Escape to the Chateau (2016–2019): Season 2, Episode 2 - Fishing, Foraging and an Elevator - full transcript
The couple make business plans for the grounds, including charging people to fish in the moat and forage in the woods. Angel starts work on a second guest suite but her plan to install an elevator tests Dick's engineering skills.
(light music)
- [Narrator] Like many Brits,
engineer Dick Strawbridge
and his wife, Designer Angel,
had dreams of living in France.
But where most
people might settle
for a modest little bolthole
the couple fell under the spell
of a fairy tale chateau.
- Oh, wow.
- Wow, oh, look at that.
- Well, I think we should
put an offer in now.
(laughter)
- This is truly beautiful.
- [Narrator] What's more,
they could afford it.
The chateau with it's
45 rooms, 12 acres,
seven outbuildings
and even a moat,
came with an
irresistible price tag
of just 280 thousand pounds.
- Thank you, very much indeed.
- Congratulations.
- [Narrator] Then
reality set in.
- Turn, turn, turn, turn it.
Wow.
- [Narrator] What they bought
was a derelict monument
to a forgotten era of
grand country house living.
- Look at the sewerage, look
at the electrics in here.
You look at the lead paint.
200 plus pages of reasons
not to buy a house.
- [Narrator] They
only had a fraction
of the money they
needed to do it up.
Reviving the chateau
has taken more courage
and more graft than they
ever thought possible.
- What's coming off
here is all the lead.
It's going into my bucket.
- [Narrator] But they persevered
and turned it into a home.
- Cheers, darling.
- Cheers.
Wow.
- [Narrator] Now 20 months on,
they're facing the biggest
challenge of their lives.
Just how can they afford to
keep their French dream alive?
(upbeat instrumental music)
It's autumn at the Château
de la Motte-Husson.
With no more weddings
planned until next year,
Dick and Angel can turn
their attention back
to their family.
- Oh, wow, you're gonna
be as big as that,
that's ridiculous.
- [Narrator] Home,
gardens
and animals.
- Chuckies, chuck,
chuck chuckies.
What happens when a cockerel
finds food, he goes (clucks)
and he calls the hens across.
So when I come out
to the chickens,
I got food I go (clucks).
Well that's actually
me just being
a noisy cockerel calling them.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Just
over a year ago,
the chateau's
cockerel was so small
that he spent his
days being henpecked.
- Slight problem, from
been a little runt
that I wasn't even
sure was a cockerel,
he's got so big now
he's damaging the
backs of the hens.
I'm afraid he's destined
for the pot, bless him.
It's quite sad.
That's a meal for the family.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Back inside,
Dick and Angel are trying
to work out if
they've made a profit
on the first big paying
event at their chateau.
A wedding with 80 guests.
- [Dick] The wedding,
the receipts.
Cost now what was the big cost?
- Booze (laughs).
Labor, booze, food.
I think we made money.
- [Dick ] Well we
did, but we spent it.
- Yeah,
but I spent it. (laughs)
- But we have got things now,
like the 100 umbrellas
in case it rained,
we got all the quoi matting
in case it gets foggy.
You know what I've said enough.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] As Angel
has spent the profit
from the wedding on
equipment and facilities,
funding for the chateaus
renovations need
to come from elsewhere.
Their latest project is
a second guest suite,
by doubling the
accommodation they hope
to generate more income.
Unfortunately for
Steve, the builder
and possible future guests,
the rooms are situated
at the top of a
73 step staircase
on the second floor.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- Right.
I'm gonna plaster board
that, plaster board them.
(sighs) And then just
get around there.
- [Narrator] With limited funds,
Dick and Angel have to decide
what their priorities are.
- [Dick] What about
the family satellite?
We'll have a honeymoon.
- (laughs) I don't
think we can afford
to go on a honeymoon yet.
I've got an idea that (laughs),
I don't wanna say it because
you're gonna think it's crazy.
Are we looking at vintage lifts?
Just because every time I
go up and down the stairs,
I'm knackered,
if I'm working up on --
- Bup bup, bup, bup, bup.
Don't even go there.
Hold on.
- (laughs)
At least listen
before you say no.
- No.
- Before you say no.
No, before you say no.
- I would have to say
that's (beep) ridiculous.
- It's not ridiculous,
it's not ridiculous.
- It is ridiculous.
- I've looked,
I've looked
- Vintage lifts.
- [Angel] Anyone that
has troubles with
stairs can enjoy it.
- That's the fact of
life of our chateau,
our chateau has
got ninety steps.
I'm getting a head ache.
- (laughs)
- Where're you gonna stick it?
- It's expensive.
In a tower.
- In a tower.
We got two towers,
that ones used so
this one tower.
- This one, this one, exactly.
- If you put a
vintage lift there,
if you get one that fitted.
The whole mechanism of the lift
and all the rest of the stuff
that has to go in there.
Heavy, big --
- Okay yeah, but I'm allowed
to have a little look at
lift candy, aren't I ?
- No, no, no, no.
Forget vintage, loose
the word vintage lift
because the engineering
behind that's too difficult.
There might be a
modern lift that's --
- Come on, you can build
something (chuckles).
- (sigh) I can't even
believe I'm gonna say this.
It's a hell of an investment
but it opens up the chateau.
- Exactly, that's exactly --
- Don't say exactly,
I don't believe I'm
working with you yet.
- (mumbles) kissing
doesn't work.
A kiss doesn't get you lift.
- It does.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Angel may have
to wait a while for her lift
but the creation of
the new second floor guest
suite is definitely going ahead.
- [Angel] (beep) those
stairs kill me still.
Listen to my idea.
- [Narrator] Before work
gets to advance though.
- Don't say no yet,
don't say no yet.
- [Narrator] Angel
wants to ensure
that there's an agreement
about what goes where,
including the position of a
second hand, 140 kilogram,
cast iron bath.
- The bath, I'm really
sure fits in just here.
And then they just sit
and look you've
got the whole sky.
I haven't measured it before
but I did it with my arm
and I'm really sure it fits.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Dick] 1660, do a
double check on the bath.
Oh, dammit 1660.
- [Angel] Right.
- It's exactly that size,
there's nothing to spare.
- I was looking at my strong,
handsome husband (laughs).
We're stuck.
- [Dick] Can you push
it round that way?
Back to the door.
She's in the bath.
- This is just lovely.
- It's not the statement
bath that I was expecting,
it's a bath uncovered.
- Okay.
I just remembered I
had one more option.
Having the bath in there
and the bed over there,
it's really quick one to do.
- Right.
- Yeah so.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Angel] This is a
really important decision.
- Where're we putting that?
- In the middle here.
- In the middle of the ground?
- Yeah.
- Okay,
there's gonna be
pipes coming from it.
- Okay.
- Okay,
because you don't think it's
gonna just sit in the middle
and be sort of magically there
with the pipes around it.
- No, I don't think it'll
be magically around it.
- No, that's what you do.
You understand why I'm
saying that though?
- Yeah, I am seasoned
enough now to know that --
- You're so full of (beep).
- That's not true.
- You just have this vision in
your mind and wave your arms.
The doors going on
to, that's not nice.
- That's not nice.
Let's put this back.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- If you're happy
with the look of that.
- Let me just have
a couple of hours
to sort of mull it over.
- [Narrator] When Dick and
Angel bought the chateau,
they also inherited
a two acre moat.
One of their business ideas
is to offer fishing weekends.
A castle once stood on
this site 800 years ago,
so there's a good chance there's
more than fish down there.
So to find out
whether he could hold
treasure hunting expeditions,
Dick has enlisted the
help of his old friend,
Johnny Littlefield,
to investigate.
- If you get a suit of armor
fella, I'll do a back flip
into the water.
(laughter)
- [Narrator] Their equipment,
two powerful magnets to
haul up the hidden treasure.
- Look at that you've
gone into the quagmire.
- [Dick] The primordial ooze.
- [Johnny] It's mud suck.
- [Narrator] Well,
maybe not this time.
- We'd need to definitely
be on the water doing this.
This is a Canadian
canoe sort of --
- [Johnny] What the hell
is a Canadian canoe?
- Two people sit in the canoe.
- I know what a canoe is
but what's a Canadian canoe?
- What do you call it?
- A canoe.
- Doing this is
really quite exciting,
I've never actually
been on this water.
- [Johnny] Congratulations sir.
Your maiden voyage.
- You wanna step on
board there fella.
The water looks like you
do not want to fall in it.
There's no poo in there anymore.
- [Johnny] What?
- That looks really
stable, Johnny.
- (laughs)
- Okay, don't move, Johnny.
I am actually
now in.
Don't wobble.
- I'm not wobbling.
