Escape to the Chateau DIY (2018–2021): Season 3, Episode 2 - Episode #3.2 - full transcript
Tim and Rebecca set out to expand their B & B by creating their first family suite. Musicians Ben and Billy with their daughter have been renovating for 7 years, but believe it is all a lifetime of work. They are wanting to restore the old library so they can hold book club meetings. Angel helps Billy with a display coffee table, to display fossils found on Ben and Billy's property.
Dick Strawbridge:
I'm Dick Strawbridge.
And with my wife, Angel, and our
two children...
Boy: Let's go get it!
Dick: we're nearly 5 years
into our French adventure...
It's heavy.
restoring this once
abandoned chateau.
We have another capability on
the chateau.
Dick, voice-over: It's brought
plenty of challenges...
Phew.
but also some amazing rewards.
Angel: I love you.
Dick, voice-over:
And across France,
there are dozens of
other Brits
who've bought their own
chateaus.
Oh, my.
Dick, voice-over: Now Angel
and I are once again
lending a hand to other
expat chateau owners.
Angel: Sometimes, simplicity
is the way forward.
Dick, voice-over:
We'll meet some old friends...
Man: We don't need instructions,
only when it goes wrong.
Dick, voice-over:
and new faces.
Woman: Ooh, look at that.
Dick, voice-over:
There'll be plenty of ups...
Woman: Oh!
Dick, voice-over:
and downs.
Man: We can't ruin
the wedding meal
by eating outside in the rain.
Dick, voice-over:
But no matter what,
these plucky Brits...
Ooh.
Dick, voice-over:
will stop at nothing...
No. Steve--whoa. Steven.
Dick, voice-over: to ensure
these once unloved buildings...
I think I've made a hole.
Dick, voice-over: become
the homes of their dreams.
Woman: That is amazing.
Dick, voice-over: Today...
Woman: OK. Mind the chandeliers.
Dick, voice-over: two B&B owners
start their next project.
Man: It's definitely
the worst job.
Dick, voice-over: But don't
always see eye to eye.
Woman: Do you not like it?
Man: No.
What don't you like about it?
Man: Everything.
Billie?
Billie: Yeah?
Dick, voice-over: One couple
make an amazing discovery...
Man: Almost perfect.
Billie: Oh, my gosh.
No, that's perfect.
Dick, voice-over: and call on
Angel to lend a hand.
Like an old friend
coming back for tea.
With a--with a trailer.
Dick, voice-over: And new
chateau owners have
a battle on their hands...
as they try to finish off their
first colossal project.
Woman: By just looking at this,
it's supposed to be this
gentle, gradient earth
to put a pipe in, and it just
looks like a rollercoaster.
Dick, voice-over: Trying to
build up any Chateau business
takes time and money
and could be especially
tough during the winter months.
Lincolnshire couple Tim and
Rebecca and their two children
moved into the 24-room
Chateau de la Ruche
18 months ago and have opened it
up as a B&B.
Rebecca:
We've put everything into it.
It's been kind of 24/7,
lots of hard work,
but having the opportunity to
restore a place like this
is, kind of--we're
just really lucky
and really privileged to be
able to do it.
Dick, voice-over:
Located a stone's throw
away from Angel and I
in the Pays de
la Loire region,
they have so far created two
beautiful high-end suites.
And after a
slow start to winter...
Man: Hiya, how you doing?
Rebecca: Hi. Come on in.
Dick, voice-over:
they've welcomed their
first winter guests.
Rebecca: It's really nice to
have money coming in
and to feel like there's
a possibility
that the business
will succeed.
Hello. Come on in.
Dick, voice-over: They now want
to boost their income
by opening a third guest suite.
Rebecca: Yes. If we get this
bed out of here and...
Dick, voice-over: And have been
collecting loads of stuff
in one of their
outbuildings.
Tim: In here, we've got various
bits
of furniture
that came out of the house.
Yeah. And lovely things that
we've bought
that we don't know
a home for yet.
Dick, voice-over: Today, Rebecca
wants to start restoring
one of the old bed frames they
picked up at a local brocante.
Tim: When did we buy it?
Rebecca: I don't know.
Tim: October.
Rebecca: It's one of the first
things we bought, like--
Tim: October 2017.
Rebecca: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over: Although Tim's
not sure it's a good idea.
Tim: That's a lovely bed
for the Meadow Suite.
Rebecca: Do you not like it?
Tim: No.
Rebecca: Why did you let me buy
it if you didn't like it?
Tim: Because it was like
10 quid.
What don't you like about it?
Tim: Well, everything.
What is there to like about it?
I don't know. It's fine.
As long as it--
when it cleans up
so it doesn't look like it's
been sat
in some smoker's bedroom
where it clearly has been over
the last--
Rebecca: It's been sat in
a smoker's bedroom.
It'll be fine. Be fine, I'll
make it look beautiful.
Oh. Don't break things.
To grip on this, I think.
Tim: It's really awkward,
isn't it?
Rebecca: That's better.
There's probably untold
disgustingness
going on our hair now.
Dick, voice-over:
The new room,
which they've named
the Meadow Suite,
is targeted at families,
as it has two bedrooms
and a large en suite.
It's on the ground floor,
so at least they don't have to
take the bed frames upstairs.
Look, it's going to look
lovely green. You think?
Tim: Yeah. I'm all over that.
Rebecca: Oh, you. There's no
point asking you, is there?
Tim: No, come on, show me.
Rebecca: No, no. Oh, dear.
Tim: What's the other
fabric for?
Rebecca: The other fabric
is for cushions.
Tim: The thing is I don't
think my eyes see it
the same as yours.
Rebecca: No, I don't, because
your eyes are special.
Tim: Yeah. It's--yeah,
it's your choice.
Rebecca: What's wrong with it?
Tim: Nothing. I just see--I--
it just, uh,
it doesn't--I guess the colors
just look--don't work.
Rebecca: Well, it always
looks--it's always difficult
when you've got a tiny-weeny bit
of fabric.
Tim: Yeah.
Rebecca: And you can't see it,
but it's going to look lovely.
Tim: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over: While Rebecca
makes a start on the upholstery,
next door in the en suite, Tim
has a less creative task--
grouting the intricate patterns
on the new mosaic floor tiles.
Tim: Just a time-consuming job
really.
So it has to be done.
It's, uh, it's just not
my favorite job.
Rebecca: It looks beautiful.
I'm sure it's worth the pain.
Tim: Hmm. The thing is I'm
halfway through that bag.
I've got the two bags after
that one.
It's actually depressing.
Rebecca: Just...
Tim: Shut up and go away.
Rebecca: So rude.
Dick, voice-over:
Keep at it, Tim.
As the saying goes,
no pain no gain.
90 miles south lies the stunning
19th century Chateau
la Grande Maison.
It's set on 3 acres of land
and even has its own river.
It's owned
by musicians Ben and Billie
who live there with their
daughter Ella.
They've been renovating
it into a guesthouse
and events venue for the last
8 years.
Billie: We feel like
we're custodians of
this wonderful house,
and we're passionate
about learning
and telling the history of
the place.
Ben: So far, it's been
7 years' work
and we've probably still
got another 3 or 4 years,
and then I'm sure there'll be
projects after that as well.
I think it's going to be
a life's work.
- Yeah. At least.
- It's at least a life's work.
Dick, voice-over: Located a few
miles from the Loire Valley,
the next room to be refurbished
is the old library
where they want to start hosting
book club events.
Ben: Lift it. OK.
There, there.
Dick, voice-over: It's
proved to be a tricky job,
as most of their time
has been spent
restoring the old skylight.
Ben: I really love it.
Billie: Well done, well done.
Ben: Thank you.
Billie: It's excellent.
Dick, voice-over: Now Ben
and Billie can turn
their attention
to styling the library.
They're planning to celebrate
the past,
including the renowned botanist
who lived here in the
19th century.
Ben: The library in its heyday
was probably the creative hub
of the house.
It's where the botanist did all
his discoveries.
So we're trying to bring some
of the history back to the room.
Dick, voice-over: Today, they're
on the hunt for curiosities
that lie even
further back in time.
Ben: We quite often find fossils
close to the bank
or in the bank as the water
sort of washes by
in the winter.
So a good place where we look
is around by the edges,
around the bases of the trees,
even molehills because the
moles dig up all the stones
and earth and we find them
in there.
Dick, voice-over: Unbelievably,
they can find plenty of fossils,
as the chateau lies on a
Jurassic seabed.
The area used to be
completely covered in water.
Ben: There's a little bit
of one.
Billie: So ammonites and things,
we can find.
Ben: It's not a great one, but
there's a fossil there.
Billie: Really?
Well, that is--that was
obviously a shell at some point.
But that's not a
very good example.
Ben: No, it's not a--it's not
a great example,
but we've only been looking for
that about 60 seconds.
Billie: The thing is I always
find the best fossils, I do.
Ben: No, you don't.
It's not true.
Billie: Well, mainly because I'm
closer to the ground, right?
Ben: That's true.
Billie: No, that's a reject.
So I'm not going to let him come
fossil hunting with me
if he picks up rubbish.
I mean, there's so many leaves
on the ground.
Are you kidding me? No.
Ben: That is a definitely
a--there you go.
Dick, voice-over:
Today, they've managed to
collect over a 150 fossils
that have passed
Billie's quality control.
Ben: Here's one.
Billie.
Billie: Yeah?
Ben: Got a great one.
Billie: Are you sure?
