If you don't believe them, just study the estate agents' windows in Cornwall. You will see cliff-top homes at prices only multi-millionaires can afford, while similar properties inland are reasonably priced.
No house is better placed than Llawnroc, standing just above the cliff path overlooking Porthcothan Bay, a classic Cornish cove that is long and funnel-shaped so that the Atlantic rushes up at high tide, making it excellent for surfing. Popular with holidaymakers, limited car parking ensures it never becomes overcrowded. Shops are limited to the friendly Porthcothan Bay Stores, but St Merryn, two miles away, has pubs, a bistro and food outlets.
Admittedly the apartments are some distance from amenities – Bishopston or Mumbles, the nearest villages, are a few miles away. That doesn't mean that Caswell locals lack a social life. It is a favourite spot for surfers and dog lovers. Dogs are banned from the beach in the summer months, and when they are allowed back in September there's a very jolly reunion of the owners in the Surfside café.
Today you could spend £8million on a beach-front mansion. Harry Redknapp made a cool £4million profit on his place over the 14 years he lived here. The attraction, of course, is the sea and harbour views. Curiously, today there is an apartment for sale overlooking the harbour at a more manageable £350,000. It may not have the designer comforts of the mansions along the beach. But it has exactly the same views.
Mount Anvil, Newham, East London Views from a balcony of an apartment at the Queens Cross development and, below, the living room How to build a new house that matches the beauty of a UNESCO World Heritage Site? That was the problem faced by the owners of the Keld, a Scandinavian-inspired new home at the northern head of Coniston Water. The first priority was to celebrate the view: the Keld nestles in ancient woodland, with Coniston Water glistening below and the Old Man of Coniston, Wetherlam and Holme Fell forming a backdrop.
On the market: The Mount is a detached period home with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. It is for sale with Humberts .It's often assumed that you have to trek up to Scotland, The Lake District or North Wales to experience breath-taking scenery, untouched by the developers. Yet just four miles from Tewkesbury and ten from Cheltenham there is a cottage for sale where it's not just estate agent flannel to say you will be at one with nature.
Northumberland has some outstanding countryside and none is more dramatic than that near Throngrafton House, Bardon Mill. In the immediate vicinity the house has its own paddocks and ancient woodland. In the background there is a glorious expanse of open countryside leading to the North Tyne Valley and Beltingham, frequently visited by the late Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. Thorngrafton House is a classic Georgian farmhouse with bright, well-proportioned reception rooms.
A harbour scene, a seascape or snow-capped mountains all make eye-catching pictures but when you capture the three of them in one shot then you have something special. Yet that is the view from Compass Cottage, Abersoch, North Wales. From the house itself you overlook the harbour and the clear waters of Cardigan Bay, leading on to the green of Llanbedrog Headland with the mighty peaks of Snowdonia in the background.