The townhouse

This five-storey Gothic Revival house is just off Ramsgate’s bustling high street, and seconds from the historic Royal Harbour. The three-bedroom home retains many original features, including dark, richly stained floorboards, sash windows, and one of the last remaining timber-framed facades in the area. The train station is a 20-minute walk, with services to London St Pancras in 75 minutes. £460,000.

The great escape

The Khao Yai resort in Thailand isn’t your average InterContinental, says Messy Nessy. Set among thick jungle and fruit orchards, the railway-themed hotel consists of train carriages that have been converted into luxury accommodation. The (admittedly narrow) suites feature upmarket versions of the futon-style beds you find in sleeper trains; guests take their meals in the dining car and afternoon refreshments in the tea carriage. A moss-covered railway track cuts through the middle of the property, past an airy lobby styled on a classic Thai railway station. Book your stay here.

Tomorrow’s world

A flying car first sketched on the back of a Silicon Valley napkin in 2015 made its debut at the Detroit Auto Show last month, says Robb Report. Built by California startup Alef Aeronautics, the Model A has a body made from lightweight carbon fibre mesh that conceals eight propellors, each with its own computer-controlled electric engine. The vehicle – which can drive on the road and take off vertically – is aimed at the general public, with an expected price of around $300,000. “I can teach you how to fly and drive this in about 15 minutes or less,” says Alef founder Jim Dukhovny. “If you can tell the difference between the right, left, up, down, front and back, you can do this. It’s pretty much the only controls it has.”

Property

THE MILL This Grade-II listed former flour mill is in the hills just outside the picturesque village of Lympstone in Devon. It has five bedrooms, high ceilings, excellent light throughout, and a reception room overlooking the garden and mill pond. There is also a separate one-bedroom flat on the top floor of the original wheelhouse. The mill itself hasn’t been operational since 1950, but it has the potential to be used again to generate electricity. Lympstone railway station, with direct services to London Paddington, is a 10-minute walk; Exeter city centre is a 10-minute drive. £1.5m.

From the archives

When the Norwegian Jon Fosse was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature yesterday, the prolific novelist, short story writer and playwright earnestly described himself as “overwhelmed, and somewhat frightened”. When English novelist Doris Lessing heard she had won the same award in 2007, her reaction was less effusive. See the full video here.