- You have to keep your center
of gravity forward a bit.
- Yoga my way through this.
- Don't come back,
don't come back.
- Hold on.
- We're moving mate,
don't come back.
Stay forward, stay forward.
Are you on?
- I'm staying --
- Are you on?
- I'm good.
Let's just go (laughs).
- Right, hope you've
put paddle in,
paddle in the water.
Cold, cold, cold water.
Don't wobble, you're wobbly.
- I'm not wobbly.
- Just you chill I'll
jays through this.
- What is to jays through it?
- It's how you actually
puddle a canoe mate,
don't you worry I've
done this before.
- It sounds sexual.
(laughter)
- Hold it there, hold
it there for a second.
Wait a minute, I'm
gonna put it in.
- Who you splashing?
- I'm splashing you.
- Don't start that --
- Stop wobbling.
- We're both up together.
- You wobbled.
- I will put you in the water.
- (laughs)
(cheerful instrumental music)
(cheeky instrumental music)
- [Narrator] In an intrepid
search for treasure,
Dick and his friend
Johnny Littlefield,
are going magnet fishing
on the chateau moat.
- This whole thing is a
good old military obstacle.
When this was built the idea was
that you come in
here on your horse,
in your armor or whatever it is.
And if you've actually got 100
pounds weight of armor on you
and you fall into this,
it's enough to drown you.
But do you know what's
really surprising,
that's how deep it is here.
(laughter)
- Whoa, stop, stop, stop.
I got something man.
There's a difference between
that feeling of
snagged on a rock
and an actual metal,
you can feel it.
- [Dick] That's a
very old, little tack.
The system works.
- [Johnny] It works.
- [Dick] Treasure
Johnny, treasure Johnny.
- It is treasure.
It keeps us going.
That little --
(laughter)
- It does?
It's optimism
of treasure hunters.
- Absolutely.
But how old do
you think that is?
- [Dick] Oh, two weeks.
(laughter)
- [Narrator] It looks like
treasure hunting trips
on the moat aren't going to be
a roaring success after all.
If Dick's going to make
money out of the water,
he's just going to
have to think again.
Up on the second
floor of the chateau,
Angel's about to re-enamel the
guests suites cast iron bath
but there's a slight
language problem.
- The instructions are
in French on this but
there is pictures by the
side of it (chuckles).
And it kinda says five minutes,
two minutes, five minutes.
So I'm not sure
what lases means,
I'm assuming that's
gonna mean wait.
- [Narrator] Hoping lases
does actually mean wait,
Angel leaves the room enameling
paint to sit for a while.
Next door,
Steve the builder
and his wife Denise
are working hard
decorating the bathroom
of the two bedroom suite.
The transformations
coming on well
but at the moment Angel's
mind is elsewhere.
We do need to lift.
Dick's hips are not
great or he's knees.
He played rugby in the army
and most rugby
players will tell you
that their joints are
not what they used to be.
I think Dick's suffering with it
and he'll never say but
I have seen him in pain
which makes me quite sad.
- [Narrator] It's 6:30pm
and time for Dorothy and
Arthur to head to bed.
But as Angel's finally decided
the position of the bath,
Dick's keen to crack
on with the pipe work.
- The bath going at
the end of the bed.
The waste pipes gonna have
to come under the bed,
go through this
wall, so typical.
This I believe to be the
start of the chimney breast.
So we can't take it through the
brick of the chimney breast,
we're gonna have to
take it through there.
But if I take it through there,
there'll be a pipe at
the side of the bed.
Well it's never easy.
Decision made.
(hammer pounds)
The days are never
quite long enough.
So (chuckles)
Angela's downstairs
putting the children to bed.
This is a lullaby of
lump hammer (laughs).
(hammer pounds)
- It's daddy, bom, bom, bom.
- Bom, bom.
(drill drills)
- When you do a job like this,
just
remind you
that the house is built
to last (chuckles).
(drill drills)
(cheeky instrumental music)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] The idea of
installing a lift in the chateau
has been percolating through
Dick's mind now for a few days.
To encourage future guests,
he's come around to the notion.
All they need to do now
is work out its height.
- Are you gonna drop your
hair down (chuckles)?
Draw through your locks darling.
- Sadly, my mustache
reaches further
than the hair on my
head, (beep) you.
Right, can you hold that on
the top of the window sill?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- [Narrator] As the
lift will be custom made
to fit the chateau tower.
- Okay.
- [Narrator] Accurate
measurements are
absolutely critical.
- Pull up then.
- [Dick] We're going
floor to floor.
- [Angel] Right.
- So if I measure window
sill to window sill.
- [Angel] Right.
- Then we can take away the
numbers we first thought of.
- [Angel] Why?
- 10 meters 90,
so in other words
from the floor here
to your window sill
is exactly 10 meters.
- Okay, I'm letting go
of your hair (laughs).
I'm sorry.
It's really ridiculous why I
find that so funny, bye, bye.
- I'll see in the kitchen.
- [Angel] Bye, bye.
- [Narrator] The chosen design,
a clear, circular elevator,
93 centimeters in diameter
and powered by air.
- Our lift is going
in this tower.
This is to the west
and it's gonna go
from the basement all
the way up the tower.
The lift is actually
in the tube.
This is really simple.
At the top, there's a big fan
and this fan sucks
air out of the tube.
This piece inside,
the compartment,
the module you're in, shoots up.
Our biggest problem is
we have to make sure it stops
at exactly the right place
for each of our floors.
This is a very simple
thing to demonstrate.
Look at this.
This is my tube,
this is my lift capsule.
You need to come
upstairs, Angela.
Yes, Dick.
(air swooshes)
- I just wanna see my
family, one at a time,
going into a trip
to get sucked up.
It's just like Star
Trek, it'll be hilarious.
- [Angel] It's like Willy Wonka.
- So if you think if
we put the circle here,
over against the wall here,
can be exactly as the wall.
- Why can't we have
it in the middle?
- [Dick] In the middle?
- Yeah.
- I would never have
thought about putting
a tube up the middle.
- Really?
- No, no, I would have
put it to one side
so that there's a space here
for a seat or something.
- Why?
- I don't know.
- It'd be nice in the
middle wouldn't it?
It means that I can do something
on all the floors
as well, doesn't it?
Because we got so many
lovely things just in boxes
like for instance all
of the side of stuff.
And I don't even know
what half this stuff is,
sort of like rat cages,
there's loads of like
curiosities.
- You still got
your old nasty things.
- Yeah, exactly but
they're interesting
because they're just part
of the fabric of the place.
Everything we found
on each floor,
we could put in the tower.
Have it as the tower
of curiosities.
I love that.
- [Dick] Curiosities.
- Tower curiosities.
No, you've got to say
the tower of curiosities,
otherwise it doesn't work.
- (laughs) Right.
I'm assuming that
every floor is going
to have joists across a loose,
little insulation
buttons in them.
I'll have to get
an accurate prop.
One of those things
we push the ceiling.
Do you know what?
It might actually be
easier in the middle.
- You see, I come
up with a good idea,
just out of --
- No, no, no, shh.
- I got to be of assistance.
- You're just so
full of twaddle.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] A deposit for
the lift has been paid.
Dick and Angel head
out to celebrate.
- [Dick] This is a well
earned relax, isn't it?
- [Angel] I think the last
time we had a break was
a year ago.
- [Narrator] It's their
first wedding anniversary
and forever keen to mix
business with pleasure,
they're combining the
celebration with research.
- (speaking in a
foreign language)
- (speaking in a
foreign language)
- I'm just loving the mushrooms.
- [Narrator] They're
hoping to get some ideas
for food lovers
weekends that they want
to hold at the chateau.
They want to know what
the Manua du Leese,
a restaurant renowned for
its seasonality serves up
in the autumn.
- Okay, so it (speaking
in a foreign language)
with pistachio and --
- What's this?
- I don't know what that is.
- Mushrooms and apricot,
that shouldn't work (laughs).
That's really nice.
- [Narrator] Autumn
is the height
of the wild mushroom season.
And in France,
foraging for them is
practically a national sport.
- Some of the actual
mushrooms and things
you can tell they've
been foraged,
they don't even hide it, oh.
- I've never had
something like this
and it's lovely and
it looks beautiful.
- [Narrator] The
restaurant creates
a different menu each day,
depending on what their
foragers have found
and what's in season.
- [Dick] There's a carving
knife on this table.
- [Angel] I wonder if they're
carving meat or mushrooms.
- That's very interesting.
- [Narrator] Today Dick
and Angel are being treated
to a trio of wild set mushrooms,
cooked with thyme, bay
leaves and sea salt.
Three distinct flavors
that are expected to
thrill the diners.