Ben: Most definitely.
Billie: I don't want to just
come around and reject it.
Ben: No. You're not going to
reject this one.
Almost perfect.
Billie: Oh my gosh.
No, that's perfect.
It's very small,
but perfectly formed.
Ben: That is a 150 million years
old. Come on.
Billie: You win today's prize.
Ben: Excellent.
Billie: That is really
beautiful.
I don't think that's going to
quite make
a centerpiece in the
library though, Ben.
Dick, voice-over: It's still
pretty special, though.
At our place, Angel is
the queen of curiosities...
It's going to be like a big
explosion of butterflies
that are going to go up the wall
and the ceiling.
Dick, voice-over: and has
created many wonderful displays.
Angel: There's so much to see
in here, isn't there?
Dick, voice-over:
So Billie's paying a visit...
Hello!
Angel: Billie!
Billie: Ahoy.
Dick, voice-over:
To see if Angel could come up
with some creative magic for
her fossils.
Like, an old friend
coming back for tea.
With a--with a trailer.
Billie: I know. This time--this
time the trailer.
Angel: Oh my God, it's
surprisingly light.
Dick, voice-over: Billie's
hoping to display them
in an old secondhand
coffee table
but needs some
help converting it.
Billie: I actually wrapped this
up like a Christmas parcel.
Angel: Hey. Nice.
Billie: So here we go.
Angel: Oh, right, OK.
So I see.
So you've got
two bits of glass.
Billie: Two bits of glass.
Angel: That just fit into there.
Billie: Yeah.
Just sitting there.
OK. So I'm thinking of
your--maybe, you know,
like, the relic cases,
the old display relic cases.
Angel: Yeah, I know exactly.
Gorgeous.
Oh, I love a display cabinet.
Dick, voice-over: I can't wait
to see what Angel comes up with.
This is the beautiful
13th century Chateau Rosiere,
which lies on 130 acres.
It's been home for last
12 months to Brit Amy
and French husband, Marc, who
fell in love with the place
as soon as they saw it.
Amy: As we drove down
the driveway,
we started to see this sort of
magical forest atmosphere
and the house emerge
from the forest.
And you could see for miles,
you could see the Alps in
the distance.
And we felt really peaceful and
happy in the land,
and then came the house.
Dick, voice-over: Located
an hour and a half's
drive from Lyon,
they want to
run the chateau as a B&B
and host yoga retreats in
the outbuildings.
But it all needs updating.
That includes putting in a whole
new sewage system.
Amy: I've often felt very
overwhelmed.
Are you overwhelmed?
Marc: I'm sometimes overwhelmed,
and then when they look
at the view,
I find it's nice to live
here, that I'm not anymore.
[Laughter]
Dick, voice-over: They recently
started plumbing the chateau,
but now need to sort out where
the waste will end up.
They want to be eco-friendly, so
have decided to create
two natural waste ponds a
hundred meters down a slope
at the end of their garden.
Amy: It's taking a bit longer
than I'd hoped down here.
The thing was,
we had some ash trees
growing around, and ashes
drink water.
So we had to cut them and move
them out of the way,
and we'll plant other
trees nearby instead
that will not plant their seeds
in it
and won't drink the water
and destroy the lining
and things.
Dick, voice-over:
Cutting down ash trees
is just the tip of the iceberg
on this massive project.
Amy: We are down here
because we're going to put
two sewage ponds side by side.
Pipes are going to run straight
up where the tractor lines are
and then they branch just
below the wall
around the original
fortification,
and there will be pipes that go
off to every building
so that this will be the sewage
pond for all the buildings.
Dick, voice-over:
It's an epic task,
and they're planning on doing
most of it by themselves.
Amy: And we have a digger.
How hard can it be?
Dick, voice-over:
There's so much to do
before they can even dig
out the ponds.
Marc has to remove
the tree stumps.
Marc: So that's one done,
about 5 more to go.
Dick, voice-over: Amy's job
meanwhile is to get rid
of the branches through
a woods chipping machine.
But she's already struggling.
Amy: Right.
Oh, I think I broke
the shredder.
Marc: Did you break the tractor?
Amy: Not the tractor.
It's possible something happened
to the shredder.
Marc: OK.
Amy: Oh.
Hello.
Yeah, that is a bit jammed.
It's all a bit caught up.
So I didn't--
it wasn't my fault.
Marc: A little bit, I would say.
Amy: That was very polite.
Dick, voice-over: Jamming a
shredder is reasonably easy.
And it's usually caused by
putting in oversized branches.
Luckily, it's an easy fix.
Marc: That's it.
Amy.
Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
Amy: All right. Stop, stop,
stop, stop, stop.
I don't know why
it keeps jamming.
It wasn't even a big bit.
Dick, voice-over: Smoke is not
a good sign in a machine.
Amy: There is still a bit in
here. Hold up.
I can't reach.
It is working, but I notice
he's only putting
very tiny twigs in there.
So either he's being
sensible or cheating.
I can't work out which.
Dick, voice-over:
Shredding branches
is always a long ol' job.
Over at Chateau de la Ruche,
Tim and Rebecca have moved
onto cleaning the floors of
their new Meadow Suite
in preparation
for varnishing it later.
Rebecca: It's hard on
your knees,
but apparently good for my bingo
wings according to Tim.
Dick, voice-over: They're hoping
an extra room for their B&B
will bring in more income
and help make the
chateau pay for itself.
Tim: There's definitely
a worse job--
grouting that bathroom floor.
I'm never doing the bathroom
floor ever again.
Rebecca: It's done now.
Dick, voice-over: With grouting
of the bathroom floor finished,
a shower is being put in
and a washbasin fitted.
Now Rebecca wants to begin
styling the rest of the suite
and has a clear idea of
how she wants it to look.
Rebecca: The theme for
this room is kind of
loosely arts and crafts.
So, this end of the house was--
they started to
build it in 1910,
so originally, the chateau was
the main centerpiece
and then, as you look
at it, the right-hand wing.
And then this wing, they
started it in 1910,
and they had to stop because the
First World War broke out,
and then they finished it after
the First World War.
So there's kind of loose sort of
arts and crafts theme to it,
so I've got some lovely William
Morris fabric for the cushions,
and I wanted it to be quite--
it's kind of green and
pink and gold,
so quite kind of
rich and opulent and a bit--
a bit glammed,
but not overly glam.
Dick, voice-over:
First stage of her vision is
to finish off upholstering
the old bed which she's covering
in green velvet fabric.
Very physical upholstery.
It looks easy,
but a really hard work.
That looks good, doesn't it?
Rebecca: Yeah. I think so.
I need to put the trim on
and then we'll see.
Tim: Yeah, it's cool.
Dick, voice-over: Having got
Tim's seal of approval,
Rebecca has set him a
challenge of his own.
An electricity meter sticks out
of one of the walls,
so she wants him to find a way
to hide it
behind a specially commissioned
picture of their chateau.
Rebecca: So the plan is what?
How are you building this box
cupboard thing?
with your--with your superior
carpentry skills.
Tim: With my amazing carpentry
skills,
I'm going to cut 4 bits of wood,
and I'm going to
use the classic box joint
to screw them together.
Rebecca: OK.
Tim: And I bought some hinges,
like kitchen cupboard hinges.
Rebecca: And how are you fixing
this to the wall?
Tim: I haven't thought
about that yet.
Rebecca: OK. Good.
Tim: It'll be fine.
Dick, voice-over:
It's a simple idea.
Tim wants to build a cupboard
around the meter
and use the picture as the door,
which should hopefully
do the trick.
Although it always sounds
easier than it actually is.
Yeah. My hastily chosen
hinges mean that
I've made a cupboard that closes
perfectly
but can only open about
halfway.
So I'm going to have
to lift these hinges up.
Oops.
Dick, voice-over: If in doubt,
Tim, try and try again.
There's no other answer.
Tim: That'll do.
It works. Wow.
Dick, voice-over: That's the
technical bit done.
Now it's time to see if
it gets Rebecca's blessing.
Rebecca: Can you hold it by
yourself so I can look at it?
Tim: Yeah.
I think it looks lovely.
It hides the ugly thing.
It's much prettier than
that thing.
Tim: It's not very heavy,
actually.
Rebecca: No.
You're so...
Dick, voice-over:
Good effort, Tim.
But there's a lot more
decoration to be done
before the suite is
ready for guests.
Over at our place...
Billie: Oh, gorgeous.
Dick, voice-over:
chateau owner Billie is
hoping Angel can help her
transform a coffee table into a
19th-century display cabinet
for her collection of
pre-historic curiosities.
Angel: Oh, wow. These are foo
foo doo doo doo.
Billie: In our area, in
the garden, we find ammonites,
fossils, stone age tools.
Angel: So these are from
your garden?
Billie: Yeah.
Angel: That is amazing.
I cannot believe it.
In terms of free art,
it could be any--
It doesn't get any--it
doesn't get any better, does it?
Especially, you know--you
know, it's a bit corny,
but you always think,
you know, your chateau
chose you, yeah.
And, you know, with the
wallpaper museum,
the water garden for Dick,
and always feel
there's a romantic story
that we were meant to find this
chateau.
I think for you, I feel like
a bit the same, yeah.
Billie: I feel that too as well.
It's like a little piece of
paradise that we live next to.
Angel: So basically, you
have got a museum.
Billie: So, yeah.
Angel: This is incredible.
Dick, voice-over:
For the display cabinet,
Billie has brought along her
own material.
