Away: Turenne, Limousin, France

Turenne, which is 10 minutes from Brive airport, reckons itself one of the most beautiful villages in France, and this has to be one of its most striking houses. Built around a stone staircase which spirals up, it and the rooms are dramatically beamed with a huge stone hearth in the living room. The attic could be converted into extra bedrooms if two is a squeeze and you could turn the cellars into a games room. Price: €222,600. Leggett, 0870 011 5151

Home: Steyning, West Sussex

An octagonal water tower across more than three acres, it was built to serve a private estate by Maxwell Ayrton, who is thought to have designed the towers for the original Wembley stadium. It now provides a circular kitchen, bedroom and top-floor living room with 360 degree views. A mobile home will absorb excess family while you revive lapsed planning permission to extend. The novelty may wear thin when you have to commute to the loo on rainy nights down the external helter skelter staircase. Price: offers over £1.25m. Peter Hughes Country Property, 01798 344554

Away: Ibiza, Spain

Every window in this clifftop house overlooks the Mediterranean. Three of the bedrooms are in the circular tower, which opens on to terraces above the vista, and there’s a separate guest apartment. The swimming pool encased in rock will compensate for the fact that it’s a schlepp down the cliff to the sea. Price: £3.12m Sothebys International Realty, 00 34 971 310 79934

Home: Aldeburgh, Suffolk

You can enjoy a fully rounded lifestyle in this former mill on the shore. A circular kitchen on the ground floor of the central tower leads up to four storeys, each containing a circular bedroom – the uppermost of which opens on to a balcony with the best views in town over sea and marsh. More conventionally shaped is the dramatically vaulted drawing room. If you have the funds to restore the adjoining gun tower you can expand the accommodation. The downside is the whole place needs an expensive overhaul. Price: £1.2m Flick & Son, 01728 452469

Away: Treia, Marche, Italy

The 18th-century architect wanted this to masquerade as a medieval tower hill beyond the ancient walls of Treia. The property and its outbuildings need to be restored before you can move in and will provide you with 250 square metres of living space, including a 30 square metre terrace with a panorama over the countryside. It sits on its own hill surrounded by a hectare of olive trees, a walk from town and 20 minutes drive from the sea. Price: £295,000.Cella-Shirley Immobiliare, 00 39 0736 859044