Plaistow, West Sussex

In this village on the edge of the South Downs national park is a Grade II-listed house, thought to date back to about 1500. What was once a medieval hall house is now a five-bedroom family home with a tick list of original features: inglenook fireplaces, low timber ceiling beams and exposed brickwork. A double-aspect dining room and triple-aspect drawing room look out on to a mature garden with tulips and cherry blossom. Life in this chocolate box village centres around the green, primary school, community-run store and pub. £1.25m. Knight Frank, 01428 770 563

High Birstwith, North Yorkshire

In 3.4 hectares (8.5 acres), on the edge of the Nidderdale area of outstanding natural beauty, is Grasmere House. A handsome property draped in wisteria with five bedrooms, four bathrooms and six reception rooms. The spacious drawing room has two sets of French doors opening on to the sprawling garden. The lawn slopes away from the house with views over the countryside. There’s a vegetable garden with raised beds and a greenhouse, ornamental pond and a wood-fired hot tub. The village is seven miles from Harrogate. £2.5m. Strutt & Parker, 01423 706 771

Wraxall, North Somerset

High on a hillside with views over farmland and woodland, and halfway between Clevedon on the coast and Bristol, is this detached Victorian house with four bedrooms. Up a quiet lane that turns into a pathway bordered by colourful raised Mediterranean-style beds, you get to a flagstone terrace adorned with potted plants. The garden has been lovingly tended by the owners for 26 years and pops with colour in the spring and summer. There are fruit trees and a vegetable garden, a magnolia tree, tiered lawns and borders, and a separate barn. £895,000. Savills, 0117 933 5802

Docking, Norfolk

Only 15 minutes from the coast, in a conservation area, is a pretty cottage with roses growing around the pitched porch. In fact, roses are a theme with the motif repeated in several stained-glass windows. The five-bedroom home was once a pub with 1795 carved into a small arch of exposed brick below timber beams in one of the bedrooms. There’s a domed, tiled wet room on the ground floor and a cellar. The garden, bursting with shrubs, wraps around one side of the house with a courtyard area, seating and space for several cars. £599,950. Bedfords, 01328 730 500

Wootton Rivers, Wiltshire

Pheasant Cottage is a Grade II-listed thatched cottage in the heart of a village in the Vale of Pewsey. The property, shrouded in greenery, has three double bedrooms and a porch that doubles up as a boot room. The cosy snug has an inglenook fireplace and wood burner. The mature garden has a separate office–cum–fourth bedroom with heating and electricity. Walks from the village wind through the countryside to the ancient Savernake Forest, and Marlborough is only five miles away. Fast trains into London go from nearby Pewsey. £815,000. Winkworth, 01672 552 777