Angel: I think, especially
seeing this red now,
that makes me think of
the old Victorian
sort of curiosity cabinets,
because they were really dark
and rich, weren't they?
Billie: And do you
think--I mean, I was wondering
if it might look a bit flat
just on the wood
or whether or not to put--maybe
pad it a bit.
You know, those sort of
relic jars they have here?
Angel: Oh, I see. Yeah.
Billie: I don't know if
maybe a little bit of
padding might work or--
Angel: Do you know what
I have got?
I've got--I've got oodles of
Dacron.
So, like, this spongy stuff
that you would--
when you do chairs, you do it
to smooth it over.
However, you may not need it.
It may sort of add a shadow to
them that you don't like.
Yeah, right.
Because the display cabinets
that I've got upstairs,
I've just laid them
sort of flat.
Dick, voice-over:
Over the years,
I've built lots of display
pieces for Angel.
One of her favorites is
kept in our Bordeaux Suite,
and it's filled with some of her
most treasured possessions.
Billie: Oh, yes.
Angel: So this is just one of
the display cabinets.
So, you know, I've got some
massive books in here.
These are this--look,
look at this.
Billie: I love it.
Angel: Hang my nylons.
Billie: Hang my nylons.
So you take that with you
on your holiday.
Oh, there's teeny tiny pegs.
Angel: Adorable, isn't it?
And there was a time
in my life
that I used to wear
stockings every day.
Billie: Wow.
Angel: Every single day.
Billie: That's a commitment.
Angel: It's a commitment.
Now I'm permanently in green
trousers, bows.
My life has changed.
Billie: Yeah. Yeah.
Angel: But one thing I just want
to say on here
is that actually what I did was
literally varnish
the piece of wood underneath.
Billie: Yes, the wood itself
looks so nice.
You don't need anything
else, do you?
Angel: Yes. So sometimes
simplicity is the way forward.
We got a good view.
Dick, voice-over: And that is
the way Angel is planning
to tackle Billie's
display table.
Angel: OK. This is the
stuff you made.
Billie: Oh, yes.
Dick, voice-over: The first step
is to see if padding
will enhance that all
important look.
Angel: OK.
Billie: Do you know, I'm not--
yeah.
Angel: All right, see, I--
Billie: I'm not sure now.
Angel: Gee, I think you need to
clean this, personally.
Billie: I think you're--I
think you're right.
I think you're right.
I think I like the idea of
the sumptuousness,
but then once
it's on the glass,
you're not going to be--it's not
going to be touching it.
So it's only what happens
when you look in it.
Angel: So you're not--it's
whether--from my perspective,
it's whether you want to have
really decorative objects
or you want to keep it true
to how they used to display
curiosities.
And it was much more
just letting people
know the information.
I mean, you know, this
on its own--
Billie: And these are quite
weighty, aren't they?
So they're actually already
pulling down on that.
Angel: Let's just take
that corner off
and put this back on.
All right. Is that long
enough to...
Billie: This is so much cleaner
already, isn't it? It's better.
Angel: Yeah, I do. I think so.
Do you like it better?
Billie: I do.
You're absolutely right.
It's much cleaner,
flatter line.
And now they stand proud instead
of sinking back into it.
I think that's it.
That's your classic less is more
definitely working there.
Dick, voice-over:
I knew Angel would come good.
Can't wait to see what else
she's planning.
Angel: Lovely.
Dick, voice-over:
In Southeastern France,
Amy and Marc's eco-friendly
sewage system is taking shape.
They have disposed of all
the ash trees
and they got their
waste ponds.
Today, they face a
different challenge,
as they want to start digging
trenches for the pipes.
Amy: Pull it tighter because
the wind is blowing it.
They're not going to be
a straight line if
we leave it like that.
Dick, voice-over: They need to
connect the trenches
to all the outbuildings and
process the waste.
Amy: So where is it going
to join here?
Marc: Down here into
that poo box.
Dick, voice-over: They also have
to work their way down
a hundred meter slope
to the filter ponds.
Amy: One of the difficult bits
is we're up here on the mount
of the medieval castle and
the ponds are down here,
so actually the slope isn't
overall a big problem,
but we have a long bit on the
top of the level to get through,
so we have to make sure that the
slope continues to descend.
So that's what I'm relying
on Marc
and his amazing
mathematics to calculate.
I'm a perfectionist, me.
Dick, voice-over:
It's going to be a big job.
Amy: There's a baby pigeon on
the doorstep, Marc.
Just be careful.
Dick, voice-over:
The trench has to get deeper
as they cross the lawn.
Amy: [Imitates motor]
Dick, voice-over:
With Amy busy digging,
Marc needs to
make sure the trenches
are sloping enough to allow
gravity to do its thing.
Marc: I need to check if
the slope is right,
so for that, I use my
spirit level.
I take the horizontal along
the pipe.
And I just measure the gap
between the pipe
and the horizontal.
So this spirit level, these
80 centimeters,
which means that if I have a
5-centimeter difference
between my pipe
and the spirit level,
it means it's a 4-percent slope.
Let's check that.
So actually it's not so bad.
I have 4 centimeters,
which means that
the slope would be about--
well, a bit over 3 percent.
So that's really good.
Dick, voice-over:
With a slope like that,
the sewage should run to
the ponds freely.
Although it appears
Amy's unearthed a problem.
Amy: How do you break rock?
Dick, voice-over:
She's hit bedrock,
which is too tough for the
digger to cut through.
Amy: Why have you got
my pigeon?
- Just why did you--
- Did she want to come with me?
Marc: Is it too rocky?
Amy: I think so.
Look, what shall I do here?
I can feel the
ground shaking here.
What do you think?
How I go round or--
Marc: No, we can't really.
Amy: The problem is that we've
come down,
and then there's suddenly a nice
big lump of bedrock,
so we can't continue
the slope down, unfortunately.
We need to measure
the slope, really. Yeah.
Dick, voice-over:
Bedrock in the middle of
their planned pipe route
is the last thing they need,
especially when they still have
hundreds of meters to lay.
Marc: Yeah, so that's--yeah,
this bit is not so good.
Yeah, here we have less than
two centimeters on this portion,
so we'll need to try and break
these bits.
I might...
I might just have a go
with the jackhammer for that.
Dick, voice-over:
Finding a solid obstacle like
this is a big blow,
as they've barely covered
10 meters from the chateau.
Amy: By just looking at this,
it's supposed to be this gentle,
gradient earth to put a pipe in,
and it just looks like
a rollercoaster.
Maybe--maybe the sewage just
gets up some speed
so it can get over the bump.
Dick, voice-over:
It looks like their big job
is getting a whole lot bigger.
In northwest France, work in
Tim and Rebecca's
Meadow Suite
has been slow going.
Tim: A bit to me.
Dick, voice-over:
They varnished the floors
and restored an old bed frame,
but they were hoping to have
done a lot more.
Rebecca: Mind the chandeliers.
Dick, voice-over: Having been
fully booked with guests,
they've simply not had
the time.
Tim: Watch out.
Rebecca: Oh, that's in.
Dick, voice-over: So they've had
to make a big call.
We've closed the two
[indistinct] rooms that
we've got at the moment
just for a couple days
so that we can crack
on with renovations,
but obviously that means that we
don't bring any money in,
so it's always that juggle
between getting on
with the renovations to open a
third room to give us more money
and sacrificing bookings for a
couple days, so tricky.
Dick, voice-over:
Few decisions are easy.
Tim: Come lie down.
Rebecca: It's nice.
I like it.
Dick, voice-over: There's no
time to rest,
especially for Tim...
Rebecca: I bought tea towels
as requested.
Rebecca: as Rebecca spotted
that he's put
the wrong taps
on the washbasin.
Tim: So in the drawer, I have--
Rebecca: The nice taps.
Tim: Yeah?
Rebecca: See, look.
Look, the reason I like them
is because this
shape matches this shape.
Tim: It's beautiful.
Rebecca: And they're a bit
more art deco.
Tim: Yeah, for this one.
Rebecca: OK. Shout
me when you need me.
Tim: All right.
Rebecca: Thank you.
Tim: I've got a thing
for collecting old taps,
so I--whenever--I'm always
on the Internet
looking for old taps
or buying them in brocantes
or anything like that.
And I came to--you can buy them
when they've all been
refurbished
and they cost a fortune,
or you can buy them in really
bad condition
and they're relatively easy to
make work yourself.
And we quite like them when
they've got
that kind of patina
on them anyway.
So there are the taps with which
Rebecca wants to live here.
I prefer the other ones.
I think they're fine.
I quite like them.
They're a bit different.
Dick, voice-over:
I think you've already
lost this battle, Tim,
but there's
only one way to find out.
Tim: Taps.
Rebecca: Oh, yeah.
Tim: Yes? Happy?
Rebecca: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over: What's left to
do is test them out.
Rebecca: All right.
You ready?
Tim: Yeah.
[Whirring]
Rebecca: Oh.
Is it supposed
to make that noise?
Tim: I've never seen tap make
that noise before.
Rebecca: Hot's all right.
Tim: Just turn a little
bit faster now.
[Whirring]
Rebecca: What's that?
Tim: Don't know.
Dick, voice-over:
That doesn't sound healthy.
Tim: It's different, isn't it?
Dick, voice-over: It looks Tim's
going to have his work
cut out for a while yet.
Tim: I've never in my life
seen a tap do that.
Dick, voice-over:
Over at our place...
Angel: And we are not going
to hang around today.
