Property: Three To View

New Homes, But With A Twist

WALNUT TREE Cottage, on the edge of Great Sailing, in north-west Essex, was built just four years ago in the traditional style of the area. The four-bedroom house has a small annexe, with a shower-room and playroom or office above the garage, and stands in about a third of an acre of gardens.

It looks full of old-fashioned character, with exposed timbers and a polished oak strip floor in the reception hall, but it has a 15ft kitchen with gleaming Siemens oven, hob integrated fridge, freezer and dishwasher and limed oak units with Provencale blue tiled worktops.

There's also a 22ft drawing-room with a massive fireplace of exposed herringbone bricks and a heavy oak beam supporting the chimney breast. Price pounds 270,000; details from Trembath Welch 01371 872117

HIGHWINDS, on the edge of Tavistock, looks as though it's been rooted in the moorland in Devon for more than a hundred years. However, the three- bedroom property was designed by a local architect and built less than 10 years ago.

With views over the town and the Tamar Valley, it has solid stone facing and Delabole slate windowsills.

On the ground floor, there is a dining hall with a Victorian open fire and a maple wood floor, a drawing-room with French doors to the garden and a large kitchen-/breakfast-room with fitted American oak units.

The bedrooms lead from the galleried landing on the first floor, and the lower ground floor is a playroom and utility-room. Price pounds 195,000; details from Mansbridge & Balment 01822 612345

THIS ARCHITECT-designed house in the centre of Ynys Mon, three miles from Llangefni, in Anglesey, was built specially to blend in with surrounding older properties.

The entrance hall has a vaulted ceiling and facing brick on one wall. The 19ft drawing-room is panelled in oak and has a period cast-iron fireplace with double doors leading to the conservatory. The kitchen has been divided by a peninsula unit into living and cooking areas and includes a full- height fireplace and built-in pine cupboards. Upstairs there are four bedrooms and a bathroom and shower-room. Price pounds 125,000; details from Dafydd Hardy 01248 371212.