- Really thought that we
were gonna get a bit of
that juicy lamb then.
(laughter)
Right.
- Right.
- Should we try and eat the
same mushroom at the same time?
That's a very, very,
very nice mushroom.
- It's really, really tasty.
- [Angel] It's lovely.
- We have those around us.
If we actually pick one of
these around the chateau,
I think we could very easily
do this sort of a dish
at our place.
- Wow.
- Mushrooms.
- [Narrator] The
restaurants foragers
have obviously had a good day,
as Dick and Angel's dessert
is also fungal feast.
Mushroom macaroon topped
off with candy chanterelles
and a trumpet of death
sorbet on the side.
- [Angel] Oh wow, okay.
- This is pretty.
- I'm a little bit
scared, I can't lie.
- [Narrator] For Angel
though it's proving
to be a mushroom too far.
- Oh, I can't eat that,
why it's too crappy.
Well that was disgusting.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] A five course menu,
entirely made up
of wild mushrooms
may not be to everyone's taste
but in foraging fraternities,
it's definitely a la mode.
- [Angel] I found some.
Oh no I haven't, I'm sorry.
- [Narrator] So
a few days later,
Dick and Angel invite
professional mushroom hunter,
Jean Pierre Ruvae
to the chateau.
- (speaking in a
foreign language)
- [Narrator] If their
two acres of woodland
is a foragers fantasy.
- (speaking in a
foreign language)
- [Dick] A mushroom.
- [Narrator] Their
food lovers weekends
would really kick off in style.
- (speaking in a foreign
language) without milk.
- Is it edible?
- No, because the taste is
disagreeable.
- It doesn't taste nice.
- Yeah.
(cheeky music)
- (speaking in a
foreign language).
The smell of (speaking
in a foreign language),
you know (speaking in
a foreign language)?
- No but.
- Rubber.
- (speaking in a
foreign language).
- No, no.
- Oh, okay.
- [Narrator] There are
up to 22,000 know species
of mushrooms, but only around
10% are actually edible.
- Oh wow.
- [Dick] Look at that.
(speaking in a foreign language)
- No taste.
- Okay.
- [Narrator] Whilst less
than 1% are poisonous.
- (speaking in a foreign
language) is a scientific name.
- (speaking in a
foreign language)
- No.
- [Angel] (gasp) Wow.
- Bad taste, bad
taste, bad taste.
Flower is good but the
mushroom is very toxic.
- [Angel] Teas in mushroom.
- No, no.
- Not, not edible.
- [Narrator] After an hour
and a half of hunting,
John Pierre has found
plenty of mushrooms.
- [Angel] Is it edible?
- No, no.
- [Narrator] Unfortunately,
nearly all of them are either
poisonous or tasteless.
- (chuckles) This is
just so demotivating.
How am I meant to just go back
and cook a mushroom dish
with a a basket full
of unedible mushrooms.
- No. (speaking in a
foreign language) like wood.
- [Narrator] Dick and
Angel's bright idea
to forage with their
that food lovers
is fading by the minute.
And their search for
extra income is still on.
- He doesn't get the fact I
just want a big wants to eat.
- (laughs)
- [Narrator] Now the
lift has been ordered,
the Tower of Curiosities
needs to be prepped
for its arrival.
(cheeky instrumental music)
- The lift is definitely coming.
- [Narrator] It
will run 14 meters
from the basement up
to the second floor.
- We've also paid a
deposit (chuckles).
- [Narrator] Every
room in the tower
will have to be cleared
and a hole cut to the floor
on three different levels.
(drill drills)
To say money,
Dick and Angel are going
to do nearly all of the
prep work themselves.
(hammer pounds)
- It's a decent size job.
But then,
when you break it down
and see all the
individual bits of it,
it's a (beep) massive job.
That is a sewage pipe
that's quite horrible.
Because I don't
wanna break down any
of this pipe.
- Yeah.
- Until there's no
toilet above it.
Because if somebody were
to actually --
- Right.
- Just even flush
that upstairs toilet.
- Yeah.
- Water would come
straight into here.
I've gotta go up because.
I've got my plumbing
kits up four floors.
- Oh.
- Right but it's --
- We need a lift.
(cheeky instrumental music)
- [Narrator] While
Dick disconnects the
plumbing upstairs,
Angel stays down in the basement
to start crowbarring the
old pipe work off the wall.
- I've never even
used one of these.
I'm assuming that you
need to use gravity
to kind of lever it off.
I need a proper stepladder,
he's sorta taking a (beep).
Oh yeah, it's coming.
- What's happening?
- Well there's just a
bit of water coming out,
where the sewage pipe is.
- No way.
- [Angel] Yeah.
- Is it sewage or id it water?
Taste it.
- Taste it.
You having a bit of a laugh.
- (laughs).
(upbeat instrumental music)
- Ah, the sewage pipe.
(tiles shatter)
Ah, it dribbling down.
Ah that's gross (laughs).
Ah, it stinks (laughs).
(tiles shatter)
- That's nice.
- (laughs)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator]
Throughout the autumn,
work continues in the
Tower of Curiosities
from the second floor
to the bottom.
The transformation of the new
guest suite is coming along
and Angel.
- [Angel] There we go.
- [Narrator] Has designed
some bespoke tiles
for its bathroom.
- Wanted to do
something with the moat,
divers off going into
lovely swirling waters
but I couldn't quite
get it to work.
But Dick actually sat
there with his notebook,
he said," Why don't we make
the chateaus in this shape,
"in a V shape
"and the divers
going on overside?"
I was like, "You're a genius."
It's going really well.
He's a clever sausage, isn't he?
I've done about 20
and I've got another
50 to go (laughs).
- I've always liked
doing things bespoke,
it's not just
buying off a shelf.
And I think that's equally
my obsession with vintage,
it's something that's
unique, like Dick.
He's so unique, one
of a kind (laughs).
- [Narrator] What
will one day be
the Tower of curiosities has
now been completely cleared.
And Dick's next job
is to cut a lift shaft
through three of its floors.
To help him gauge the
position at the lift,
he's making a wooden
template of the hole.
- I could fit in this (laughs)
that's the the first
worry out of the way.
- [Narrator] The holes
for the lift shaft have
to be perfectly aligned.
To achieve this
Dick and Steve need
to make a bullseye
in the middle.
- First things first,
where's the middle?
This first hole
that takes all the holes
because it has to be
exactly perpendicular,
which means if we're
slightly out here,
look a bit silly on each floor.
- [Narrator] Not just silly,
if the holes aren't
perfectly in line,
the lift simply won't go in
and the manufacturers won't
exactly be sympathetic.
- They're very happy
to blame us (chuckles)
if there's any problems.
- I've got 75.
- I've got 695.
- 700
- 695.
- About 693.
- [Narrator] But
finding the center
of an asymmetric,
19th century tower
is not easy.
- 670.
- 702.
That way it doesn't look.
It's not perfect by any
stretch of imagination, is it?.
- [Stveve] No.
- [Narrator] Eventually
technology comes to their rescue
and a laser marks the spot.
- That is the
right place for it.
Isn't it?
- Yeah.
(drill drills)
- [Narrator] Dick and
Steve decide to commit
and start cutting away
the oak parquet flooring.
- Past the point
of no return.
- No return.
(hammer pounds)
- This was being
built 148 years ago,
started building so best
part of a century and a half.
Well I bet they didn't expect
two ya-who's from England,
(laughs) to be coming
along I'm pulling up all
their French workmanship
(sinister chuckle).
- [Narrator] Down
in the kitchen,
Angel's using wooden blocks
to add an art deco
oriental charm
to the new guest suite mirror.
- I chose the design
on the mirror,
I've given Dick the exact
measurements to the millimeter.
I'm hoping it's gonna
work and if it doesn't,
I've got filler and sandpaper.
So good so far.
I probably pay a
couple of hundred quid
for something like
this, I have to say.
It cost me 25 quid to
(speaker drowned out
by hammer pounding).
Quite the mark up, isn't it?
Darling, we're closing
the chateau down,
we're going into mirror
production (laughs).
Take over the world (chuckles).
(saw grinds)
- [Narrator] On the
ground floor of the tower,
the 19th century wooden
joists are being removed.
- Right you can let go.
- [Narrator] And a 21st
century lift shaft, created.
- I hope that's where
we were supposed to cut.
- (laughs).
(saw grinds)
- Keep your hands on
there for a second.
All done.
Watch your hands.
(hammer pounds)
- That next
ceiling, oblique floor,
gives me the willies
a little bit.
I'm down here in the
basement looking up
and thinking that's
a long way up.
I got another two floors
above that to go through.
