The Property Equation: what will £975,000 buy?

For just under £1m you could buy a seven-bedroom rural retreat on the banks of the Little Ouse River in Norfolk. But, you could swap it for a portfolio of four equally charming properties from Lancashire to Kent. Rosalind Russell does the sums

Rushford College, four miles from Thetford in Norfolk, is a 14th-century ecclesiastical college, converted into a seven-bedroom private home, and standing in almost six acres of grounds.

Grade II*-listed, it still has a calm, contemplative air, particularly with its 23ft drawing room which overlooks the gardens down to the Little Ouse River. There is a large study with stripped pine shutters and open fireplace, dining room with stripped floorboards, second sitting room with wood panelled walls and a 34ft kitchen breakfast room.

In the grounds is a coach-house converted into a large games room, with double doors to a sitting room and archway to a conservatory. It's for sale at a guide price of £975,000 through Jackson-Stops & Staff.

But for the same money you could start your property collection with...

A new Berkeley Homes duplex apartment converted from the historic Officers' Quarters in Royal Clarence Yard, Gosport, Hampshire. The original oak floorboards, skirting-boards and sash windows have been retained. A two-storey, two-bedroom apartment comes with a security entry system, sitting room with window shutters and a large kitchen/dining room with built-in appliances. The bedrooms are doubles, one with original fireplace, the other with a sliding door leading to a terrace. Price £210,000. Fox & Sons, on 02392 503733.

And then add ...

A character-packed Victorian Grade II-listed cottage, with a folly tower, on the edge of Bedgebury Forest, near Cranbrook in Kent. Tower Cottage was built in 1850 as an estate cottage, and the tower – which used to be a storey higher – is thought to have been used for duck-shooting. There's a sitting room with mullion windows and carved wooden Victorian fireplace, a 13ft kitchen/breakfast room, and a combined utility and cloakroom with quarry-tiled floor. Upstairs, there are three smallish bedrooms (one only 7ft by 6ft), and a further turned-wood staircase to the top of the tower where there is a storage area. It's for sale through FDP Savills, on 01580 720161. Price £325,000.

Not to mention ...

A neat, three-bedroom family house in Bangor, north Wales. Towards the end of a cul de sac in a Georgian-style development half a mile from the city centre, it has double-glazing, gas central heating and a private garden overlooking woodland. The house has been extended and now has a 19ft lounge with a patio to the garden, separate dining room with an arch to a second sitting room. There's a kitchen breakfast room, downstairs cloakroom and large utility cupboard. Upstairs there's family bathroom plus a further shower room. For sale through Williams & Goodwin, on 01248 355 333. Price £155,000.

And to complete your portfolio, what about ...

Smithy Cottage, a three-bedroom stone house near Clitheroe in Lancashire. It's in a village of just eight houses, with long country views. The house has a lounge with inglenook fire and parquet floor, kitchen/dining room and a ground-floor bedroom and bathroom. On the first floor is the formal dining room, with views of Waddington Fells, and a second sitting room with wood floor and a fireplace. The other two bedrooms, plus two bathrooms, are also on the first floor. Garage, gardens and a patio of Victorian-style flagstones. Price £285,000. Entwhistle Green, on 01772 785431.