A rare find: modern flats and townhouses in Fulham's High Street are well-located for park walks and Tube links

Most of Fulham was market gardens until 1880 but with completion of the District line an enormous tide of development brought street after street of Victorian terraces to the area, many of them quite modest.

A century or so later, the same houses were gutted and extended by a new generation of cost-conscious young gentrifiers, but often these homes fail to excite today's buyers who want modern townhouses with light-filled, open-plan space and daring design elements.

Bishops Gate, a courtyard scheme of 42 flats and 10 townhouses set behind a pair of restored historic gate lodges — one a concierge reception — ticks these boxes, saving buyers the bother of having to gut and reconfigure an older property.

The development has been resourcefully built on the site of a former warehouse and TA training ground in Fulham High Street and has a mews-like quality, melding traditional materials such as mellow brick with crisp, contemporary design finishes including gunmetal grey aluminium window frames and glass walls.

Houses boast underfloor heating throughout, comfort cooling and a clean air ventilation system. With secure parking and close proximity to the Thames, lovely Bishops Park, Putney Bridge Tube station and the boutiques of Parsons Green, the package of pluses overcomes Fulham's traditional negatives of sparse public transport and cramped parking. Houses from £2,225,000, with flats from £725,000. Call Meyer Homes on 020 7751 3444.