Dick, voice-over: Angel's
helping chateau owner Billie
transform an old coffee table
into a 19th-century
display cabinet.
Billie: How many hours of
sanding have you done
since you moved
to the chateau?
Angel: You know what, I have
no idea.
I don't know. Hundreds?
Dick, voice-over:
Billie's hoping once the
curiosities are added,
it will be the centerpiece of
the room.
So tell me a bit
about the lobby.
Billie: It's going to be sort of
multipurpose.
And I'm going to
want a book club,
so we're going
to launch that.
Angel: Amazing.
Billie: And it's like
a book club weekend,
so it's a bit of,
well, combining food with books,
really.
And the rest of the
time, sitting, research,
reading, chilling out.
So it's pleasure, but
it is also business.
Billie: Yes.
Angel: Yeah.
Billie: It's both.
Dick, voice-over: It sounds like
the ideal combination to me.
With the sanding done,
Angel gives the coffee table
a dark varnish.
Billie: I like that.
Dick, voice-over:
But she's not finished yet.
Angel: Lovely.
Dick, voice-over:
As now she needs
to attach Billie's material
to the display shelf.
Angel: That's looking nice,
isn't it?
Dick, voice-over: And before
it's even properly finished,
they can't wait to
test it on the table.
Angel: Like this.
Billie: OK. And...
Angel: Yeah.
Billie: Now there we are.
Angel: Oh, of course, I don't
know where to put it in.
Billie: Oh, that's gorgeous.
Angel: Oh, that looks gorgeous.
Billie: Amazing.
Dick, voice-over:
Well done, ladies.
Now, it's just a case of adding
Billie's wonderful curiosities.
Angel: And you're just laying
them out exactly
how I would do it,
just straight lines,
how I would expect to see them,
you know.
And you know what, when
you put that bit of glass on,
that is going to be a gorgeous
moment for you.
Billie: That's working for me.
I'll tell you what, that really
is. I love it.
Angel: Well done.
It's really good.
Billie: Thank you so much
for your help.
Angel: And good use of
coffee tables.
Billie: Yeah.
Angel: It was average.
Billie: Yeah.
Average coffee table.
Billie: We've made an average
coffee table.
Billie: Superb historic display.
That is going to make the room.
Dick, voice-over: It's certainly
going to look impressive
once Billie puts
the glass on at home.
Billie: The idea of coffee table
meets display cabinet
has come
together brilliantly.
It's going to really be a nice
centerpiece for library.
It's going to really echo
the theme
of sort of curiosities
and science.
So it's great.
Can't be better.
Travel safely.
And I'd love to see
a picture of
the coffee table in situ.
Billie: I will see.
I'll send you a picture.
Angel: Please.
Billie: Thank you so much.
Angel: Bye.
Billie: Bye. Take care.
Dick, voice-over: I'm looking
forward to seeing
what other plans Billie has
for her library.
In southeastern France,
Amy and Marc's
eco-friendly sewage system
is moving a step closer.
They've smashed through the
bedrock and laid all the pipes.
Now they're ready to create
the first of the two ponds.
And deliveries are already
coming in.
Marc: First load, second
one to come.
Dick, voice-over: Before they
can do anything with the gravel,
they first
have to prepare the base.
Amy: The tarpaulin is what
stops the sewage
from just randomly leaking out
into the ground.
So, it's just a big
pond really.
It's the same--the top one is
just the same
as you do when you lie in
a pond.
Dick, voice-over: Although this
is not your average pond,
they're planting
reeds to process sewage.
Amy: As I understand it,
the reeds have an ability
to digest all of the sewage that
comes out of the toilets.
So, you have these two
different ponds
and one, the sewage flows
into it through--
it soaks down through
the gravel and sits there
and the reeds just
kind of eat it.
And then it gradually feeds
through to another pond,
which takes out the nasties,
like the nitrogen from it,
and makes it--
essentially purifies it.
And then it just--it's just
normal water
and it can just flow out
into the woods around.
So what we're going at the
moment is just the first pond
because you need to establish--
because it's plants,
you can't just like
stick them in
and expect them
to work straight away.
It will take a couple of years
to be fully up and running.
So, we have to get the
infrastructure right for it,
put some plants in,
and then gradually expand it
until both ponds are working.
Dick, voice-over: It's taken all
morning for Marc
to put down the lining
for the first pond.
Marc: Perfect.
Dick, voice-over: Their
next task is to transport
10 tons of gravel
down the hundred meter slope.
Amy: Ohh!
Dick, voice-over:
It's not going to be easy.
Amy: Do you want me to do it?
Marc: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over:
So Amy offers to help out.
Jobs like these require
a very steady hand.
Amy: Sorry.
Dick, voice-over:
Practice will make perfect.
To help speed things up,
they've roped in mate Kate.
Amy: It still just looks
like it'd be a really
good swimming pool.
What a waste.
Dick, voice-over:
A bit late for that now.
Marc: You see the roots,
pebbles.
Dick, voice-over:
With some of the gravel in...
Amy: How deep?
Marc: Just--it's just about
stabilizing, so the...
Dick, voice-over:
Amy's planting the reeds.
Amy: It's very satisfying doing
this bit.
It feels like we're
reaching--I know it's
not finished, finished,
but it feels like we're
reaching the end
and we're creating
something quite special here.
I know it's sewage,
but it's quite cool
to be able to do
something so sustainable.
Dick, voice-over:
I'm with you there, Amy.
Amy: It may look like
it's not terribly
spectacular at the moment,
but from that little bit, we
will gradually expand it.
As the reeds grow,
we'll put more in,
and the whole thing
will just emerge organically.
And so really, what we need to
do now is pour some water
from the spring down the pipe
and let nature do its work.
Marc: Ready?
Amy: Ready.
Oh. That was
dirtier than I thought.
Marc: I just pood in the pipe.
Amy: This very glamorous
chateau life,
we get excited about things like
sewage rather than the--
Marc: I find sewage
quite exciting.
Amy: Yeah.
You're weird, though.
Dick, voice-over: It's been
an epic task
which is a couple
of years from being finished.
However, it's the
first crucial step
towards completing the
eco-sewage system.
Amy: I mean, there's a slight
limit as to
how excited you can
get about sewage.
But I'm quite pleased that
we're actually
coming towards the end
of a major project.
And, yeah, just having an answer
to the immense sewage problems
of the chateau would be very,
very satisfying.
Marc: Yeah, I'm quite pleased to
start seeing
the light at the
end of the tunnel.
Amy: He has been working
on this for so long.
Marc: Yeah. I'd really like to
start another project now.
And it's been--this one has been
lasting a bit too long.
Amy: Yeah. [Laughs]
Dick, voice-over:
In northwest France...
Tim: You all right?
Rebecca: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over: Tim and
Rebecca are close to finishing
their new family Meadow Suite.
Tim: I don't like it.
All right. Here we go.
Rebecca: Good.
Tim: Let's go now.
Rebecca: Slightly wonky, but
then most of the pitch
in this house
is slightly wonky.
Dick, voiceover: In the suite's
second bedroom,
Tim is constructing
some old bed frames
left by the previous owners.
Tim: We think it's nice
to use stuff
that was in the house
rather than--
rather than getting new stuff
every time.
Dick, voice-over: They don't
need much work, either.
Nothing a little bit
of glue won't sort out anyway.
Tim: Yes. So they just finish
them off nicely.
They kind of add to the--they're
very chateau-y.
They're quite traditional
French beds,
but they're quite
grand as well, so.
Dick, voice-over: In the
bathroom, Rebecca's adding
the final bits of decoration
and is very happy now
the noisy tap problem has been
resolved.
Rebecca: What it was
was a loose washer
kind of vibrating when
the water
was coming through
under pressure.
So Tim's just put some new
washers in I think, but, yeah,
I don't think he was
particularly pleased with me
because he liked the other
taps better.
But I like these ones and now
they work, so that's fine.
So we're all good.
Dick, voice-over:
It's taken 3 months,
but Tim and Rebecca have finally
done it.
The old room has been
transformed from an empty space
into an elegant family
guest suite
that has style and
sophistication.
Tim: I had no idea what it's
going to look like.
Rebecca: That's because you're
not in my head.
Tim: Literally right up
until it was done.
Dick, voice-over:
Dressed up with fabrics
and rustic furniture,
the arts and crafts theme honors
the history of this
wonderful chateau.
In the second bedroom,
the antique bed frames give it
the charm of centuries ago.
While the bathroom combines
modern fixtures
with vintage finds, creating a
stylish mix of old and new.
Rebecca: I feel a bit relieved
that the Meadow Suite's complete
because it's been
a long time coming.
Tim: Yeah, I feel relieved
as well.
Rebecca: Having 3 rooms
ready for guests
is going to be a big
help financially.
Tim: We can see that we can
survive this year now,
where at the beginning
of the year,
we really couldn't see if we can
survive this year.
Rebecca: Yeah. So we kind of
feel comfortable now
that we won't have to pack our
bags and leave.
It's just really...
Tim: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over: Here's
hoping they have lots
more guests to stay.
Next time, I check in on Ben
and Billie.
This is a big old build.
This is not a trivial
sort of amount of work.
Dick, voice-over: As they start
the next stage of their library.
Billie: I think it's working
out.
I've actually really, really
enjoyed doing this.
Dick, voice-over: Tim and
Rebecca face an uphill battle.
Tim: I think we are 10%, 15% in,
which doesn't feel very good.
