Escape to the Chateau DIY (2018–2021): Season 4, Episode 8 - Episode #4.8 - full transcript
I'm Dick Strawbridge,
and along with my wife Angel
and our two children...
Son: Welcome aboard, mateys!
Dick, voice-over: we're now
five years
into restoring
this once-abandoned chateau
Angel: This is beautiful.
Dick, voice-over: It's brought
its challenges...
Angel: Oh!
Dick, voice-over: and some
amazing rewards.
Angel: Thank you for my
flower garden, Mr. Strawbridge.
Dick, voice-over:
And across France, there are
dozens of other Brits who are
on their own chateau adventure.
Stephanie: Yay!
Dick, voice-over: We'll meet
some old friends...
-Smile.
-I am.
Dick: and new faces.
Man: These rooms really haven't
been touched in 60 years.
Dick, voice-over:
And we'll reveal more
about our own chateau life.
Angel: It is so much better
in real life.
Dick: There'll be highs...
Woman: Yay!
Dick: and lows...
-Oh, no!
-Oh, God.
What a disaster.
Dick: as these plucky Brits...
Fiona: Time is money.
Dick: transform these
once unloved buildings
into incredible homes...
Woman: I just cannot believe how
much work you put in for us.
Dick: as well as businesses...
[Cheering]
Dick: and get to live the dream
as custodians
of their very own castle.
Stephanie: Cheers, everybody!
Dick: Today...
Stephanie: Oh, Mama!
Dick: a chateau owner hosts
a very special wedding...
Isabelle: I think it should
be there.
[Laughter]
Dick: although the bride has
fears over the flowers.
Isabelle: I just hope it doesn't
tickle the horse's behind,
because then I could go at
a frisk gallop.
Dick: One couple are in a shaky
situation...
Debbie: This looks
really wobbly, Nige. Is it...
Nigel: Why don't you go up
and test it?
Debbie: No.
I'll let you do that.
Dick: but end up having
a smashing time.
And it's a race against
the clock for another couple...
Man: It's quick, isn't it?
Blimey.
Dick: as they try not to put
a foot wrong.
Man: No? OK.
Woman: OK. OK.
He's not happy with his team
of English people, but--ha ha!
Dick: Throughout France,
numerous Brits are
enjoying chateau life.
And for many of us, that means
running all kinds of events.
But there's nothing quite like
hosting a wedding
and making someone's special day
extra special.
Take the magnificent
16th-century Chateau de Lalande,
sitting in 60 acres of land
and with its own chapel.
The 40-room chateau is
run as a B&B and events venue
and has been home to Stephanie
for the last 13 years.
Stephanie: I forget how much we
have done.
And the most important part is
that every single year is
more fun than the last,
and it's the process
that's the great thing.
Dick: Situated 53 miles
from Limoges in central France,
Stephanie's been gearing up to
host her first wedding at
the chateau.
And it's going to be
extra special
as it's for her mum Isabelle
and fiancé Percy.
So every detail has to be
perfect.
Stephanie: Oh, gosh.
I hope it stops.
Dick: She's managed to restore
an old carriage,
which had been abandoned for
decades.
She's also adorned a specially
built pergola on the terrace
with over 80 meters of lace.
Stephanie: Lots of borders.
That's fantastic.
We should use the borders
as borders.
Isabelle: I hope it doesn't
look like a washing line.
Dick: And she arranged for
the chapel to be decorated
with foliage.
Isabelle: How lovely!
But I don't know if it--if there
is a bit of a pagan twinge.
Stephanie: Well, I like that.
I see you slightly in pagan.
Isabelle: Yeah,
but the priest is not.
Dick: The big day has
finally arrived.
Although Isabelle and Percy
legally tied the knot
a couple of months ago, they'll
now share their nuptials
with 30 of their nearest
and dearest.
Isabelle: Oh, Mama!
Isabelle: Trés magnifique...
Stephanie: You look beautiful.
Isabelle: Trés magnifique.
Stephanie: I'm very proud.
Isabelle: Thank you.
Stephanie: But you need flowers.
Isabelle: Yes, I do.
Stephanie: Wow!
Isabelle: Beautiful.
Dick: Live-in helper Marie has
arranged all the flowers
for the day, including
the bridal bouquet.
Marie: So I can leave it to dry,
but whatever you like.
Stephanie:
Marie, it's beautiful.
Isabelle: I think it should
be there.
[Laughter]
Marie: And then we have
the flowers for the hair.
[Marie laughing]
Stephanie: Do you have my
hairpins? Oh, here they are.
Isabelle: Oh, it is beautiful,
but am I not too old for it?
Stephanie: Absolutely not.
Mummy!
Marie: Oh, my God.
You look amazing.
Isabelle: Thank you.
Stephanie: You look...
Marie and Stephanie:
absolutely beautiful.
Stephanie: There's no such thing
as too old for lovely things.
No.
Isabelle: Shall I dispense
with my hearing aids, then?
[Laughter]
Stephanie: No, no. They're
also extremely necessary.
