Snooping around: Rural, urban or renovation

In town: Dorset. This is a flat with status: it has its own outside entrance, maple doors, oak floors and a Bosch kitchen. Newly converted, it’s large and in the heart of Dorchester. The only drawback is there is no outside space – apart from your parking bay. Priced at £299,500. Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01305 262123 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff Photograph: Action images In the country: Northamptonshire. This cottage has overlooked Hardingstone village green for 500 years. Modern interventions such as an upstairs bathroom and garage supplement the inglenook fireplace and exposed beams. It has four bedrooms and a big garden at the back. On the market for £335,000. Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01604 632991 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff Wreck of the week: Suffolk. Two of this trio of Victorian two-up, two-down cottages in Lower Holbrook, near Ipswich, are uninhabitable; the third grimly basic. You may want to demolish and start anew, or convert them into one house. The up-side is that they are in a pretty hamlet with a third of an acre of land. But beware: there is no guarantee of planning permission. Cost: £250,000. Jackson-Stops & Staff, 01473 218218 Photograph: Jackson-Stops & Staff Bargain of the week: Chester. This listed Georgian house within the city walls has planning permission to be reconfigured into a five-bed, three-bathroom home with an open-plan living and kitchen area (it currently has five beds, one reception and an unconverted basement). The £295,000 price tag allows for the need for renovation, but take solace from the fact a neighbour two doors down recently sold for £500,000. Strutt & Parker, 01244 354880 Photograph: Strutt & Parker Overseas: France. A dollop of euros would beautify this farmhouse in the Gascon countryside, near Auch, but it is still habitable. A partly converted granary accessible from the landing could supply a third and fourth bedroom, and you could expand into an attached barn. You have dramatic fireplaces, wooden floors, large rooms and gardens and views to the Pyrenees, all for £168,350. Purlows Gascony, 00 33 5626 76150 Photograph: Purslow's Gascony