Well the lift shaft is
going to be massive.
I really hope we line
this up properly (laughs).
- [Narrator] With an
extremely expensive elevator
on its way,
Dick and Angel's
minds are now more
than ever focused on
finding extra income.
One possible source
is the two acre moat
surrounding the chateau.
So hoping it has enough fish
to attract paying anglers,
Dick's called the experts in.
- I can tell you
quite categorically
we have no idea what's in here.
- [Narrator] Andrew Ellis is
a British fishery consultant.
- Just right up here,
going around in an arc.
- [Narrator] Who travels
the world inspecting ponds,
lakes, rivers and even
muddy 800 year old moats.
- Always walk leaning forward,
you won't fall over because
the silt will keep you upright
but then you'll
never ever get stuck.
- [Narrator] A
successful fishing lake
filled with fat Carp
can earn around
1000 pounds a week.
Dick's now starting to wonder
if he's inadvertently been
sitting on a fishy goldmine.
- Nobody has fished here
for decades.
- Yeah.
- Basically, I need to see
what fish we've got.
- Yeah.
- And you'll be able to tell
me the financial viability
of this making
some money for us.
- Yes, the main sort of
interest for Carp fishermen is
a little bit of mystery,
huge big fish 20, 30,
40 kilos sometimes.
- [Narrator] To find out if
there are any high earning,
40 kilo Carp living here,
Andrew and his colleague Ben,
first need to round them up.
- If there's any number we'll
catch some today definitely.
- We may be in France but
this is Irish weather.
What was that?
(beep)
I did get excited there.
- [Narrator] To discover
the secrets of the moat,
a 300 meter length
of net first needs
to be spread across the water.
(solemn music)
- Big fish means people will pay
to come and sit outside in the
rain and try and catch them.
Today is the day
where we find out
if it is actually
a proper earner.
(birds chirp)
(engine revs)
(solemn music)
- [Narrator] The two acre
moat surrounding Dick
and Angel's chateau has not
been fished for decades.
And Dick's hoping it's teeming
with enormous fat Carp.
(engine revs)
(solemn music)
- Yup, yup, yup, yup, yup.
- What have you got?
A Carp.
Oh, it's a lovely little Carp.
- [Narrator] Andrew
safely stuns the fish
with an electrical current
so he can take a closer look at
their general health
and condition.
- See they're hardly
stunned, look he's fine.
- We've got a common Carp.
It's a bay, babies are good.
Which means we've got
some mommies and daddies.
Look at that, that beautiful.
- [Andrew] And again.
- Not very big those ones
but the babies means
there's big ones.
Work harder Ben,
there's more fish.
I can see my fortune
being made here.
Wow, look at that one.
- [Andrew] Nice Roach.
- [Dick] That's a nice
little Roach, isn't it?
What's that six centimeters.
- Yeah, yeah.
- He, he, hey.
- There's fish everywhere,
there's plenty of small fish.
- Now look at that
one, that's a fish.
I'm loving it, it I'm loving it.
We got fish.
- Right.
- What have you got?
There's an awful lot of
fish in a little box there.
- [Andrew] They're fine.
- [Dick] They're happy
enough in that box.
- They'll be fine in
there for an hour,
no problem whatsoever.
- Really.
- [Andrew] Yeah.
This is your
predominant species Carp
which are breeding nicely.
- But it's not very heavy.
- No, exactly.
- What weights that?
- Four pounds.
- Four pounds.
- You only got to look at the
size of the mouth compared
to the size of the body.
These things can eat four or 5%
their own body weight
a day in the summer.
They're a little bit
stunted, no problem at all.
It's easy to turn them around,
easy to get them
to grow (mumbles).
- [Narrator] As well as Carp,
there are plenty of Roach
and it's soon becoming clear
that the moat is well stocked.
Even if the fish are small.
- [Andrew] We're gonna
have a little look and see
what we've got in here.
- Can I catch him?
- Yes, of course.
Hold your hands like
this, nice and wide.
He's a very big one,
perfectly happy, there you go.
(laughter)
- How much fish do we see?
- In the moat there's
roughly 500 pounds weight
of Roach and Carp.
- They're not as big as
they could be.
- No.
- Because?
- There's very
little food available
for what's in there, basically.
So if you wanted them to
grow, you need to feed them.
And they'll respond so well
if you fed them next summer.
It's an odd feed
50 kilos a week,
that'd be a good start
and you'd get through
a couple of ton a year.
- That's quite a big
investment for us financially
this hasn't got a 40 pound Carp.
- No, no, it could have
but it will take
investment and time.
- It's quite murky
out there, isn't it?
- [Andrew] It is, yup.
- God you're gonna
be busy next year.
(laughter)
- [Dick] It's been brilliant.
Can we let these all go free?
- I've loved seeing the moat
have a little bit of
life in it actually.
- [Dick] You're finding that --
- Also out of bowl.
- (laughs) good.
- [Dick] Go and
grow, go and grow.
- [Ben] Swim be free.
Look at they're all gone.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Fishing weekends
at the Chateau are
looking possible.
But maybe not just yet.
- This is quite heavy
do you wanna carry it?
Here you go, take your shoulder.
I believe in equality.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Back in the warm,
Dick and Angel's mother Jenny,
starts preparing
the family meal.
- I was just gonna put a
little bit of oil in there.
- [Narrator] Which today just
happens to be cockerel soup.
- (laughs) How big is that?
About 14 pound, 12.
I've never actually cooked
one as large as this.
If it goes in pan.
Well, perfect.
I've never actually
cooked a bird that's been,
do you say killed
in the morning.
- [Dick] Yeah.
- [Narrator] As
well as cockerel,
the vegetables are
also homegrown,
freshly picked from the
potterguene that very morning.
- [Dick] Straight from
the garden into the pot.
- Such a big bird.
I'm gonna have to be
careful how I lift it.
- But you gotta remember
we've been feeding him
for months and
months and months.
- Well look all the
eggs you've had.
- He hasn't laid any.
- Oh, he hasn't.
(laughter)
- I knew you were a
sissy girl (laughs).
(solemn instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Up on
the second floor,
Angels decided the
second guest suite
is finally ready for visitors.
(solemn instrumental music)
- Love it (chuckles).
I think it looks good.
It's giving me kind of
the feel that I want.
I think that's all is
the main battle isn't it?
There's this lovely little
tiles of the chateau on
and it feels quite
art deco in here.
There's a real sort of
Parisien metro feel in here.
(solemn instrumental music)
I'm really proud of this suite.
We've called it
the Botanical Suite
because nearly every
window you look out,
it's got beautiful views.
And I love it,
not only does it double our
capacity for having guests,
I'm proud of it because
there's hardly anything
in here that's new.
The bed is from a charity shop
that we go to all of the time.
This little fireplace
is from the attic.
I like seeing things just
have a purpose again,
even the bath and I'm
really pleased with it.
I'm really looking forward
to having a bath in it.
In fact, I think me and Dick
are gonna move in (laughs).
- [Narrator] After two
hours of simmering,
the cockerel soup is ready
for its first taste test.
- [Dick] Oh wow.
- Arthur good eating matey.
- [Dick] Grandma's chicken soup.
- [Grandma] And of
course we've got enough
for about six weeks (mumbles).
This is actually
quite tender isn't it?
- [Dick] That'll
be tender, yeah.
The textures firmer, it's
the age, tastes good.
Yeah.
(laughter)
- [Angel] Well done, Mom.
- Well done.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
- Well done.
- [Narrator] Progress
on the lift shaft
in the Tower of
Curiosities is going well
and the new custom built
elevator is on schedule.
(cheeky instrumental music)
But a thought has
just occurred to Dick.
- The penny just dropped that
it comes in pieces that
have to come in here.
(chuckles) The pieces
don't fit through the door.
It's a good four
inches too narrow.
(sighs) (beep)
They don't fit
through the window,
the window's all cut stone.
So I can't expand that.
This would be funny if it
wasn't so (beep) serious.
So four inches.
This is all solid stone.
If I start taking
stone out here,
it has to be supported
by the lintel.
The lintel is the weight
bearing bit above a door
which all the weight
goes down onto.
I can't take it out too far
because this then
doesn't bear the weight.
I love the fact that
the chateau fights back.
It's never easy.
Still doesn't get any bigger
every time you measure it,
which is the worst part.
I just need to get
a bigger hammer.
- [Narrator] Next time.
- (mumbles)
- Which one do you want
for Christmas lunch?
- [Narrator] Treasures
from the attic are played
for the first time in 100 years.
- So they were party animals
in our chateau, you see.
(fireworks explode)
- [Narrator] The
family get festive
with their first
Christmas fireworks.
