Home: Combermere Rd, London SW

9A hatch in the sitting room floor opens into a cellar which usefully expands the floorspace of this one-bedroom flat. Every spare inch counts for it’s a dainty slice of Brixton with only a kitchenette off the narrow living area. But the 428 sq ft are bright and smart and a 10-minute walk from the tube. £400,000 Wooster & Stock 020 7952 0590

Away: Montecatini val di Cecina, Tuscany, Italy

An escape route leads from the cellars of this restored 1,000-year-old tower under enemy feet to a safe spot 500m outside the town. Within three-metre thick walls are small but dramatic rooms with vaulted stone or elaborately beamed ceilings, exposed stone rooms and bombastic fireplaces. A roof terrace above the two bedrooms surveys a swathe of Tuscany. £326,343 Athena Immobiliare 00 39 0586 682722

Away: near Samer, Normandy, France

Locals sheltered in the cellars of this fortified 16th century manor during the second world war, while arrow slits in the two towers protected against offensives in previous centuries. Four of the six bedrooms are en suites and there’s a three-bedroom gite and a lake in the large gardens. £579,000 Leggett 08700 11 51 51

Home: Old Harwich, Essex

Two families could occupy this eight-bedroom seafront house built in 1820 by a captain and Napoleonic war spy. The tallest building in town, it’s larger than life inside with two 40ft-tall staircases, ceilings up to 10 feet high, vastly proportioned rooms overlooking the North Sea and barrel vaulted cellars extending under the road. The windowed basement rooms could be harnessed as extra accommodation. The only small thing about it is the garden. £675,000 Fenn Wright 0121 659 7934

Home: Ormond Rd, Richmond, Surrey

The fan-vaulted cellar predates the 1697 house above it. From it a tunnel, now blocked, led to the Thames. The slab used to clean fish from the river is still in place. Upstairs, panelled walls, shuttered windows and ornate fireplaces grace most of the rooms, including the palatial bathroom. Window seats and a verandah overlook a garden of olives, grapes and figs. £2.48m Featherstone Leigh 020 8940 1575