Trading up, trading down

Trading up: Somerset. Family life can expand heedlessly behind this dinky exterior in the hamlet of Ford Street near Wellington. Since the kitchen is big enough to accommodate the dining table you can use the second reception as a study, free up the study as a fifth bedroom, and use the large landing as a sofa retreat. It’s all prettily decorated and the views from the back stretch over the vale to the Blackdown and Brendon hills. There’s an integral garage and a roomy back garden. Yours for £365,000. Jackson-Stops and Staff, 01823 325144 Photograph: Jackson-Stops and Staff Trading up: County Durham. The affordable way to live in aristocratic splendour: the 18th-century castle of Stanhope in Weardale has been carved into flats and house units, and this £185,000 ground floor portion retains the part-panelled walls, grand oak fireplace and stately windows of its heyday. There are four bedrooms; a French roll top tub with antique taps glamorises bath time; and windows overlook the communal parkland. George F. White, 01388 527966 Photograph: George F. White Trading down: West Sussex. The £325,000 Mouse Cottage was built by Napoleonic prisoners of war in the shadow of Arundel’s gothic cathedral. The centre of town is 400 yards away, and the South Downs national park begins on the outskirts. A brick hearth housing a woodburner dominates the sitting room, the kitchen opens on to a courtyard garden, and a loft room above the two bedrooms could serve as a study. Jackson-Stops and Staff, 01903 885886 Photograph: Jackson-Stops and Staff Trading down: Devon. The wharf warehouses in Totnes have been reinvented as compromises for those wanting to combine urban style with a rustic setting. Boats bob below the Juliet balcony in the living room, and the parkland of Vire Island lies leafily across the water. This three-bed flat is a spacious transition from the family home and is just a short, level walk to the high street and 10 miles from Dartmoor and the coast. Cost: £239,500. Marchand Petit, 01803 847979 Photograph: Marchand Petit Overseas: Turkey. This renovated house is a mile from the village of Kaya near Fethiye on the Aegean coast. Glass doors open the kitchen and living room on to a terrace with views over the landscaped gardens, and the two upstairs en suite bedrooms (a third is downstairs) have balconies overlooking ancient ruins and the surrounding hills. It comes part furnished and is yours for £159,000. Spot Blue, 020 8339 6036 Photograph: Spot Blue