What You Get for ... $2.5 Million

WHAT: A former plantation, with a five-bedroom main house, two guesthouses and outbuildings

HOW MUCH: $2,500,000

SIZE: 5,138 square feet (in the main house)

PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT: $486.57

SETTING: Bracketed by a country road on one side and the Staunton River on the other, this 825-acre property is near the edge of Brookneal, a rural town of about 1,100 residents in south-central Virginia, an hour from Lynchburg. Neighbors are large-lot country estates and agricultural land. The house next door, for example, is on more than 1,000 acres; nearby properties produce cheese and wine. In the river, one can fish, swim, kayak and canoe. Basic shopping can be done in Brookneal; Lynchburg, a city of over 75,000, is the area’s commercial center. Charlottesville and Richmond, the state’s capitol, are two hours away.

INDOORS: The oldest part of the two-story main house was built in the late 18th century, while its front section, including a majestic horseshoe staircase in the entry hall, was added in the mid-19th century. The interior details are original, including heart-pine floors, brick fireplaces and mantels, and molding. The kitchen and bathrooms were last updated in the 1970s. Nearly all downstairs common areas have fireplaces, including the formal dining room, the living room, the family room, the study and the sun porch. The dining room has a detailed ceiling medallion. One bedroom is in an attached structure with arched stained-glass windows, used in the past as a schoolhouse and a church. The other bedrooms are upstairs. The master has an en-suite bathroom.

Several outbuildings dot the land, including the original pump house and smokehouse, now both used for storage. One of the two guesthouses was built by the current owners; the other is in what was the summer kitchen, with a large fireplace once used for cooking. Another house, used as a rental, is elsewhere on the property.

OUTDOOR SPACE: 360 acres of the property are cleared, while the rest is wooded, with mixed hardwoods and pine trees. An orchard near the main house has cherry and fig trees; there are also strawberry beds and a grape arbor.

TAXES: $7,855

CONTACT: Frank Hardy, Frank Hardy Realtors, (434) 296-0134; frankhardyinc.com

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, COLO.

WHAT: A four-bedroom midcentury modern with four bathrooms, and a guesthouse

HOW MUCH: $2,500,000

SIZE: 4,949 square feet in the main house and approximately 1,000 square feet in the guesthouse

PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT: $420.24

SETTING: This house is in Cherry Hills Village, a residential community 12 miles from downtown Denver. The village developed during the later part of the 19th century. Some of its oldest houses, including Tudors from the 1930s and 1940s, stand next to large, newer single-family houses on large lots. Schools are a big draw to Cherry Creek Village: in 2012, 15 received awards for academic excellence from the state. (The private Kent Denver School, a highly regarded 6-12 program, is nearby.) This house abuts a popular biking-and-pedestrian path running alongside the High Line Canal, a trail cutting through several suburbs with small pocket parks along the way.

INDOORS: The house, a single-level midcentury modern with views of Mount Evans, was designed by Steele Wotkyns and built in 1962. Primarily cinder block, it has tongue-in-groove wood-beam ceilings and walls of windows facing old-growth cottonwoods and pasture. The foyer has polished flagstone floors, a small Moorish-style pool under skylights and a live bougainvillea tree. The long living room has floor-to-ceiling windows and a six-foot-wide fireplace; according to the listing agent, the original owner had jokingly requested something “big enough to lie down in.” The galley kitchen has sliding glass doors and an 180-degree view facing west. A butler’s pantry (with additional cooktop) and a wet bar are off the kitchen, as is a dining nook added in the 1970s.

Three bedrooms form a wing of the house. One, used as an office, faces a pebbled garden with a crab apple tree. This wing includes a recreation room and a family room with a built-in desk and shelves. The master suite, off the foyer, has southern exposure, a wood-burning fireplace, a sitting area and sliding-glass doors opening to the pool. The guesthouse has an office with a gas fireplace and built-in bench seats; its bedroom has a wood-burning fireplace.