Dick, voice-over: And Amy and
Marc have their work cut out...
[Grunts]
as they go in
search of chateau relics.
Amy: He won't be able to leave
this now.
Every time he has
5 minutes to spare,
he'll be in here with
the jackhammer.
I'm Dick Strawbridge.
And with my wife, Angel, and our
two children...
Boy: Let's go get it!
Dick: we're nearly 5 years
into our French adventure...
It's heavy.
restoring this once
abandoned chateau.
We have another capability on
the chateau.
Dick, voice-over: It's brought
plenty of challenges...
Phew.
but also some amazing rewards.
Angel: I love you.
Dick, voice-over:
And across France,
there are dozens of
other Brits
who've bought their own
chateaus.
Oh, my.
Dick, voice-over: Now Angel
and I are once again
lending a hand to other
expat chateau owners.
Angel: Sometimes, simplicity
is the way forward.
Dick, voice-over:
We'll meet some old friends...
Man: We don't need instructions,
only when it goes wrong.
Dick, voice-over:
and new faces.
Woman: Ooh, look at that.
Dick, voice-over:
There'll be plenty of ups...
Woman: Oh!
Dick, voice-over:
and downs.
Man: We can't ruin
the wedding meal
by eating outside in the rain.
Dick, voice-over:
But no matter what,
these plucky Brits...
Ooh.
Dick, voice-over:
will stop at nothing...
No. Steve--whoa. Steven.
Dick, voice-over: to ensure
these once unloved buildings...
I think I've made a hole.
Dick, voice-over: become
the homes of their dreams.
Woman: That is amazing.
Dick, voice-over: Today...
Woman: OK. Mind the chandeliers.
Dick, voice-over: two B&B owners
start their next project.
Man: It's definitely
the worst job.
Dick, voice-over: But don't
always see eye to eye.
Woman: Do you not like it?
Man: No.
What don't you like about it?
Man: Everything.
Billie?
Billie: Yeah?
Dick, voice-over: One couple
make an amazing discovery...
Man: Almost perfect.
Billie: Oh, my gosh.
No, that's perfect.
Dick, voice-over: and call on
Angel to lend a hand.
Like an old friend
coming back for tea.
With a--with a trailer.
Dick, voice-over: And new
chateau owners have
a battle on their hands...
as they try to finish off their
first colossal project.
Woman: By just looking at this,
it's supposed to be this
gentle, gradient earth
to put a pipe in, and it just
looks like a rollercoaster.
Dick, voice-over: Trying to
build up any Chateau business
takes time and money
and could be especially
tough during the winter months.
Lincolnshire couple Tim and
Rebecca and their two children
moved into the 24-room
Chateau de la Ruche
18 months ago and have opened it
up as a B&B.
Rebecca:
We've put everything into it.
It's been kind of 24/7,
lots of hard work,
but having the opportunity to
restore a place like this
is, kind of--we're
just really lucky
and really privileged to be
able to do it.
Dick, voice-over:
Located a stone's throw
away from Angel and I
in the Pays de
la Loire region,
they have so far created two
beautiful high-end suites.
And after a
slow start to winter...
Man: Hiya, how you doing?
Rebecca: Hi. Come on in.
Dick, voice-over:
they've welcomed their
first winter guests.
Rebecca: It's really nice to
have money coming in
and to feel like there's
a possibility
that the business
will succeed.
Hello. Come on in.
Dick, voice-over: They now want
to boost their income
by opening a third guest suite.
Rebecca: Yes. If we get this
bed out of here and...
Dick, voice-over: And have been
collecting loads of stuff
in one of their
outbuildings.
Tim: In here, we've got various
bits
of furniture
that came out of the house.
Yeah. And lovely things that
we've bought
that we don't know
a home for yet.
Dick, voice-over: Today, Rebecca
wants to start restoring
one of the old bed frames they
picked up at a local brocante.
Tim: When did we buy it?
Rebecca: I don't know.
Tim: October.
Rebecca: It's one of the first
things we bought, like--
Tim: October 2017.
Rebecca: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over: Although Tim's
not sure it's a good idea.
Tim: That's a lovely bed
for the Meadow Suite.
Rebecca: Do you not like it?
Tim: No.
Rebecca: Why did you let me buy
it if you didn't like it?
Tim: Because it was like
10 quid.
What don't you like about it?
Tim: Well, everything.
What is there to like about it?
I don't know. It's fine.
As long as it--
when it cleans up
so it doesn't look like it's
been sat
in some smoker's bedroom
where it clearly has been over
the last--
Rebecca: It's been sat in
a smoker's bedroom.
It'll be fine. Be fine, I'll
make it look beautiful.
Oh. Don't break things.
To grip on this, I think.
Tim: It's really awkward,
isn't it?
Rebecca: That's better.
There's probably untold
disgustingness
going on our hair now.
Dick, voice-over:
The new room,
which they've named
the Meadow Suite,
is targeted at families,
as it has two bedrooms
and a large en suite.
It's on the ground floor,
so at least they don't have to
take the bed frames upstairs.
Look, it's going to look
lovely green. You think?
Tim: Yeah. I'm all over that.
Rebecca: Oh, you. There's no
point asking you, is there?
Tim: No, come on, show me.
Rebecca: No, no. Oh, dear.
Tim: What's the other
fabric for?
Rebecca: The other fabric
is for cushions.
Tim: The thing is I don't
think my eyes see it
the same as yours.
Rebecca: No, I don't, because
your eyes are special.
Tim: Yeah. It's--yeah,
it's your choice.
Rebecca: What's wrong with it?
Tim: Nothing. I just see--I--
it just, uh,
it doesn't--I guess the colors
just look--don't work.
Rebecca: Well, it always
looks--it's always difficult
when you've got a tiny-weeny bit
of fabric.
Tim: Yeah.
Rebecca: And you can't see it,
but it's going to look lovely.
Tim: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over: While Rebecca
makes a start on the upholstery,
next door in the en suite, Tim
has a less creative task--
grouting the intricate patterns
on the new mosaic floor tiles.
Tim: Just a time-consuming job
really.
So it has to be done.
It's, uh, it's just not
my favorite job.
Rebecca: It looks beautiful.
I'm sure it's worth the pain.
Tim: Hmm. The thing is I'm
halfway through that bag.
I've got the two bags after
that one.
It's actually depressing.
Rebecca: Just...
Tim: Shut up and go away.
Rebecca: So rude.
Dick, voice-over:
Keep at it, Tim.
As the saying goes,
no pain no gain.
90 miles south lies the stunning
19th century Chateau
la Grande Maison.
It's set on 3 acres of land
and even has its own river.
It's owned
by musicians Ben and Billie
who live there with their
daughter Ella.
They've been renovating
it into a guesthouse
and events venue for the last
8 years.
Billie: We feel like
we're custodians of
this wonderful house,
and we're passionate
about learning
and telling the history of
the place.
Ben: So far, it's been
7 years' work
and we've probably still
got another 3 or 4 years,
and then I'm sure there'll be
projects after that as well.
I think it's going to be
a life's work.
- Yeah. At least.
- It's at least a life's work.
Dick, voice-over: Located a few
miles from the Loire Valley,
the next room to be refurbished
is the old library
where they want to start hosting
book club events.
Ben: Lift it. OK.
There, there.
Dick, voice-over: It's
proved to be a tricky job,
as most of their time
has been spent
restoring the old skylight.
Ben: I really love it.
Billie: Well done, well done.
Ben: Thank you.
Billie: It's excellent.
Dick, voice-over: Now Ben
and Billie can turn
their attention
to styling the library.
They're planning to celebrate
the past,
including the renowned botanist
who lived here in the
19th century.
Ben: The library in its heyday
was probably the creative hub
of the house.
It's where the botanist did all
his discoveries.
So we're trying to bring some
of the history back to the room.
Dick, voice-over: Today, they're
on the hunt for curiosities
that lie even
further back in time.
Ben: We quite often find fossils
close to the bank
or in the bank as the water
sort of washes by
in the winter.
So a good place where we look
is around by the edges,
around the bases of the trees,
even molehills because the
moles dig up all the stones
and earth and we find them
in there.
Dick, voice-over: Unbelievably,
they can find plenty of fossils,
as the chateau lies on a
Jurassic seabed.
The area used to be
completely covered in water.
Ben: There's a little bit
of one.
Billie: So ammonites and things,
we can find.
Ben: It's not a great one, but
there's a fossil there.
Billie: Really?
Well, that is--that was
obviously a shell at some point.
But that's not a
very good example.
Ben: No, it's not a--it's not
a great example,
but we've only been looking for
that about 60 seconds.
Billie: The thing is I always
find the best fossils, I do.
Ben: No, you don't.
It's not true.
Billie: Well, mainly because I'm
closer to the ground, right?
Ben: That's true.
Billie: No, that's a reject.
So I'm not going to let him come
fossil hunting with me
if he picks up rubbish.
I mean, there's so many leaves
on the ground.
Are you kidding me? No.
Ben: That is a definitely
a--there you go.
Dick, voice-over:
Today, they've managed to
collect over a 150 fossils
that have passed
Billie's quality control.
Ben: Here's one.
Billie.
Billie: Yeah?
Ben: Got a great one.
Billie: Are you sure?
Ben: Most definitely.
Billie: I don't want to just
come around and reject it.
Ben: No. You're not going to
reject this one.
Almost perfect.
Billie: Oh my gosh.
No, that's perfect.
It's very small,
but perfectly formed.
