Here we go again, brace yourselves for our round-up of the top 10 most interesting properties on Primelocation this week!

1. RIBA award winning home

2. Church

3. Huguenot house

4. Contemporary home

5. St Paul’s Studios

6. Water mill

7. Norman Foster building

8. Grand Designs curved house

9. Georgian townhouse

10. Tower

Love it or loathe it, the X-Factor has taken hold of the property blogosphere this week.

Over at Brickwork, the Hound has been hot on the trail of the luxury house where the contestants are holed up and can reveal – presumably with an urgent Lassie-like bark – that it’s in NW11 (Golders Green).

We would, we have to say, be more impressed by this feat of detection if the place wasn’t besieged by an army of hormonally crazed teens, but credit where credit is due, the canny canine has come up with lots of interesting info about the place – including its glitzy price tag (£6.25m).

Marrakesh rental: £47,000 per week

The Rat and Mouse is less in thrall to the Cowell carnival and is happy to point out, via The Telegraph, that the glamorous judges’ houses in Marrakesh and Lake Como are actually rentals – though with price tags of £10,000-£100,000 per week, they’re not your average short let.

Expensive rentals with celebrity associations are also on the radar over at FindaProperty.com’s Winging It where they’ve been taking a look around the  astonishing High Tech apartment that featured in The Verve’s ‘Lucky Man’ video.

For true celebrity excess, however, look no further than the Realestalker’s update on Nick Cage’s efforts to slim down a heavily bloated property portfolio.

Cage, it seems, is struggling to sell a private island in the Bahamas, a Bavarian castle, a Las Vegas mansion, several historic houses in New Orleans and a vast Rhode Island estate.

Someone, please, send that man Simon Cowell’s number.

From the outside it looks rather conventional – an L-shaped two-storey house with a stone chimney and a traditional slate roof.

There are only two external details that hint at something a bit different: the extensive floor-to-ceiling glazing and the use of an ambitious platform that makes the house look as if it’s floating over the adjacent loch.

Inside it’s a different matter – stunning open-plan double-height interior spaces, a dramatic cantilevered glass staircase, acres of beautiful walnut flooring, magnificent views over the loch, and fixtures and fittings of the very highest quality.

Stillwater, as the owners named this house, was one of the most impressive properties to feature on Channel 4′s Grand Designs.

It’s located in Killearn, Stirling, in Scotland and is on the market via Savills. Offers in excess of £1,900,000.

We’re spoilt for choice on Primelocation.com when it comes to interesting, unusual and downright spectacular properties, so what better way to while away a Friday afternoon than picking our favourites.

And here they are: our pick of ten of the most interesting properties on the site this week.

1. Capability Brown parkland

2. Old smokehouse

3. 18th-century folly

4. Art deco home

5. Castle

6. A modern masterpiece in Covent Garden

7. The former home of the Saatchi Gallery

8. Unique design

9. Panoramic Sandbanks views

10. Richard Harding Watt Italianate villa

Try as I might, I can’t pretend that it’s warm any more. There’s nothing fun about denial when you’re shivering on your sofa as you try to watch TV.

The weather has turned, so it’s high time we turned on the heating and cosied up by the fire.

Unfortunately, most modern houses don’t have the wonderful open fireplaces that making cuddling up by the fire all the more fun. If there was ever a way to add a traditional style to a home, an open fireplace is the way to do it.

So let’s have a look at some countryside homes with the added benefit of the wonderful open fireplace.

Cornwall – £3,750,000
This stunning six-bedroom house has fireplaces – plural.

It dates back to 1740 and still has the original sash windows (don’t worry, they’ve been well looked after and restored). Overlooking the River Fowley, it has the added bonus of a separate cottage.

There’s a swimming pool in the landscaped gardens so when the weather gets a bit brighter you can go for a swim. The perfect country home.

Lancashire – £1,695,000
The wonderfully named “Jellystone Farm” sounds like it should be in a Disney cartoon. Instead, it lies on the border of The Peak District National Park.

It has six bedrooms and the house itself stands in ten acres of grounds so you certainly won’t be short of space!

This is a great place for entertaining – there are four ovens in the kitchen.

There are actually two open fireplaces in this home too – in the living room and dining areas.

Considering this home is only 13 miles away from Manchester, it’s a complete dream.

Kent – £2,950,000
OK, this Kent property does indeed have an open fireplace, but if I’m honest, the thing that attracted me to it was the cinema. A cinema? In a traditionally styled home? That’s the ideal home to me.

It’s a perfect mix of modern and original. It has leaded windows and oak beams, but the very best appliances.

This home has been thought about and designed with the very best in mind. The apple trees and and tennis court are just the icing on the cake.

 
Winter doesn’t seem so bad now, does it?