What does £2 million buy you in today's property market?
If you're looking in London, the answer is 'not very much'. You'll get a great location, of course, but other than that it's likely to be... well, a little modest, as this house in Little Venice shows.
If your first reaction is that it might need a little updating, this picture of the bathroom will confirm:
Look further afield — Dorset, for example — and you'll immediately get an awful lot more, as this lovely five-bedroom country house in Canford Magna demonstrates.
It's a Georgian pile that is as pretty inside as it is outside.
The hitch here is a relative lack of space. The 1.25 acres of garden which come with this home are very pretty, but you'll still be able to roam from boundary to boundary in seconds rather than minutes — or even hours.
No, for something which offers space on a truly grand scale you'll need to look elsewhere. And that's what brings us to Pait and West Monar, a Scottish estate which has come up for sale via Strutt & Parker with the same £2m price tag.
This traditional sporting estate doesn't come with 15 acres, or even 150. It's a staggering 15,000 acres of land for sale which spread across a huge swathe of some of the most spectacular countryside in Britain. And therefore also the world.
It really is a quite astonishing opportunity to own land which offers deer stalking, grouse shooting, pike fishing and acres of forest stretching for mile after mile. 23 square miles of crags, lochs and woodland is included, plus five peaks that are tall enough to be among the Munros.
The highest of them, An Riabhachan, is the 30th highest peak in Scotland.
Though the land is the biggest draw here, there are several properties included as well, the grandest of which is Pait Lodge. It's a wonderfully-charismatic 19th century house largely untouched by the passage of time — indeed, it only had electricity installed two years ago.
It's a big house, though, with three main reception rooms and a total of eight bedrooms, and plus all manner of character touches such as wood panelling and an oil-fired Aga in the kitchen.
It should also be fairly cheap to run. There are solar panels and a battery system for storing the sun's power, while water comes from what the agents call 'a private supply', which presumably means it's taken from a nearby stream and filtered on site.
There are various other cottages and buildings across the estate, but charming as they are the real draw here is the space to roam in miles of Highland beauty in an area that sits half-way between Inverness and the west coast.
We've not even talked about the possibilities of making money from the estate, but hunting, fishing, forestry and hydro-electric power are all possibilities, not to mention the obvious tourism potential in an area of such fabulous beauty.
Spectacular Scottish castles and estates for sale
A look at the finest castles, country houses and estates for sale in Scotland today.
A breathtaking West Highlands estate with mountains, forests and lochs to call your own
A magnificent sporting estate, extending to 11,105 acres in total, has come to the market in the West Highlands – and
-
From California to Cornwall: How surfing became a cornerstone of Cornish cultureA new exhibition at Cornwall's National Maritime Museum celebrates a century of surf culture and reveals how the country became a global leader in surf innovation and conservation.
-
18 magnificent homes for sale from £550k to £20 million, as seen in Country LifeFrom a charming thatched cottage to a 300-acre estate with its own vineyard, here's our pick of places to come to the market via Country Life of late.
-
18 magnificent homes for sale from £550k to £20 million, as seen in Country LifeFrom a charming thatched cottage to a 300-acre estate with its own vineyard, here's our pick of places to come to the market via Country Life of late.
-
If heaven is on earth, it might be in this home with a converted chapel that is now a swimming pool5 Wood Barton Town House is part of an exclusive 80-acre development in Devon that also comes with fishing rights on the River Avon and four bedrooms.
-
The sounds of spring and stained glass in an Arts-and-Crafts masterpiece in DorsetWith 35 acres, more than 10 bedrooms, a swimming pool and tennis court, Winterfield has it all.
-
An eight-bedroom wonder in East Sussex where the outdoors are an adventureThe interiors of Old Middleton are pretty good too.
-
A lakeside farmhouse on the market in the beautiful heart of PembrokeshireA lake, streams, 15 acres and five bedrooms. Rogershook might have it all.
-
An idyllic countryside home that's light, spacious and comes with a Grade II-listed follyHagg House is a gorgeous family home that just happens to have a miniature castle in the gardens. Annabel Dixon explains more.
-
A historic villa for sale on the Via Nomentana worthy of Rome's rich historyThree floors, lots of balconies, and a private garden in one of Rome's loveliest neighbourhoods.
-
Eight bedrooms of unlisted Edwardian elegance with sweeping views of SomersetAshton House sits near the market town of Chard and comes with a wealth of amenities both inside and out.