- Yeah.
- [Narrator] And the
lift is finally revealed
- [Angel] (beep)
hell that's deep.
- Look what you've
done to my house.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Like many Brits,
engineer Dick Strawbridge
and his wife, Designer Angel,
had dreams of living in France.
But where most
people might settle
for a modest little bolthole
the couple fell under the spell
of a fairy tale chateau.
- Oh, wow.
- Wow, oh, look at that.
- Well, I think we should
put an offer in now.
(laughter)
- This is truly beautiful.
- [Narrator] What's more,
they could afford it.
The chateau with it's
45 rooms, 12 acres,
seven outbuildings
and even a moat,
came with an
irresistible price tag
of just 280 thousand pounds.
- Thank you, very much indeed.
- Congratulations.
- [Narrator] Then
reality set in.
- Turn, turn, turn, turn it.
Wow.
- [Narrator] What they bought
was a derelict monument
to a forgotten era of
grand country house living.
- Look at the sewerage, look
at the electrics in here.
You look at the lead paint.
200 plus pages of reasons
not to buy a house.
- [Narrator] They
only had a fraction
of the money they
needed to do it up.
Reviving the chateau
has taken more courage
and more graft than they
ever thought possible.
- What's coming off
here is all the lead.
It's going into my bucket.
- [Narrator] But they persevered
and turned it into a home.
- Cheers, darling.
- Cheers.
Wow.
- [Narrator] Now 20 months on,
they're facing the biggest
challenge of their lives.
Just how can they afford to
keep their French dream alive?
(upbeat instrumental music)
It's autumn at the Château
de la Motte-Husson.
With no more weddings
planned until next year,
Dick and Angel can turn
their attention back
to their family.
- Oh, wow, you're gonna
be as big as that,
that's ridiculous.
- [Narrator] Home,
gardens
and animals.
- Chuckies, chuck,
chuck chuckies.
What happens when a cockerel
finds food, he goes (clucks)
and he calls the hens across.
So when I come out
to the chickens,
I got food I go (clucks).
Well that's actually
me just being
a noisy cockerel calling them.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Just
over a year ago,
the chateau's
cockerel was so small
that he spent his
days being henpecked.
- Slight problem, from
been a little runt
that I wasn't even
sure was a cockerel,
he's got so big now
he's damaging the
backs of the hens.
I'm afraid he's destined
for the pot, bless him.
It's quite sad.
That's a meal for the family.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Back inside,
Dick and Angel are trying
to work out if
they've made a profit
on the first big paying
event at their chateau.
A wedding with 80 guests.
- [Dick] The wedding,
the receipts.
Cost now what was the big cost?
- Booze (laughs).
Labor, booze, food.
I think we made money.
- [Dick ] Well we
did, but we spent it.
- Yeah,
but I spent it. (laughs)
- But we have got things now,
like the 100 umbrellas
in case it rained,
we got all the quoi matting
in case it gets foggy.
You know what I've said enough.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] As Angel
has spent the profit
from the wedding on
equipment and facilities,
funding for the chateaus
renovations need
to come from elsewhere.
Their latest project is
a second guest suite,
by doubling the
accommodation they hope
to generate more income.
Unfortunately for
Steve, the builder
and possible future guests,
the rooms are situated
at the top of a
73 step staircase
on the second floor.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- Right.
I'm gonna plaster board
that, plaster board them.
(sighs) And then just
get around there.
- [Narrator] With limited funds,
Dick and Angel have to decide
what their priorities are.
- [Dick] What about
the family satellite?
We'll have a honeymoon.
- (laughs) I don't
think we can afford
to go on a honeymoon yet.
I've got an idea that (laughs),
I don't wanna say it because
you're gonna think it's crazy.
Are we looking at vintage lifts?
Just because every time I
go up and down the stairs,
I'm knackered,
if I'm working up on --
- Bup bup, bup, bup, bup.
Don't even go there.
Hold on.
- (laughs)
At least listen
before you say no.
- No.
- Before you say no.
No, before you say no.
- I would have to say
that's (beep) ridiculous.
- It's not ridiculous,
it's not ridiculous.
- It is ridiculous.
- I've looked,
I've looked
- Vintage lifts.
- [Angel] Anyone that
has troubles with
stairs can enjoy it.
- That's the fact of
life of our chateau,
our chateau has
got ninety steps.
I'm getting a head ache.
- (laughs)
- Where're you gonna stick it?
- It's expensive.
In a tower.
- In a tower.
We got two towers,
that ones used so
this one tower.
- This one, this one, exactly.
- If you put a
vintage lift there,
if you get one that fitted.
The whole mechanism of the lift
and all the rest of the stuff
that has to go in there.
Heavy, big --
- Okay yeah, but I'm allowed
to have a little look at
lift candy, aren't I ?
- No, no, no, no.
Forget vintage, loose
the word vintage lift
because the engineering
behind that's too difficult.
There might be a
modern lift that's --
- Come on, you can build
something (chuckles).
- (sigh) I can't even
believe I'm gonna say this.
It's a hell of an investment
but it opens up the chateau.
- Exactly, that's exactly --
- Don't say exactly,
I don't believe I'm
working with you yet.
- (mumbles) kissing
doesn't work.
A kiss doesn't get you lift.
- It does.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Angel may have
to wait a while for her lift
but the creation of
the new second floor guest
suite is definitely going ahead.
- [Angel] (beep) those
stairs kill me still.
Listen to my idea.
- [Narrator] Before work
gets to advance though.
- Don't say no yet,
don't say no yet.
- [Narrator] Angel
wants to ensure
that there's an agreement
about what goes where,
including the position of a
second hand, 140 kilogram,
cast iron bath.
- The bath, I'm really
sure fits in just here.
And then they just sit
and look you've
got the whole sky.
I haven't measured it before
but I did it with my arm
and I'm really sure it fits.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Dick] 1660, do a
double check on the bath.
Oh, dammit 1660.
- [Angel] Right.
- It's exactly that size,
there's nothing to spare.
- I was looking at my strong,
handsome husband (laughs).
We're stuck.
- [Dick] Can you push
it round that way?
Back to the door.
She's in the bath.
- This is just lovely.
- It's not the statement
bath that I was expecting,
it's a bath uncovered.
- Okay.
I just remembered I
had one more option.
Having the bath in there
and the bed over there,
it's really quick one to do.
- Right.
- Yeah so.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Angel] This is a
really important decision.
- Where're we putting that?
- In the middle here.
- In the middle of the ground?
- Yeah.
- Okay,
there's gonna be
pipes coming from it.
- Okay.
- Okay,
because you don't think it's
gonna just sit in the middle
and be sort of magically there
with the pipes around it.
- No, I don't think it'll
be magically around it.
- No, that's what you do.
You understand why I'm
saying that though?
- Yeah, I am seasoned
enough now to know that --
- You're so full of (beep).
- That's not true.
- You just have this vision in
your mind and wave your arms.
The doors going on
to, that's not nice.
- That's not nice.
Let's put this back.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- If you're happy
with the look of that.
- Let me just have
a couple of hours
to sort of mull it over.
- [Narrator] When Dick and
Angel bought the chateau,
they also inherited
a two acre moat.
One of their business ideas
is to offer fishing weekends.
A castle once stood on
this site 800 years ago,
so there's a good chance there's
more than fish down there.
So to find out
whether he could hold
treasure hunting expeditions,
Dick has enlisted the
help of his old friend,
Johnny Littlefield,
to investigate.
- If you get a suit of armor
fella, I'll do a back flip
into the water.
(laughter)
- [Narrator] Their equipment,
two powerful magnets to
haul up the hidden treasure.
- Look at that you've
gone into the quagmire.
- [Dick] The primordial ooze.
- [Johnny] It's mud suck.
- [Narrator] Well,
maybe not this time.
- We'd need to definitely
be on the water doing this.
This is a Canadian
canoe sort of --
- [Johnny] What the hell
is a Canadian canoe?
- Two people sit in the canoe.
- I know what a canoe is
but what's a Canadian canoe?
- What do you call it?
- A canoe.
- Doing this is
really quite exciting,
I've never actually
been on this water.
- [Johnny] Congratulations sir.
Your maiden voyage.
- You wanna step on
board there fella.
The water looks like you
do not want to fall in it.
There's no poo in there anymore.
- [Johnny] What?
- That looks really
stable, Johnny.
- (laughs)
- Okay, don't move, Johnny.
I am actually
now in.
Don't wobble.
- I'm not wobbling.
- You have to keep your center
of gravity forward a bit.
- Yoga my way through this.
- Don't come back,
don't come back.
- Hold on.
- We're moving mate,
don't come back.
Stay forward, stay forward.
