A breathtaking Scottish coastal home and several delightful cottages feature in our latest round-up of genuinely affordable country houses with character.
Isle of Barra, Scotland — £250,000
A six-bedroom home just under 2,000sq ft, for just £250,000? The Old Schoolhouse on the Isle of Barra is really something else, both in size and setting
As the pictures show, it’s in a perfectly liveable state, albeit full of the sort of quirky design and decor you see on one of those Netflix shows with a faux-1980s vibe.
The value here is simply astonishing, though, from the basement gym to the giant chessboard in the garden. And if you’re wondering if WFH is a possibility, wonder no more: the agents report that there is high-speed 78MBPs broadband.
For sale with Murphy & Forrester. See more pictures of this property.
Belford, Northumberland — £375,000
No, don’t get too excited: the purchase price doesn’t get you the whole place, but it does still stretch to a very decent, 1,600 sq ft chunk of this Georgian country house not far from Belford.
There are two bedrooms in this beautifully-decorated first floor apartment, which also has use of some wonderful communal areas — and 27 acres of grounds and parkland.
If you’re worried about buying a flat that’s one among many Air BNBs, fret not: use of these apartments as commercial lets is prohibited by the terms of the lease. This is strictly either a full-time residence or a second home.
For sale with Finest Properties. See more pictures of this property.
Harwich, Essex — £425,000
Tiptoeing a little over the budget, but too nice to ignore, this five-bedroom period townhouse (dating to 1735) is in the centre of Harwich.
From the outside it looks like a house that’s escaped from a Dickensian novel, while inside there are all sorts of character features, from polished floorboards to fireplaces and plasterwork.
There’s also an attractive garden at the back — quite a find given the town centre location — while London is under and hour and a half away.
For sale with Fenn Wright. See more pictures of this property.
Riddlecombe, Devon — £395,000
Thatched roof? Tick. Stone floors? Tick. Cutesy name? Well, ‘Primrose Cottage’ absolutely ticks that box, so much so that it might even be a little too on the nose.
For a beautifully-refurbished character cottage, this is a terrific find, with lovely garden and a peaceful, rural location.
Barnstaple, Bideford and the beach at Westward Ho! are a little to the north, as is Exmoor — but this feels like a place to kick back and enjoy the easy life.
For sale with Bond Oxburgh Phillips. See more pictures of this property.
Tywyn, Snowdonia — £375,000
An absolutely glorious four-bedroom farmhouse in just under half an acre of the southern section of Snowdonia, not farm from Dolgellau and within easy reach of the glorious beach at Aberdovey.
Inside, the place hasn’t been touched in some time, but it’s in better condition than you might first think once you look closely — and it’s a blank canvas full of character just waiting for someone to make it a picture-perfect home.
For sale with RG Jones. See more pictures of this property.
Gainsborough, Lincolnshire — £425,000
Buyers from pricey metropolitan areas will be stunned at what is on offer here: a Georgian beauty with six bedrooms, 3,770sq ft and location in the centre of Gainsborough at the price of a two-bed flat in Croydon.
The rooms are every bit as beautiful as you’d hope to see from the outside, with an abundance of period features.
For sale with Fine & Country. See more pictures of this property.
Dent, Cumbria — £425,000
A picture-perfect cottage in the Yorkshire Dales National Park with stunning views of the fells, and full of character inside.
The beamed ceilings in the main living room belie the fact that the house has been carefully kept up to date, with a farmhouse-style kitchen and a new bathroom upstairs.
You’ll have noticed that this is another house just over our £400k mark, but having already been reduced it might be worth your while trying an offer.
For sale with Hackney & Leigh. See more pictures of this property.
Waldron, East Sussex — £385,000
The wisteria crawling across the front of this two-bedroom house in Waldron add immediate charm to this lovely little home.
It’s not big — less than 600 sq ft — but permission is in place to change that with a two-storey extension.
Uckfield station is a short drive away offering a direct route to London, and making this an ideal home for a couple-of-days-a-week commute.
For sale with Neville & Neville. See more pictures of this property.
Tideswell, Derbyshire — £349,950
A charming, stone-built cottage in the very heart of the gorgeous Peak District village of Tideswell, a delightful place full of independent shops and cafes.
The house itself is immaculate inside and bigger than it appears, with three bedrooms, a kitchen-diner and an enormous reception room of roughly 17ft by 22ft.
For sale with Eadon Lockwood & Riddle. See more pictures of this property.
Hitcham, Suffolk — £365,000
Simply called ‘The Cottage’, this three-bedroom thatched home is set in a third of an acre with off-road parking and a detached double garage.
Believed to be early 18th century in origin, the house has kitchen, utility room, sitting room and a garden room, two bedrooms upstairs and one more downstairs which could easily be a study.
There’s plenty of scope to improve and restore more character features (the inglenook fireplace’s original stonework is apparently hidden behind modern brick), subject to permission from the relevant authorities. And we don’t think we’ve ever seen one house with so many television aerials; might be time to take them all down and just stick to watching on iPlayer.
For sale with Chapman Stickels. See more pictures of this property.
Isle of Skye — £350,000
Located at Kilmuir on the northern end of Skye — not far from the grave of Flora MacDonald — this is one of those houses that offers an amazing amount of home for the money.
Immaculately presented, spectacular views, and four bedrooms — although it’s currently set up as three plus office. And you really can work from Skye here: the agents report that there is ultra-fast 1000mbps broadband available to this address.
For sale with Isle of Skye Estate Agency. See more pictures and details for this property.
