What will £300,000 buy you in the UK property market?

This two-bed flat in Newcastle. A century ago £299,500 would have purchased, staffed and maintained this house in Granville Road, Jesmond, for several lifetimes; now it merely funds a berth on the ground floor and a share of the front garden. But it’s a classy berth, retaining the high ceilings, elaborate mouldings and a marble fireplace bequeathed by the Victorians. The two receptions and bedrooms are all large and luxuriously garnished, and there’s a Jacuzzi-style tub in the bathroom.
Sanderson Young, 0191 2130033 Photograph: Sanderson Young

This studio flat in Chelsea, London. It’s the postcode you’re paying for rather than square footage. So if it’s important for you to imbibe the vibe of the Fulham Road you’ll have to settle for a 373 sq ft flat in St Mark’s Grove. The purpose-built block is an aesthetic affront, but the flat makes up for this with a polished wooden floor, ornate fireplace and views over communal gardens from its balcony. Cost: £299,950.
Strutt and Parker, 020 7373 1010 Photograph: Strutt and Parker

This two-bedder with cottage in Northumberland. Up here in the Borders you can fund a home for yourself and your in-laws with £300,000. Once an inn serving the village of Norham near Berwick-on-Tweed, it’s been converted into a house with three receptions, and comes with a separate one-bed cottage plus outbuildings. An open-plan family room/kitchen opens on to a large lawned garden.
Smiths Gore, 01289 333030 Photograph: Smiths Gore

This two-bed conversion in Wiltshire. Tisbury near Salisbury is the setting for Wardour Castle, built by James Paine in the 1770s and the largest Georgian house in the county. Its greenhouses, flanking the Palladian-style camellia house where the original camellias still bloom, have been converted into cottages within the walled garden in the landscaped park. A glazed roof in the open-plan kitchen/living room will delight modern houseplants, the floors are of oak and both bedrooms are large doubles. Beyond your gravelled terrace you get to roam the walled garden with your neighbours. On the market for £295,000.
Strutt & Parker, 01722 344010
Photograph: Strutt & Parker

This five-bedder in Berwickshire. The agent describes it as a B-listed townhouse, but it’s more of a glorified flat in the centre of Duns, because a bank occupies the ground floor and the palatial accommodation within the three storeys above used to accommodate the bank manager. Those were the days when architecture was designed to reassure clients about a bank’s solidity, and the receptions and bedrooms are vast, high-ceilinged, ornately plastered and with shuttered windows. The old servants' quarters will absorb extraneous family. An expansive walled garden extends behind with a drive-through garage. The downer is that all this grandeur is approached by a off-street side door instead of the grand entrance it deserves. Cost: £295,000.
Smiths Gore, 01289 333033
Photograph: Smiths Gore