Are you on?
- I'm staying --
- Are you on?
- I'm good.
Let's just go (laughs).
- Right, hope you've
put paddle in,
paddle in the water.
Cold, cold, cold water.
Don't wobble, you're wobbly.
- I'm not wobbly.
- Just you chill I'll
jays through this.
- What is to jays through it?
- It's how you actually
puddle a canoe mate,
don't you worry I've
done this before.
- It sounds sexual.
(laughter)
- Hold it there, hold
it there for a second.
Wait a minute, I'm
gonna put it in.
- Who you splashing?
- I'm splashing you.
- Don't start that --
- Stop wobbling.
- We're both up together.
- You wobbled.
- I will put you in the water.
- (laughs)
(cheerful instrumental music)
(cheeky instrumental music)
- [Narrator] In an intrepid
search for treasure,
Dick and his friend
Johnny Littlefield,
are going magnet fishing
on the chateau moat.
- This whole thing is a
good old military obstacle.
When this was built the idea was
that you come in
here on your horse,
in your armor or whatever it is.
And if you've actually got 100
pounds weight of armor on you
and you fall into this,
it's enough to drown you.
But do you know what's
really surprising,
that's how deep it is here.
(laughter)
- Whoa, stop, stop, stop.
I got something man.
There's a difference between
that feeling of
snagged on a rock
and an actual metal,
you can feel it.
- [Dick] That's a
very old, little tack.
The system works.
- [Johnny] It works.
- [Dick] Treasure
Johnny, treasure Johnny.
- It is treasure.
It keeps us going.
That little --
(laughter)
- It does?
It's optimism
of treasure hunters.
- Absolutely.
But how old do
you think that is?
- [Dick] Oh, two weeks.
(laughter)
- [Narrator] It looks like
treasure hunting trips
on the moat aren't going to be
a roaring success after all.
If Dick's going to make
money out of the water,
he's just going to
have to think again.
Up on the second
floor of the chateau,
Angel's about to re-enamel the
guests suites cast iron bath
but there's a slight
language problem.
- The instructions are
in French on this but
there is pictures by the
side of it (chuckles).
And it kinda says five minutes,
two minutes, five minutes.
So I'm not sure
what lases means,
I'm assuming that's
gonna mean wait.
- [Narrator] Hoping lases
does actually mean wait,
Angel leaves the room enameling
paint to sit for a while.
Next door,
Steve the builder
and his wife Denise
are working hard
decorating the bathroom
of the two bedroom suite.
The transformations
coming on well
but at the moment Angel's
mind is elsewhere.
We do need to lift.
Dick's hips are not
great or he's knees.
He played rugby in the army
and most rugby
players will tell you
that their joints are
not what they used to be.
I think Dick's suffering with it
and he'll never say but
I have seen him in pain
which makes me quite sad.
- [Narrator] It's 6:30pm
and time for Dorothy and
Arthur to head to bed.
But as Angel's finally decided
the position of the bath,
Dick's keen to crack
on with the pipe work.
- The bath going at
the end of the bed.
The waste pipes gonna have
to come under the bed,
go through this
wall, so typical.
This I believe to be the
start of the chimney breast.
So we can't take it through the
brick of the chimney breast,
we're gonna have to
take it through there.
But if I take it through there,
there'll be a pipe at
the side of the bed.
Well it's never easy.
Decision made.
(hammer pounds)
The days are never
quite long enough.
So (chuckles)
Angela's downstairs
putting the children to bed.
This is a lullaby of
lump hammer (laughs).
(hammer pounds)
- It's daddy, bom, bom, bom.
- Bom, bom.
(drill drills)
- When you do a job like this,
just
remind you
that the house is built
to last (chuckles).
(drill drills)
(cheeky instrumental music)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] The idea of
installing a lift in the chateau
has been percolating through
Dick's mind now for a few days.
To encourage future guests,
he's come around to the notion.
All they need to do now
is work out its height.
- Are you gonna drop your
hair down (chuckles)?
Draw through your locks darling.
- Sadly, my mustache
reaches further
than the hair on my
head, (beep) you.
Right, can you hold that on
the top of the window sill?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- [Narrator] As the
lift will be custom made
to fit the chateau tower.
- Okay.
- [Narrator] Accurate
measurements are
absolutely critical.
- Pull up then.
- [Dick] We're going
floor to floor.
- [Angel] Right.
- So if I measure window
sill to window sill.
- [Angel] Right.
- Then we can take away the
numbers we first thought of.
- [Angel] Why?
- 10 meters 90,
so in other words
from the floor here
to your window sill
is exactly 10 meters.
- Okay, I'm letting go
of your hair (laughs).
I'm sorry.
It's really ridiculous why I
find that so funny, bye, bye.
- I'll see in the kitchen.
- [Angel] Bye, bye.
- [Narrator] The chosen design,
a clear, circular elevator,
93 centimeters in diameter
and powered by air.
- Our lift is going
in this tower.
This is to the west
and it's gonna go
from the basement all
the way up the tower.
The lift is actually
in the tube.
This is really simple.
At the top, there's a big fan
and this fan sucks
air out of the tube.
This piece inside,
the compartment,
the module you're in, shoots up.
Our biggest problem is
we have to make sure it stops
at exactly the right place
for each of our floors.
This is a very simple
thing to demonstrate.
Look at this.
This is my tube,
this is my lift capsule.
You need to come
upstairs, Angela.
Yes, Dick.
(air swooshes)
- I just wanna see my
family, one at a time,
going into a trip
to get sucked up.
It's just like Star
Trek, it'll be hilarious.
- [Angel] It's like Willy Wonka.
- So if you think if
we put the circle here,
over against the wall here,
can be exactly as the wall.
- Why can't we have
it in the middle?
- [Dick] In the middle?
- Yeah.
- I would never have
thought about putting
a tube up the middle.
- Really?
- No, no, I would have
put it to one side
so that there's a space here
for a seat or something.
- Why?
- I don't know.
- It'd be nice in the
middle wouldn't it?
It means that I can do something
on all the floors
as well, doesn't it?
Because we got so many
lovely things just in boxes
like for instance all
of the side of stuff.
And I don't even know
what half this stuff is,
sort of like rat cages,
there's loads of like
curiosities.
- You still got
your old nasty things.
- Yeah, exactly but
they're interesting
because they're just part
of the fabric of the place.
Everything we found
on each floor,
we could put in the tower.
Have it as the tower
of curiosities.
I love that.
- [Dick] Curiosities.
- Tower curiosities.
No, you've got to say
the tower of curiosities,
otherwise it doesn't work.
- (laughs) Right.
I'm assuming that
every floor is going
to have joists across a loose,
little insulation
buttons in them.
I'll have to get
an accurate prop.
One of those things
we push the ceiling.
Do you know what?
It might actually be
easier in the middle.
- You see, I come
up with a good idea,
just out of --
- No, no, no, shh.
- I got to be of assistance.
- You're just so
full of twaddle.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] A deposit for
the lift has been paid.
Dick and Angel head
out to celebrate.
- [Dick] This is a well
earned relax, isn't it?
- [Angel] I think the last
time we had a break was
a year ago.
- [Narrator] It's their
first wedding anniversary
and forever keen to mix
business with pleasure,
they're combining the
celebration with research.
- (speaking in a
foreign language)
- (speaking in a
foreign language)
- I'm just loving the mushrooms.
- [Narrator] They're
hoping to get some ideas
for food lovers
weekends that they want
to hold at the chateau.
They want to know what
the Manua du Leese,
a restaurant renowned for
its seasonality serves up
in the autumn.
- Okay, so it (speaking
in a foreign language)
with pistachio and --
- What's this?
- I don't know what that is.
- Mushrooms and apricot,
that shouldn't work (laughs).
That's really nice.
- [Narrator] Autumn
is the height
of the wild mushroom season.
And in France,
foraging for them is
practically a national sport.
- Some of the actual
mushrooms and things
you can tell they've
been foraged,
they don't even hide it, oh.
- I've never had
something like this
and it's lovely and
it looks beautiful.
- [Narrator] The
restaurant creates
a different menu each day,
depending on what their
foragers have found
and what's in season.
- [Dick] There's a carving
knife on this table.
- [Angel] I wonder if they're
carving meat or mushrooms.
- That's very interesting.
- [Narrator] Today Dick
and Angel are being treated
to a trio of wild set mushrooms,
cooked with thyme, bay
leaves and sea salt.
Three distinct flavors
that are expected to
thrill the diners.
- Really thought that we
were gonna get a bit of
that juicy lamb then.
(laughter)
Right.
- Right.
- Should we try and eat the
same mushroom at the same time?
