Time to buy a house by the water? The Lakes by Yoo is a holiday home scheme set around a network of six lakes over 650 acres of a former quarry, now turned into a rural park. Some homes are built on stilts over water, with land reclaimed and "filled in" around the piles. In some cases the reclaimed plots are shaped as crescents to allow the homes to have two sides facing the water. Some balconies are cantilevered to make it seem as if you're over the water, or in a boat. We'll see more of this design in future," predicts The Lakes" architect, Wasya Awori. The layout of each house shows new thinking for waterside living. It's a cubist approach. The front of the property is a glass wall wherever possible, so the focus of every room is on the water. The entrance is on the opposite side from the water, making the place quite private despite one wall being glass," says Awori. He says today's best new homes by the water remain eco-friendly, even with an emphasis on glass, thanks to the use of top-quality insulation, including triple glazing. Architects and developers also make doors, windows and "joints" as airtight as possible. There is another reason why developers love building by the water: people are willing to pay hefty premiums to live there. The Lakes" properties, for example, range from £900,000 to £3 million (01367 250066, thelakesbyyoo.com) "Waterside living, whether in London or in the country, forms a central part of aspirational living for many home owners," says Neal Wood of Hamptons International. The estate agency has analysed 4,000 waterside properties to assess price changes over six years. It reports a waterside property typically carries a 17 per cent premium compared to similar homes inland. "Although waterside properties fell between 2008 and 2009 by around five per cent, this was far less than the average for London and the south of England, where values fell by closer to 15 per cent," says Hamptons" head of research, Adam Challis. An indication of the strength of demand for riverside properties is that even in a downturn, riverside schemes continue. In London there is Berkeley Homes" One Tower Bridge. And Rupert Murdoch is selling the 15-acre site of his Wapping printworks to Berkeley Group for redevelopment as waterside flats. In Plymouth, apartments overlooking The Hoe are being built by Devington Homes, while a waterside community is being built by Galion Properties on a derelict naval site. Canals, too, are popular with developers and buyers. The Cube is the latest scheme in Birmingham's Canal Quarter; in Manchester, new apartments near the shabby chic gay quarter around Canal Street are also fetching premium prices. Despite the downturn in recent years, some £5 billion has been spent transforming Glasgow harbour, much of it with gleaming housing schemes. Along Britain's 11,000 miles of coast, areas like Swansea, Cardiff, Southampton, Portsmouth, Liverpool, Exmouth and Newquay have been revitalised with new homes. Back in Gloucestershire, Marcus Harling is set to leave his waterside idyll to move to Monmouth for his children's schooling. He is selling for £1.75 million (01453 751666; hamptons.co.uk). "It's a wrench," he says, "the water has been a big part of my life." To see more waterside properties for sale see