kinleigh, Folkard & Hayward 020 3280 3540 Photograph: Kinleigh, Folkaryd and Hayward

This house in Shropshire. The aerial views over an area of outstanding natural beauty and surrounding common land are alone worth the £250,000 price tag, and the three-bedroom, four-receptions are an added bonus. The house is at the end of a private lane in the village of Hopton Wafers, close to the market town of Cleobury Mortimer. Handsome it ain’t, but the panoramas beyond the windows more than compensate for undistinguished architecture, and recent refurbishments have upgraded the capacious interior.
Connells, 01562 68214 Photograph: Needaproperty.com

This house in Pistyll, Gwynedd. You can glimpse the sea in a cleavage of hills beyond this £250,000 three-bedroom property near the market town of Pwllheli. It has two acres of paddocks and garden in a ruggedly unspoiled setting and the interior is equally appealing with an inglenook fireplace, deep-silled windows and a conservatory. Two of the bedrooms are downstairs and the small third one is stranded a stair-climb away from the loo.
Beresford Adams, 01758 688058 Photograph: Zoopla

This semi-detached house in Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex. In a pretty seaside resort, this palatial property is licensed for multiple occupation with seven bedrooms and a communal lounge. The tenants are on four-week notice so it would be easy to reclaim it as a single residence with at least five bedrooms, once you had got rid of one of the two kitchens and tidied the decor. Guide price: £250,000.
Fennwright, 01206 763388 Photograph: Fennwright