That's a very, very,
very nice mushroom.
- It's really, really tasty.
- [Angel] It's lovely.
- We have those around us.
If we actually pick one of
these around the chateau,
I think we could very easily
do this sort of a dish
at our place.
- Wow.
- Mushrooms.
- [Narrator] The
restaurants foragers
have obviously had a good day,
as Dick and Angel's dessert
is also fungal feast.
Mushroom macaroon topped
off with candy chanterelles
and a trumpet of death
sorbet on the side.
- [Angel] Oh wow, okay.
- This is pretty.
- I'm a little bit
scared, I can't lie.
- [Narrator] For Angel
though it's proving
to be a mushroom too far.
- Oh, I can't eat that,
why it's too crappy.
Well that was disgusting.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] A five course menu,
entirely made up
of wild mushrooms
may not be to everyone's taste
but in foraging fraternities,
it's definitely a la mode.
- [Angel] I found some.
Oh no I haven't, I'm sorry.
- [Narrator] So
a few days later,
Dick and Angel invite
professional mushroom hunter,
Jean Pierre Ruvae
to the chateau.
- (speaking in a
foreign language)
- [Narrator] If their
two acres of woodland
is a foragers fantasy.
- (speaking in a
foreign language)
- [Dick] A mushroom.
- [Narrator] Their
food lovers weekends
would really kick off in style.
- (speaking in a foreign
language) without milk.
- Is it edible?
- No, because the taste is
disagreeable.
- It doesn't taste nice.
- Yeah.
(cheeky music)
- (speaking in a
foreign language).
The smell of (speaking
in a foreign language),
you know (speaking in
a foreign language)?
- No but.
- Rubber.
- (speaking in a
foreign language).
- No, no.
- Oh, okay.
- [Narrator] There are
up to 22,000 know species
of mushrooms, but only around
10% are actually edible.
- Oh wow.
- [Dick] Look at that.
(speaking in a foreign language)
- No taste.
- Okay.
- [Narrator] Whilst less
than 1% are poisonous.
- (speaking in a foreign
language) is a scientific name.
- (speaking in a
foreign language)
- No.
- [Angel] (gasp) Wow.
- Bad taste, bad
taste, bad taste.
Flower is good but the
mushroom is very toxic.
- [Angel] Teas in mushroom.
- No, no.
- Not, not edible.
- [Narrator] After an hour
and a half of hunting,
John Pierre has found
plenty of mushrooms.
- [Angel] Is it edible?
- No, no.
- [Narrator] Unfortunately,
nearly all of them are either
poisonous or tasteless.
- (chuckles) This is
just so demotivating.
How am I meant to just go back
and cook a mushroom dish
with a a basket full
of unedible mushrooms.
- No. (speaking in a
foreign language) like wood.
- [Narrator] Dick and
Angel's bright idea
to forage with their
that food lovers
is fading by the minute.
And their search for
extra income is still on.
- He doesn't get the fact I
just want a big wants to eat.
- (laughs)
- [Narrator] Now the
lift has been ordered,
the Tower of Curiosities
needs to be prepped
for its arrival.
(cheeky instrumental music)
- The lift is definitely coming.
- [Narrator] It
will run 14 meters
from the basement up
to the second floor.
- We've also paid a
deposit (chuckles).
- [Narrator] Every
room in the tower
will have to be cleared
and a hole cut to the floor
on three different levels.
(drill drills)
To say money,
Dick and Angel are going
to do nearly all of the
prep work themselves.
(hammer pounds)
- It's a decent size job.
But then,
when you break it down
and see all the
individual bits of it,
it's a (beep) massive job.
That is a sewage pipe
that's quite horrible.
Because I don't
wanna break down any
of this pipe.
- Yeah.
- Until there's no
toilet above it.
Because if somebody were
to actually --
- Right.
- Just even flush
that upstairs toilet.
- Yeah.
- Water would come
straight into here.
I've gotta go up because.
I've got my plumbing
kits up four floors.
- Oh.
- Right but it's --
- We need a lift.
(cheeky instrumental music)
- [Narrator] While
Dick disconnects the
plumbing upstairs,
Angel stays down in the basement
to start crowbarring the
old pipe work off the wall.
- I've never even
used one of these.
I'm assuming that you
need to use gravity
to kind of lever it off.
I need a proper stepladder,
he's sorta taking a (beep).
Oh yeah, it's coming.
- What's happening?
- Well there's just a
bit of water coming out,
where the sewage pipe is.
- No way.
- [Angel] Yeah.
- Is it sewage or id it water?
Taste it.
- Taste it.
You having a bit of a laugh.
- (laughs).
(upbeat instrumental music)
- Ah, the sewage pipe.
(tiles shatter)
Ah, it dribbling down.
Ah that's gross (laughs).
Ah, it stinks (laughs).
(tiles shatter)
- That's nice.
- (laughs)
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator]
Throughout the autumn,
work continues in the
Tower of Curiosities
from the second floor
to the bottom.
The transformation of the new
guest suite is coming along
and Angel.
- [Angel] There we go.
- [Narrator] Has designed
some bespoke tiles
for its bathroom.
- Wanted to do
something with the moat,
divers off going into
lovely swirling waters
but I couldn't quite
get it to work.
But Dick actually sat
there with his notebook,
he said," Why don't we make
the chateaus in this shape,
"in a V shape
"and the divers
going on overside?"
I was like, "You're a genius."
It's going really well.
He's a clever sausage, isn't he?
I've done about 20
and I've got another
50 to go (laughs).
- I've always liked
doing things bespoke,
it's not just
buying off a shelf.
And I think that's equally
my obsession with vintage,
it's something that's
unique, like Dick.
He's so unique, one
of a kind (laughs).
- [Narrator] What
will one day be
the Tower of curiosities has
now been completely cleared.
And Dick's next job
is to cut a lift shaft
through three of its floors.
To help him gauge the
position at the lift,
he's making a wooden
template of the hole.
- I could fit in this (laughs)
that's the the first
worry out of the way.
- [Narrator] The holes
for the lift shaft have
to be perfectly aligned.
To achieve this
Dick and Steve need
to make a bullseye
in the middle.
- First things first,
where's the middle?
This first hole
that takes all the holes
because it has to be
exactly perpendicular,
which means if we're
slightly out here,
look a bit silly on each floor.
- [Narrator] Not just silly,
if the holes aren't
perfectly in line,
the lift simply won't go in
and the manufacturers won't
exactly be sympathetic.
- They're very happy
to blame us (chuckles)
if there's any problems.
- I've got 75.
- I've got 695.
- 700
- 695.
- About 693.
- [Narrator] But
finding the center
of an asymmetric,
19th century tower
is not easy.
- 670.
- 702.
That way it doesn't look.
It's not perfect by any
stretch of imagination, is it?.
- [Stveve] No.
- [Narrator] Eventually
technology comes to their rescue
and a laser marks the spot.
- That is the
right place for it.
Isn't it?
- Yeah.
(drill drills)
- [Narrator] Dick and
Steve decide to commit
and start cutting away
the oak parquet flooring.
- Past the point
of no return.
- No return.
(hammer pounds)
- This was being
built 148 years ago,
started building so best
part of a century and a half.
Well I bet they didn't expect
two ya-who's from England,
(laughs) to be coming
along I'm pulling up all
their French workmanship
(sinister chuckle).
- [Narrator] Down
in the kitchen,
Angel's using wooden blocks
to add an art deco
oriental charm
to the new guest suite mirror.
- I chose the design
on the mirror,
I've given Dick the exact
measurements to the millimeter.
I'm hoping it's gonna
work and if it doesn't,
I've got filler and sandpaper.
So good so far.
I probably pay a
couple of hundred quid
for something like
this, I have to say.
It cost me 25 quid to
(speaker drowned out
by hammer pounding).
Quite the mark up, isn't it?
Darling, we're closing
the chateau down,
we're going into mirror
production (laughs).
Take over the world (chuckles).
(saw grinds)
- [Narrator] On the
ground floor of the tower,
the 19th century wooden
joists are being removed.
- Right you can let go.
- [Narrator] And a 21st
century lift shaft, created.
- I hope that's where
we were supposed to cut.
- (laughs).
(saw grinds)
- Keep your hands on
there for a second.
All done.
Watch your hands.
(hammer pounds)
- That next
ceiling, oblique floor,
gives me the willies
a little bit.
I'm down here in the
basement looking up
and thinking that's
a long way up.
I got another two floors
above that to go through.
Well the lift shaft is
going to be massive.
I really hope we line
this up properly (laughs).
- [Narrator] With an
extremely expensive elevator
on its way,
Dick and Angel's
minds are now more
than ever focused on
finding extra income.
