Penny Churchill looks at the best properties for sale from Chipping Norton to Cirencester

It's never easy to make your mark in the Cotswolds, but now, at least, aspiring newcomers have the chance to either line up behind the trendy, fast-moving ‘Chipping Norton set' in the east of the region, or embrace the more sedate, sporting lifestyle of the countryside around Cirencester in the west.

The first scenario involves buying a good family house near Kitebrook House school at Moreton-in-Marsh, being seen to shop at Daylesford, and commuting to London from Kingham station-a journey time of 80 minutes. The second means finding a proper country house within reach of Beaudesert Park School at Mitchinhampton, and commuting from Kemble station-a journey time of 85 minutes. It's as simple as that. Or is it?

‘Unfortunately, there is a desperate shortage of good houses for sale at the Oxfordshire end of the Cotswolds, which means that many prospective purchasers-especially Europeans and wealthy Londoners who enjoy the faster pace of life in the villages around Daylesford-can't find what they want at the moment,' says Sam Butler of regional agents Butler Sherborn.

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However, one house that appears to tick most of the boxes is Grade II-listed Walnut Tree House (pictured) in the charming north Cotswold village of Nether Westcote, Gloucestershire, five miles from Stow-on-the-Wold and four miles from Kingham. Butler Sherborn (01993 822325) quote a guide price of £1.95 million for the six-bedroom Cotswold stone house, with a lodge, barns and outbuildings, set in 21⁄2 acres of attractive gardens and paddock. Actress Kate Winslet and former Blur guitarist-turned-farmer Alex James are high-profile near neighbours.

Even closer to Kitebrook House, undisputed prep school of choice of the area's trend-setters, is The Old Rectory at Chastleton, a tiny, unspoilt village four miles from Moreton-in-Marsh, and six miles from Chipping Norton. Strutt & Parker (01608 650502) quote a guide of £1.225m for the former rectory, built in the 1930s, decommissioned in the 1960s, and recently refurbished and extended to provide five reception rooms, five bedrooms and three bathrooms. It stands in half an acre of gardens on the edge of the village, but, sadly, lacks a pony paddock.

It's quite a different story in the valleys around Cirencester, says Atty Beor-Roberts of Knight Frank, who, contrary to a widespread perception that ‘nothing is happening in the Cotswolds', has been beavering away as usual in recent months, and with some success, it seems. Tranquillity, privacy and spectacular views may be abstract concepts, but they still translate into hard currency in this part of the world.

Six years ago, in September 2005, Grade II*-listed Througham Slad Manor, a mile or so from Bisley-where writer Jilly Cooper is the local star turn-and a stone's throw from Beaudesert Park, was the pick of Knight Frank's autumn portfolio at a guide price of £5.5m. The following year, it was bought by the present owners, who now plan to complete their children's schooling elsewhere, so have put the house back on the market, at a guide price of ‘excess £6.5m' through Knight Frank (01285 659771).

For many years, the historic, 16th-century Cotswold stone manor house was owned by the Cadbury family, and then, in the 1970s, by the musician Mike Oldfield, who created a recording studio in one of the cottages, and finally by a Dutch family, who completely modernised the interior before selling to the present owners in August 2006.

The house, which stands in lofty seclusion with superb views over the surrounding wooded valleys, has been further improved by the current vendors, who have also converted the former recording studio into a guest cottage and created a new swimming pool with enviable panoramic views.

Set in 18 acres of grounds, Througham Slad Manor has entrance and staircase halls, three main reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, seven bedrooms and five bathrooms. Knight Frank quote a guide price of £6.5m for another classic Cotswold country house a mile or so away. Elegant Warneford House, on the edge of the hamlet of Sudgrove, enjoys the same far-reaching wooded views as Througham Slad, and is equally well placed, at nine miles from both Cirencester and Kemble. The house was built in about 1923, possibly on the site of an earlier building destroyed by fire, and enlarged by the current owners, who bought it in 1993, extended it at either end and integrated a former barn to create a study with an office/bedroom suite. They also refurbished it throughout and designed and laid out its wonderful formal gardens and grounds, some 8.8 acres in all.

With four/five reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, an office/guest suite, four bedroom suites and three/four further bedrooms, Warneford House is ‘one of the most comfortable houses in an idyllic corner of the Cotswolds that is still protected by large private estates,' explains Mr Beor-Roberts.

Finally, Knight Frank quote a guide price of £2.1m for the impressive Grove Manor on the edge of the village of Amberley, a short walk from Beaudesert Park and a mile from the ancient hilltop town of Minchinhampton, the birthplace and country home of novelist Joanna Trollope.

Grove Manor dates from the mid 1800s and was substantially enlarged in 1910. Set in an acre of pristine landscaped gardens, the manor has been beautifully modernised to provide a perfect balance of formal and everyday living space, with four reception rooms, a large country kitchen, five/six bedrooms, three bathrooms, a games room and a two-bedroom cottage. The neighbouring four-bedroom property is available by separate negotiation.