Ben: That is a 150 million years
old. Come on.
Billie: You win today's prize.
Ben: Excellent.
Billie: That is really
beautiful.
I don't think that's going to
quite make
a centerpiece in the
library though, Ben.
Dick, voice-over: It's still
pretty special, though.
At our place, Angel is
the queen of curiosities...
It's going to be like a big
explosion of butterflies
that are going to go up the wall
and the ceiling.
Dick, voice-over: and has
created many wonderful displays.
Angel: There's so much to see
in here, isn't there?
Dick, voice-over:
So Billie's paying a visit...
Hello!
Angel: Billie!
Billie: Ahoy.
Dick, voice-over:
To see if Angel could come up
with some creative magic for
her fossils.
Like, an old friend
coming back for tea.
With a--with a trailer.
Billie: I know. This time--this
time the trailer.
Angel: Oh my God, it's
surprisingly light.
Dick, voice-over: Billie's
hoping to display them
in an old secondhand
coffee table
but needs some
help converting it.
Billie: I actually wrapped this
up like a Christmas parcel.
Angel: Hey. Nice.
Billie: So here we go.
Angel: Oh, right, OK.
So I see.
So you've got
two bits of glass.
Billie: Two bits of glass.
Angel: That just fit into there.
Billie: Yeah.
Just sitting there.
OK. So I'm thinking of
your--maybe, you know,
like, the relic cases,
the old display relic cases.
Angel: Yeah, I know exactly.
Gorgeous.
Oh, I love a display cabinet.
Dick, voice-over: I can't wait
to see what Angel comes up with.
This is the beautiful
13th century Chateau Rosiere,
which lies on 130 acres.
It's been home for last
12 months to Brit Amy
and French husband, Marc, who
fell in love with the place
as soon as they saw it.
Amy: As we drove down
the driveway,
we started to see this sort of
magical forest atmosphere
and the house emerge
from the forest.
And you could see for miles,
you could see the Alps in
the distance.
And we felt really peaceful and
happy in the land,
and then came the house.
Dick, voice-over: Located
an hour and a half's
drive from Lyon,
they want to
run the chateau as a B&B
and host yoga retreats in
the outbuildings.
But it all needs updating.
That includes putting in a whole
new sewage system.
Amy: I've often felt very
overwhelmed.
Are you overwhelmed?
Marc: I'm sometimes overwhelmed,
and then when they look
at the view,
I find it's nice to live
here, that I'm not anymore.
[Laughter]
Dick, voice-over: They recently
started plumbing the chateau,
but now need to sort out where
the waste will end up.
They want to be eco-friendly, so
have decided to create
two natural waste ponds a
hundred meters down a slope
at the end of their garden.
Amy: It's taking a bit longer
than I'd hoped down here.
The thing was,
we had some ash trees
growing around, and ashes
drink water.
So we had to cut them and move
them out of the way,
and we'll plant other
trees nearby instead
that will not plant their seeds
in it
and won't drink the water
and destroy the lining
and things.
Dick, voice-over:
Cutting down ash trees
is just the tip of the iceberg
on this massive project.
Amy: We are down here
because we're going to put
two sewage ponds side by side.
Pipes are going to run straight
up where the tractor lines are
and then they branch just
below the wall
around the original
fortification,
and there will be pipes that go
off to every building
so that this will be the sewage
pond for all the buildings.
Dick, voice-over:
It's an epic task,
and they're planning on doing
most of it by themselves.
Amy: And we have a digger.
How hard can it be?
Dick, voice-over:
There's so much to do
before they can even dig
out the ponds.
Marc has to remove
the tree stumps.
Marc: So that's one done,
about 5 more to go.
Dick, voice-over: Amy's job
meanwhile is to get rid
of the branches through
a woods chipping machine.
But she's already struggling.
Amy: Right.
Oh, I think I broke
the shredder.
Marc: Did you break the tractor?
Amy: Not the tractor.
It's possible something happened
to the shredder.
Marc: OK.
Amy: Oh.
Hello.
Yeah, that is a bit jammed.
It's all a bit caught up.
So I didn't--
it wasn't my fault.
Marc: A little bit, I would say.
Amy: That was very polite.
Dick, voice-over: Jamming a
shredder is reasonably easy.
And it's usually caused by
putting in oversized branches.
Luckily, it's an easy fix.
Marc: That's it.
Amy.
Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
Amy: All right. Stop, stop,
stop, stop, stop.
I don't know why
it keeps jamming.
It wasn't even a big bit.
Dick, voice-over: Smoke is not
a good sign in a machine.
Amy: There is still a bit in
here. Hold up.
I can't reach.
It is working, but I notice
he's only putting
very tiny twigs in there.
So either he's being
sensible or cheating.
I can't work out which.
Dick, voice-over:
Shredding branches
is always a long ol' job.
Over at Chateau de la Ruche,
Tim and Rebecca have moved
onto cleaning the floors of
their new Meadow Suite
in preparation
for varnishing it later.
Rebecca: It's hard on
your knees,
but apparently good for my bingo
wings according to Tim.
Dick, voice-over: They're hoping
an extra room for their B&B
will bring in more income
and help make the
chateau pay for itself.
Tim: There's definitely
a worse job--
grouting that bathroom floor.
I'm never doing the bathroom
floor ever again.
Rebecca: It's done now.
Dick, voice-over: With grouting
of the bathroom floor finished,
a shower is being put in
and a washbasin fitted.
Now Rebecca wants to begin
styling the rest of the suite
and has a clear idea of
how she wants it to look.
Rebecca: The theme for
this room is kind of
loosely arts and crafts.
So, this end of the house was--
they started to
build it in 1910,
so originally, the chateau was
the main centerpiece
and then, as you look
at it, the right-hand wing.
And then this wing, they
started it in 1910,
and they had to stop because the
First World War broke out,
and then they finished it after
the First World War.
So there's kind of loose sort of
arts and crafts theme to it,
so I've got some lovely William
Morris fabric for the cushions,
and I wanted it to be quite--
it's kind of green and
pink and gold,
so quite kind of
rich and opulent and a bit--
a bit glammed,
but not overly glam.
Dick, voice-over:
First stage of her vision is
to finish off upholstering
the old bed which she's covering
in green velvet fabric.
Very physical upholstery.
It looks easy,
but a really hard work.
That looks good, doesn't it?
Rebecca: Yeah. I think so.
I need to put the trim on
and then we'll see.
Tim: Yeah, it's cool.
Dick, voice-over: Having got
Tim's seal of approval,
Rebecca has set him a
challenge of his own.
An electricity meter sticks out
of one of the walls,
so she wants him to find a way
to hide it
behind a specially commissioned
picture of their chateau.
Rebecca: So the plan is what?
How are you building this box
cupboard thing?
with your--with your superior
carpentry skills.
Tim: With my amazing carpentry
skills,
I'm going to cut 4 bits of wood,
and I'm going to
use the classic box joint
to screw them together.
Rebecca: OK.
Tim: And I bought some hinges,
like kitchen cupboard hinges.
Rebecca: And how are you fixing
this to the wall?
Tim: I haven't thought
about that yet.
Rebecca: OK. Good.
Tim: It'll be fine.
Dick, voice-over:
It's a simple idea.
Tim wants to build a cupboard
around the meter
and use the picture as the door,
which should hopefully
do the trick.
Although it always sounds
easier than it actually is.
Yeah. My hastily chosen
hinges mean that
I've made a cupboard that closes
perfectly
but can only open about
halfway.
So I'm going to have
to lift these hinges up.
Oops.
Dick, voice-over: If in doubt,
Tim, try and try again.
There's no other answer.
Tim: That'll do.
It works. Wow.
Dick, voice-over: That's the
technical bit done.
Now it's time to see if
it gets Rebecca's blessing.
Rebecca: Can you hold it by
yourself so I can look at it?
Tim: Yeah.
I think it looks lovely.
It hides the ugly thing.
It's much prettier than
that thing.
Tim: It's not very heavy,
actually.
Rebecca: No.
You're so...
Dick, voice-over:
Good effort, Tim.
But there's a lot more
decoration to be done
before the suite is
ready for guests.
Over at our place...
Billie: Oh, gorgeous.
Dick, voice-over:
chateau owner Billie is
hoping Angel can help her
transform a coffee table into a
19th-century display cabinet
for her collection of
pre-historic curiosities.
Angel: Oh, wow. These are foo
foo doo doo doo.
Billie: In our area, in
the garden, we find ammonites,
fossils, stone age tools.
Angel: So these are from
your garden?
Billie: Yeah.
Angel: That is amazing.
I cannot believe it.
In terms of free art,
it could be any--
It doesn't get any--it
doesn't get any better, does it?
Especially, you know--you
know, it's a bit corny,
but you always think,
you know, your chateau
chose you, yeah.
And, you know, with the
wallpaper museum,
the water garden for Dick,
and always feel
there's a romantic story
that we were meant to find this
chateau.
I think for you, I feel like
a bit the same, yeah.
Billie: I feel that too as well.
It's like a little piece of
paradise that we live next to.
Angel: So basically, you
have got a museum.
Billie: So, yeah.
Angel: This is incredible.
Dick, voice-over:
For the display cabinet,
Billie has brought along her
own material.
Angel: I think, especially
seeing this red now,
that makes me think of
the old Victorian
sort of curiosity cabinets,
because they were really dark
and rich, weren't they?
Billie: And do you
think--I mean, I was wondering
if it might look a bit flat
just on the wood
or whether or not to put--maybe
pad it a bit.