One possible source
is the two acre moat
surrounding the chateau.
So hoping it has enough fish
to attract paying anglers,
Dick's called the experts in.
- I can tell you
quite categorically
we have no idea what's in here.
- [Narrator] Andrew Ellis is
a British fishery consultant.
- Just right up here,
going around in an arc.
- [Narrator] Who travels
the world inspecting ponds,
lakes, rivers and even
muddy 800 year old moats.
- Always walk leaning forward,
you won't fall over because
the silt will keep you upright
but then you'll
never ever get stuck.
- [Narrator] A
successful fishing lake
filled with fat Carp
can earn around
1000 pounds a week.
Dick's now starting to wonder
if he's inadvertently been
sitting on a fishy goldmine.
- Nobody has fished here
for decades.
- Yeah.
- Basically, I need to see
what fish we've got.
- Yeah.
- And you'll be able to tell
me the financial viability
of this making
some money for us.
- Yes, the main sort of
interest for Carp fishermen is
a little bit of mystery,
huge big fish 20, 30,
40 kilos sometimes.
- [Narrator] To find out if
there are any high earning,
40 kilo Carp living here,
Andrew and his colleague Ben,
first need to round them up.
- If there's any number we'll
catch some today definitely.
- We may be in France but
this is Irish weather.
What was that?
(beep)
I did get excited there.
- [Narrator] To discover
the secrets of the moat,
a 300 meter length
of net first needs
to be spread across the water.
(solemn music)
- Big fish means people will pay
to come and sit outside in the
rain and try and catch them.
Today is the day
where we find out
if it is actually
a proper earner.
(birds chirp)
(engine revs)
(solemn music)
- [Narrator] The two acre
moat surrounding Dick
and Angel's chateau has not
been fished for decades.
And Dick's hoping it's teeming
with enormous fat Carp.
(engine revs)
(solemn music)
- Yup, yup, yup, yup, yup.
- What have you got?
A Carp.
Oh, it's a lovely little Carp.
- [Narrator] Andrew
safely stuns the fish
with an electrical current
so he can take a closer look at
their general health
and condition.
- See they're hardly
stunned, look he's fine.
- We've got a common Carp.
It's a bay, babies are good.
Which means we've got
some mommies and daddies.
Look at that, that beautiful.
- [Andrew] And again.
- Not very big those ones
but the babies means
there's big ones.
Work harder Ben,
there's more fish.
I can see my fortune
being made here.
Wow, look at that one.
- [Andrew] Nice Roach.
- [Dick] That's a nice
little Roach, isn't it?
What's that six centimeters.
- Yeah, yeah.
- He, he, hey.
- There's fish everywhere,
there's plenty of small fish.
- Now look at that
one, that's a fish.
I'm loving it, it I'm loving it.
We got fish.
- Right.
- What have you got?
There's an awful lot of
fish in a little box there.
- [Andrew] They're fine.
- [Dick] They're happy
enough in that box.
- They'll be fine in
there for an hour,
no problem whatsoever.
- Really.
- [Andrew] Yeah.
This is your
predominant species Carp
which are breeding nicely.
- But it's not very heavy.
- No, exactly.
- What weights that?
- Four pounds.
- Four pounds.
- You only got to look at the
size of the mouth compared
to the size of the body.
These things can eat four or 5%
their own body weight
a day in the summer.
They're a little bit
stunted, no problem at all.
It's easy to turn them around,
easy to get them
to grow (mumbles).
- [Narrator] As well as Carp,
there are plenty of Roach
and it's soon becoming clear
that the moat is well stocked.
Even if the fish are small.
- [Andrew] We're gonna
have a little look and see
what we've got in here.
- Can I catch him?
- Yes, of course.
Hold your hands like
this, nice and wide.
He's a very big one,
perfectly happy, there you go.
(laughter)
- How much fish do we see?
- In the moat there's
roughly 500 pounds weight
of Roach and Carp.
- They're not as big as
they could be.
- No.
- Because?
- There's very
little food available
for what's in there, basically.
So if you wanted them to
grow, you need to feed them.
And they'll respond so well
if you fed them next summer.
It's an odd feed
50 kilos a week,
that'd be a good start
and you'd get through
a couple of ton a year.
- That's quite a big
investment for us financially
this hasn't got a 40 pound Carp.
- No, no, it could have
but it will take
investment and time.
- It's quite murky
out there, isn't it?
- [Andrew] It is, yup.
- God you're gonna
be busy next year.
(laughter)
- [Dick] It's been brilliant.
Can we let these all go free?
- I've loved seeing the moat
have a little bit of
life in it actually.
- [Dick] You're finding that --
- Also out of bowl.
- (laughs) good.
- [Dick] Go and
grow, go and grow.
- [Ben] Swim be free.
Look at they're all gone.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Fishing weekends
at the Chateau are
looking possible.
But maybe not just yet.
- This is quite heavy
do you wanna carry it?
Here you go, take your shoulder.
I believe in equality.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Back in the warm,
Dick and Angel's mother Jenny,
starts preparing
the family meal.
- I was just gonna put a
little bit of oil in there.
- [Narrator] Which today just
happens to be cockerel soup.
- (laughs) How big is that?
About 14 pound, 12.
I've never actually cooked
one as large as this.
If it goes in pan.
Well, perfect.
I've never actually
cooked a bird that's been,
do you say killed
in the morning.
- [Dick] Yeah.
- [Narrator] As
well as cockerel,
the vegetables are
also homegrown,
freshly picked from the
potterguene that very morning.
- [Dick] Straight from
the garden into the pot.
- Such a big bird.
I'm gonna have to be
careful how I lift it.
- But you gotta remember
we've been feeding him
for months and
months and months.
- Well look all the
eggs you've had.
- He hasn't laid any.
- Oh, he hasn't.
(laughter)
- I knew you were a
sissy girl (laughs).
(solemn instrumental music)
- [Narrator] Up on
the second floor,
Angels decided the
second guest suite
is finally ready for visitors.
(solemn instrumental music)
- Love it (chuckles).
I think it looks good.
It's giving me kind of
the feel that I want.
I think that's all is
the main battle isn't it?
There's this lovely little
tiles of the chateau on
and it feels quite
art deco in here.
There's a real sort of
Parisien metro feel in here.
(solemn instrumental music)
I'm really proud of this suite.
We've called it
the Botanical Suite
because nearly every
window you look out,
it's got beautiful views.
And I love it,
not only does it double our
capacity for having guests,
I'm proud of it because
there's hardly anything
in here that's new.
The bed is from a charity shop
that we go to all of the time.
This little fireplace
is from the attic.
I like seeing things just
have a purpose again,
even the bath and I'm
really pleased with it.
I'm really looking forward
to having a bath in it.
In fact, I think me and Dick
are gonna move in (laughs).
- [Narrator] After two
hours of simmering,
the cockerel soup is ready
for its first taste test.
- [Dick] Oh wow.
- Arthur good eating matey.
- [Dick] Grandma's chicken soup.
- [Grandma] And of
course we've got enough
for about six weeks (mumbles).
This is actually
quite tender isn't it?
- [Dick] That'll
be tender, yeah.
The textures firmer, it's
the age, tastes good.
Yeah.
(laughter)
- [Angel] Well done, Mom.
- Well done.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
- Well done.
- [Narrator] Progress
on the lift shaft
in the Tower of
Curiosities is going well
and the new custom built
elevator is on schedule.
(cheeky instrumental music)
But a thought has
just occurred to Dick.
- The penny just dropped that
it comes in pieces that
have to come in here.
(chuckles) The pieces
don't fit through the door.
It's a good four
inches too narrow.
(sighs) (beep)
They don't fit
through the window,
the window's all cut stone.
So I can't expand that.
This would be funny if it
wasn't so (beep) serious.
So four inches.
This is all solid stone.
If I start taking
stone out here,
it has to be supported
by the lintel.
The lintel is the weight
bearing bit above a door
which all the weight
goes down onto.
I can't take it out too far
because this then
doesn't bear the weight.
I love the fact that
the chateau fights back.
It's never easy.
Still doesn't get any bigger
every time you measure it,
which is the worst part.
I just need to get
a bigger hammer.
- [Narrator] Next time.
- (mumbles)
- Which one do you want
for Christmas lunch?
- [Narrator] Treasures
from the attic are played
for the first time in 100 years.
- So they were party animals
in our chateau, you see.
(fireworks explode)
- [Narrator] The
family get festive
with their first
Christmas fireworks.
- Yeah.
- [Narrator] And the
lift is finally revealed
- [Angel] (beep)
hell that's deep.
- Look what you've
done to my house.
(upbeat music)