- Apr 6, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 26, 2025
Homes That Tempt: A Look at the Market’s Best
5th April 2025
This is the second time we’ve run this feature, which, by my reckoning, makes it a tradition—at least until I decide it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Still, there’s something oddly reassuring about scrolling through wildly expensive houses and thinking, “Oh dear, they’ve really mucked that one up.” Which happens with surprising regularity.
One does start to wonder why there aren’t more rules, not the sensible, structural sort, but aesthetic ones. I’m sure they exist in theory, buried somewhere in planning documents no one reads, but they never seem to stand in the way of a bad dormer or an overly ambitious extension. Still, I’m sure the homeowners of the future will be grateful for their flat walls, spotlighted ceilings, and faux-Crittall doors.
The homes featured here are, admittedly, all expensive. The budget runs from £500k to whatever your heart, or mortgage broker, can tolerate. That said, anything north of £5 million rarely captures my imagination. There’s something about those houses, vast expanses of wall, terrifying quantities of roof, that, even with my imagination hat firmly on, feel too much for my shoulders to bear.
Once upon a time, I imagined dedicating my life to a great house. A long project. A bit of noble decay. But the one I’ve got in Shepherd’s Bush keeps me plenty occupied, thank you. The idea of anything larger feels less like a dream and more like a shadowy money pit.
So here are the 20 houses that float my boat, turn my head, and generally do whatever it is that a good house does to us.
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