You know, those sort of
relic jars they have here?
Angel: Oh, I see. Yeah.
Billie: I don't know if
maybe a little bit of
padding might work or--
Angel: Do you know what
I have got?
I've got--I've got oodles of
Dacron.
So, like, this spongy stuff
that you would--
when you do chairs, you do it
to smooth it over.
However, you may not need it.
It may sort of add a shadow to
them that you don't like.
Yeah, right.
Because the display cabinets
that I've got upstairs,
I've just laid them
sort of flat.
Dick, voice-over:
Over the years,
I've built lots of display
pieces for Angel.
One of her favorites is
kept in our Bordeaux Suite,
and it's filled with some of her
most treasured possessions.
Billie: Oh, yes.
Angel: So this is just one of
the display cabinets.
So, you know, I've got some
massive books in here.
These are this--look,
look at this.
Billie: I love it.
Angel: Hang my nylons.
Billie: Hang my nylons.
So you take that with you
on your holiday.
Oh, there's teeny tiny pegs.
Angel: Adorable, isn't it?
And there was a time
in my life
that I used to wear
stockings every day.
Billie: Wow.
Angel: Every single day.
Billie: That's a commitment.
Angel: It's a commitment.
Now I'm permanently in green
trousers, bows.
My life has changed.
Billie: Yeah. Yeah.
Angel: But one thing I just want
to say on here
is that actually what I did was
literally varnish
the piece of wood underneath.
Billie: Yes, the wood itself
looks so nice.
You don't need anything
else, do you?
Angel: Yes. So sometimes
simplicity is the way forward.
We got a good view.
Dick, voice-over: And that is
the way Angel is planning
to tackle Billie's
display table.
Angel: OK. This is the
stuff you made.
Billie: Oh, yes.
Dick, voice-over: The first step
is to see if padding
will enhance that all
important look.
Angel: OK.
Billie: Do you know, I'm not--
yeah.
Angel: All right, see, I--
Billie: I'm not sure now.
Angel: Gee, I think you need to
clean this, personally.
Billie: I think you're--I
think you're right.
I think you're right.
I think I like the idea of
the sumptuousness,
but then once
it's on the glass,
you're not going to be--it's not
going to be touching it.
So it's only what happens
when you look in it.
Angel: So you're not--it's
whether--from my perspective,
it's whether you want to have
really decorative objects
or you want to keep it true
to how they used to display
curiosities.
And it was much more
just letting people
know the information.
I mean, you know, this
on its own--
Billie: And these are quite
weighty, aren't they?
So they're actually already
pulling down on that.
Angel: Let's just take
that corner off
and put this back on.
All right. Is that long
enough to...
Billie: This is so much cleaner
already, isn't it? It's better.
Angel: Yeah, I do. I think so.
Do you like it better?
Billie: I do.
You're absolutely right.
It's much cleaner,
flatter line.
And now they stand proud instead
of sinking back into it.
I think that's it.
That's your classic less is more
definitely working there.
Dick, voice-over:
I knew Angel would come good.
Can't wait to see what else
she's planning.
Angel: Lovely.
Dick, voice-over:
In Southeastern France,
Amy and Marc's eco-friendly
sewage system is taking shape.
They have disposed of all
the ash trees
and they got their
waste ponds.
Today, they face a
different challenge,
as they want to start digging
trenches for the pipes.
Amy: Pull it tighter because
the wind is blowing it.
They're not going to be
a straight line if
we leave it like that.
Dick, voice-over: They need to
connect the trenches
to all the outbuildings and
process the waste.
Amy: So where is it going
to join here?
Marc: Down here into
that poo box.
Dick, voice-over: They also have
to work their way down
a hundred meter slope
to the filter ponds.
Amy: One of the difficult bits
is we're up here on the mount
of the medieval castle and
the ponds are down here,
so actually the slope isn't
overall a big problem,
but we have a long bit on the
top of the level to get through,
so we have to make sure that the
slope continues to descend.
So that's what I'm relying
on Marc
and his amazing
mathematics to calculate.
I'm a perfectionist, me.
Dick, voice-over:
It's going to be a big job.
Amy: There's a baby pigeon on
the doorstep, Marc.
Just be careful.
Dick, voice-over:
The trench has to get deeper
as they cross the lawn.
Amy: [Imitates motor]
Dick, voice-over:
With Amy busy digging,
Marc needs to
make sure the trenches
are sloping enough to allow
gravity to do its thing.
Marc: I need to check if
the slope is right,
so for that, I use my
spirit level.
I take the horizontal along
the pipe.
And I just measure the gap
between the pipe
and the horizontal.
So this spirit level, these
80 centimeters,
which means that if I have a
5-centimeter difference
between my pipe
and the spirit level,
it means it's a 4-percent slope.
Let's check that.
So actually it's not so bad.
I have 4 centimeters,
which means that
the slope would be about--
well, a bit over 3 percent.
So that's really good.
Dick, voice-over:
With a slope like that,
the sewage should run to
the ponds freely.
Although it appears
Amy's unearthed a problem.
Amy: How do you break rock?
Dick, voice-over:
She's hit bedrock,
which is too tough for the
digger to cut through.
Amy: Why have you got
my pigeon?
- Just why did you--
- Did she want to come with me?
Marc: Is it too rocky?
Amy: I think so.
Look, what shall I do here?
I can feel the
ground shaking here.
What do you think?
How I go round or--
Marc: No, we can't really.
Amy: The problem is that we've
come down,
and then there's suddenly a nice
big lump of bedrock,
so we can't continue
the slope down, unfortunately.
We need to measure
the slope, really. Yeah.
Dick, voice-over:
Bedrock in the middle of
their planned pipe route
is the last thing they need,
especially when they still have
hundreds of meters to lay.
Marc: Yeah, so that's--yeah,
this bit is not so good.
Yeah, here we have less than
two centimeters on this portion,
so we'll need to try and break
these bits.
I might...
I might just have a go
with the jackhammer for that.
Dick, voice-over:
Finding a solid obstacle like
this is a big blow,
as they've barely covered
10 meters from the chateau.
Amy: By just looking at this,
it's supposed to be this gentle,
gradient earth to put a pipe in,
and it just looks like
a rollercoaster.
Maybe--maybe the sewage just
gets up some speed
so it can get over the bump.
Dick, voice-over:
It looks like their big job
is getting a whole lot bigger.
In northwest France, work in
Tim and Rebecca's
Meadow Suite
has been slow going.
Tim: A bit to me.
Dick, voice-over:
They varnished the floors
and restored an old bed frame,
but they were hoping to have
done a lot more.
Rebecca: Mind the chandeliers.
Dick, voice-over: Having been
fully booked with guests,
they've simply not had
the time.
Tim: Watch out.
Rebecca: Oh, that's in.
Dick, voice-over: So they've had
to make a big call.
We've closed the two
[indistinct] rooms that
we've got at the moment
just for a couple days
so that we can crack
on with renovations,
but obviously that means that we
don't bring any money in,
so it's always that juggle
between getting on
with the renovations to open a
third room to give us more money
and sacrificing bookings for a
couple days, so tricky.
Dick, voice-over:
Few decisions are easy.
Tim: Come lie down.
Rebecca: It's nice.
I like it.
Dick, voice-over: There's no
time to rest,
especially for Tim...
Rebecca: I bought tea towels
as requested.
Rebecca: as Rebecca spotted
that he's put
the wrong taps
on the washbasin.
Tim: So in the drawer, I have--
Rebecca: The nice taps.
Tim: Yeah?
Rebecca: See, look.
Look, the reason I like them
is because this
shape matches this shape.
Tim: It's beautiful.
Rebecca: And they're a bit
more art deco.
Tim: Yeah, for this one.
Rebecca: OK. Shout
me when you need me.
Tim: All right.
Rebecca: Thank you.
Tim: I've got a thing
for collecting old taps,
so I--whenever--I'm always
on the Internet
looking for old taps
or buying them in brocantes
or anything like that.
And I came to--you can buy them
when they've all been
refurbished
and they cost a fortune,
or you can buy them in really
bad condition
and they're relatively easy to
make work yourself.
And we quite like them when
they've got
that kind of patina
on them anyway.
So there are the taps with which
Rebecca wants to live here.
I prefer the other ones.
I think they're fine.
I quite like them.
They're a bit different.
Dick, voice-over:
I think you've already
lost this battle, Tim,
but there's
only one way to find out.
Tim: Taps.
Rebecca: Oh, yeah.
Tim: Yes? Happy?
Rebecca: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over: What's left to
do is test them out.
Rebecca: All right.
You ready?
Tim: Yeah.
[Whirring]
Rebecca: Oh.
Is it supposed
to make that noise?
Tim: I've never seen tap make
that noise before.
Rebecca: Hot's all right.
Tim: Just turn a little
bit faster now.
[Whirring]
Rebecca: What's that?
Tim: Don't know.
Dick, voice-over:
That doesn't sound healthy.
Tim: It's different, isn't it?
Dick, voice-over: It looks Tim's
going to have his work
cut out for a while yet.
Tim: I've never in my life
seen a tap do that.
Dick, voice-over:
Over at our place...
Angel: And we are not going
to hang around today.
Dick, voice-over: Angel's
helping chateau owner Billie
transform an old coffee table
into a 19th-century
display cabinet.
Billie: How many hours of
sanding have you done
since you moved
to the chateau?
Angel: You know what, I have
no idea.
