Sarah McQuillen finds two graciously proportioned homes- both coming in under the magic £500,000 mark...

THEY say half a million does not buy you much any more. Not so, say Salisbury estate agent McKillop and Gregory, which is selling two graciously proportioned homes - both coming in under the magic £500,000 mark.

Great Bathampton Cottage, in Wylye, dates from the 18th Century and was originally four cottages belonging to the Bathampton Estate.

It has been sympathetically converted into an extremely generous-sized five bedroom home with study, cloakroom, utility room, en suite bathroom and Nordic sauna.

The sitting room boasts a marble fireplace and French doors leading to a 15ft conservatory.

There is a wrought iron spiral staircase leading to the first floor landing, which features a handy walk-in airing cupboard.

Built of attractive mellow brick, the cottage has a view of fields to the rear and a pretty, well-stocked cottage garden, which completely surrounds the accommodation and leads down to a sloping fenced paddock.

Great Bathampton Cottage is on the market at £495,000.

If you need slightly less indoor accommodation, but do not want to miss out on the pleasure of fine grounds, Watergate, near Winterbourne Earls, is attractively priced at £395,000.

The four bedroom home is modern, dating from the 1970s, but is unusually well designed in an Edwardian style.

Quietly situated in a no through road in the hamlet of Hurdcott, it would be a dream home for a nature lover.

As well as a generous front lawn with established beds of roses, there is a southfacing rear lawn, leading down to a tributary of the River Bourne.

The garden is large, fully stocked with shrubs and bushes and has a mature yew tree.

Beyond, the house looks out onto open woodland.

Both houses can be viewed by appointment with McKillop and Gregory on 01722 414747.