I don't know. Hundreds?
Dick, voice-over:
Billie's hoping once the
curiosities are added,
it will be the centerpiece of
the room.
So tell me a bit
about the lobby.
Billie: It's going to be sort of
multipurpose.
And I'm going to
want a book club,
so we're going
to launch that.
Angel: Amazing.
Billie: And it's like
a book club weekend,
so it's a bit of,
well, combining food with books,
really.
And the rest of the
time, sitting, research,
reading, chilling out.
So it's pleasure, but
it is also business.
Billie: Yes.
Angel: Yeah.
Billie: It's both.
Dick, voice-over: It sounds like
the ideal combination to me.
With the sanding done,
Angel gives the coffee table
a dark varnish.
Billie: I like that.
Dick, voice-over:
But she's not finished yet.
Angel: Lovely.
Dick, voice-over:
As now she needs
to attach Billie's material
to the display shelf.
Angel: That's looking nice,
isn't it?
Dick, voice-over: And before
it's even properly finished,
they can't wait to
test it on the table.
Angel: Like this.
Billie: OK. And...
Angel: Yeah.
Billie: Now there we are.
Angel: Oh, of course, I don't
know where to put it in.
Billie: Oh, that's gorgeous.
Angel: Oh, that looks gorgeous.
Billie: Amazing.
Dick, voice-over:
Well done, ladies.
Now, it's just a case of adding
Billie's wonderful curiosities.
Angel: And you're just laying
them out exactly
how I would do it,
just straight lines,
how I would expect to see them,
you know.
And you know what, when
you put that bit of glass on,
that is going to be a gorgeous
moment for you.
Billie: That's working for me.
I'll tell you what, that really
is. I love it.
Angel: Well done.
It's really good.
Billie: Thank you so much
for your help.
Angel: And good use of
coffee tables.
Billie: Yeah.
Angel: It was average.
Billie: Yeah.
Average coffee table.
Billie: We've made an average
coffee table.
Billie: Superb historic display.
That is going to make the room.
Dick, voice-over: It's certainly
going to look impressive
once Billie puts
the glass on at home.
Billie: The idea of coffee table
meets display cabinet
has come
together brilliantly.
It's going to really be a nice
centerpiece for library.
It's going to really echo
the theme
of sort of curiosities
and science.
So it's great.
Can't be better.
Travel safely.
And I'd love to see
a picture of
the coffee table in situ.
Billie: I will see.
I'll send you a picture.
Angel: Please.
Billie: Thank you so much.
Angel: Bye.
Billie: Bye. Take care.
Dick, voice-over: I'm looking
forward to seeing
what other plans Billie has
for her library.
In southeastern France,
Amy and Marc's
eco-friendly sewage system
is moving a step closer.
They've smashed through the
bedrock and laid all the pipes.
Now they're ready to create
the first of the two ponds.
And deliveries are already
coming in.
Marc: First load, second
one to come.
Dick, voice-over: Before they
can do anything with the gravel,
they first
have to prepare the base.
Amy: The tarpaulin is what
stops the sewage
from just randomly leaking out
into the ground.
So, it's just a big
pond really.
It's the same--the top one is
just the same
as you do when you lie in
a pond.
Dick, voice-over: Although this
is not your average pond,
they're planting
reeds to process sewage.
Amy: As I understand it,
the reeds have an ability
to digest all of the sewage that
comes out of the toilets.
So, you have these two
different ponds
and one, the sewage flows
into it through--
it soaks down through
the gravel and sits there
and the reeds just
kind of eat it.
And then it gradually feeds
through to another pond,
which takes out the nasties,
like the nitrogen from it,
and makes it--
essentially purifies it.
And then it just--it's just
normal water
and it can just flow out
into the woods around.
So what we're going at the
moment is just the first pond
because you need to establish--
because it's plants,
you can't just like
stick them in
and expect them
to work straight away.
It will take a couple of years
to be fully up and running.
So, we have to get the
infrastructure right for it,
put some plants in,
and then gradually expand it
until both ponds are working.
Dick, voice-over: It's taken all
morning for Marc
to put down the lining
for the first pond.
Marc: Perfect.
Dick, voice-over: Their
next task is to transport
10 tons of gravel
down the hundred meter slope.
Amy: Ohh!
Dick, voice-over:
It's not going to be easy.
Amy: Do you want me to do it?
Marc: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over:
So Amy offers to help out.
Jobs like these require
a very steady hand.
Amy: Sorry.
Dick, voice-over:
Practice will make perfect.
To help speed things up,
they've roped in mate Kate.
Amy: It still just looks
like it'd be a really
good swimming pool.
What a waste.
Dick, voice-over:
A bit late for that now.
Marc: You see the roots,
pebbles.
Dick, voice-over:
With some of the gravel in...
Amy: How deep?
Marc: Just--it's just about
stabilizing, so the...
Dick, voice-over:
Amy's planting the reeds.
Amy: It's very satisfying doing
this bit.
It feels like we're
reaching--I know it's
not finished, finished,
but it feels like we're
reaching the end
and we're creating
something quite special here.
I know it's sewage,
but it's quite cool
to be able to do
something so sustainable.
Dick, voice-over:
I'm with you there, Amy.
Amy: It may look like
it's not terribly
spectacular at the moment,
but from that little bit, we
will gradually expand it.
As the reeds grow,
we'll put more in,
and the whole thing
will just emerge organically.
And so really, what we need to
do now is pour some water
from the spring down the pipe
and let nature do its work.
Marc: Ready?
Amy: Ready.
Oh. That was
dirtier than I thought.
Marc: I just pood in the pipe.
Amy: This very glamorous
chateau life,
we get excited about things like
sewage rather than the--
Marc: I find sewage
quite exciting.
Amy: Yeah.
You're weird, though.
Dick, voice-over: It's been
an epic task
which is a couple
of years from being finished.
However, it's the
first crucial step
towards completing the
eco-sewage system.
Amy: I mean, there's a slight
limit as to
how excited you can
get about sewage.
But I'm quite pleased that
we're actually
coming towards the end
of a major project.
And, yeah, just having an answer
to the immense sewage problems
of the chateau would be very,
very satisfying.
Marc: Yeah, I'm quite pleased to
start seeing
the light at the
end of the tunnel.
Amy: He has been working
on this for so long.
Marc: Yeah. I'd really like to
start another project now.
And it's been--this one has been
lasting a bit too long.
Amy: Yeah. [Laughs]
Dick, voice-over:
In northwest France...
Tim: You all right?
Rebecca: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over: Tim and
Rebecca are close to finishing
their new family Meadow Suite.
Tim: I don't like it.
All right. Here we go.
Rebecca: Good.
Tim: Let's go now.
Rebecca: Slightly wonky, but
then most of the pitch
in this house
is slightly wonky.
Dick, voiceover: In the suite's
second bedroom,
Tim is constructing
some old bed frames
left by the previous owners.
Tim: We think it's nice
to use stuff
that was in the house
rather than--
rather than getting new stuff
every time.
Dick, voice-over: They don't
need much work, either.
Nothing a little bit
of glue won't sort out anyway.
Tim: Yes. So they just finish
them off nicely.
They kind of add to the--they're
very chateau-y.
They're quite traditional
French beds,
but they're quite
grand as well, so.
Dick, voice-over: In the
bathroom, Rebecca's adding
the final bits of decoration
and is very happy now
the noisy tap problem has been
resolved.
Rebecca: What it was
was a loose washer
kind of vibrating when
the water
was coming through
under pressure.
So Tim's just put some new
washers in I think, but, yeah,
I don't think he was
particularly pleased with me
because he liked the other
taps better.
But I like these ones and now
they work, so that's fine.
So we're all good.
Dick, voice-over:
It's taken 3 months,
but Tim and Rebecca have finally
done it.
The old room has been
transformed from an empty space
into an elegant family
guest suite
that has style and
sophistication.
Tim: I had no idea what it's
going to look like.
Rebecca: That's because you're
not in my head.
Tim: Literally right up
until it was done.
Dick, voice-over:
Dressed up with fabrics
and rustic furniture,
the arts and crafts theme honors
the history of this
wonderful chateau.
In the second bedroom,
the antique bed frames give it
the charm of centuries ago.
While the bathroom combines
modern fixtures
with vintage finds, creating a
stylish mix of old and new.
Rebecca: I feel a bit relieved
that the Meadow Suite's complete
because it's been
a long time coming.
Tim: Yeah, I feel relieved
as well.
Rebecca: Having 3 rooms
ready for guests
is going to be a big
help financially.
Tim: We can see that we can
survive this year now,
where at the beginning
of the year,
we really couldn't see if we can
survive this year.
Rebecca: Yeah. So we kind of
feel comfortable now
that we won't have to pack our
bags and leave.
It's just really...
Tim: Yeah.
Dick, voice-over: Here's
hoping they have lots
more guests to stay.
Next time, I check in on Ben
and Billie.
This is a big old build.
This is not a trivial
sort of amount of work.
Dick, voice-over: As they start
the next stage of their library.
Billie: I think it's working
out.
I've actually really, really
enjoyed doing this.
Dick, voice-over: Tim and
Rebecca face an uphill battle.
Tim: I think we are 10%, 15% in,
which doesn't feel very good.
Dick, voice-over: And Amy and
Marc have their work cut out...
[Grunts]
as they go in
search of chateau relics.
Amy: He won't be able to leave
this now.
Every time he has
5 minutes to spare,
he'll be in here with
the jackhammer.