Dick: Outside, the horse
has arrived to pull
a beautifully restored carriage
for Isabelle's short journey
to the chapel.
Marie has also worked
her floral magic on that.
Isabelle: The carriage looks
beautiful. Did you see it?
Stephanie: I saw a little bit
last night of what she'd done.
Isabelle: I just hope it doesn't
tickle the horse's behind...
Stephanie: Nobody wants to
tickle--
Isabelle: haunches because then
I could go at a frisk gallop.
Stephanie: Ha ha!
Isabelle: I think
it's very good. Yes.
I don't recognize me.
Stephanie: Don't you think
a little bit of drama
like that?
Isabelle: Oh, darling...
isn't that like what's her name?
Stephanie: Cruella de Vil.
Isabelle: Yes, yes!
Stephanie: No, Mummy.
It looks superb. Yeah, you need
drama. Of course you do.
Oh, Mummy, you're the bride.
Isabelle: You sure?
Stephanie: Yes, I'm sure.
Dick: You look anything
but Cruella de Vil,
and I look forward to
the wedding itself.
37 miles south is the stately
Chateau Gioux,
which sits on 5 acres of land
on the edge of
the Millesvaches park.
It has 4 bedrooms and 2 salons
and was bought recently for
£280,000
by Yorkshire couple
Debbie and Nigel,
who've just opened as a B&B.
Debbie: Got lots of exciting
times to come.
I think the whole package
will be exciting.
Nigel: We got the room
and the space,
and we opened our own business.
Debbie: All the elements are
there to make it
something really special,
aren't they?
Otherwise we
wouldn't have done it. Ha ha!
Dick: Located 30 miles east
of Limoges,
Debbie, who used to run
a farm shop,
and Nigel, a former bar manager,
have done up 3 bedrooms...
Nigel: Oh! Oh!
Debbie: What do you think?
Nigel: Eh, that looks fantastic.
Dick: and welcomed
their first guests.
Debbie: This is
the Vassiviere Room.
Man: That's amazing!
Debbie: You like it?
Man: Yeah, very happy for
the night.
Debbie: Yes?
Man: Yes, yup.
Dick: Now they have their sights
set on a new project--
a run-down conservatory at
the back of the chateau.
Nigel: This is an extension that
was built to the chateau,
I guess, just after the war,
really...
Debbie: Yeah...
Nigel: when it was turned
into a nursing home.
At the moment, it's just been
an area
where we've dumped things,
but we want to try and make it
into a nice area, a nice
comfortable sitting area.
Dick: And Debbie already has
a clear vision for it.
Debbie: I'd like it to be
a very, very pale
sort of Mediterranean blue
and some paintings of flowers,
wisteria on the walls,
lots of tropical plants,
flowers.
Just a really green,
lovely green space.
Nigel: An oasis.
Debbie: An oasis,
an oasis of calm.
Dick: Sounds idyllic,
but looking at the state of
the room,
you've certainly got a lot
of hard graft on your hands.
Debbie: Right.
Shall we get cracking, then?
Dick: The ceiling has to be
prepared for decorating,
the walls and rusty window
frames painted,
and broken glass replaced.
Nigel: Right.
Where do you want to start?
Debbie: Where do you want
to start? More to the point.
Nigel: That in this corner here.
Debbie: Yup.
This looks really wobbly,
Nige. Is it...
Nigel: Why don't you go up
and test it?
Debbie: No. I'll let you
do that.
I'm not good on heights.
If it's a wobbly surface
like that,
then I'll just be hopeless.
Nigel: Right. Here goes.
Oh.
Debbie: Ohh.
Nigel: How about that.
Debbie: Is it coming off
quite well?
Nigel: Yeah, not too bad.
Come have a go.
Debbie: No, I don't have a go.
Nigel: As long as I get
the loose flaky stuff off,
that's all, really, I need off,
isn't it?
Debbie: Yes.
Dick: While Nigel gets on
with the ceiling,
Debbie's keeping her feet on
the ground
and scraping years of old paint
off the window frames
and sills.
Debbie: If you asked me to do
this at home in the UK,
I'd think, "Oh, no.
What a boring job."
And when you start to see
the impact you're having,
then it makes it all worthwhile.
Nigel: Yup, that'll do for now.
Debbie:
We've made some progress.
We've got a start in here,
haven't we?
Nigel: A good start on
the ceiling.
There's quite a bit of work
left to do yet.
Could finish scraping
the ceiling,
and then you've got to finish
all this.
[Laughter]
Made her look.
Dick: Well, you've made
a good start,
but the hardest part is
still to come
to get this extension
up to scratch.
The majestic 19th-century
Chateau de Brives
sits in 30 acres of land
with 5 outbuildings
and 25 rooms.
It's been home to
antique dealers Sarah and George
and their children
Tatiana and Alexi for 9 years.
George: We definitely realized
on the very first day that
this was the house that
we wanted...
Sarah: Yeah, that we would love.
Yeah.
George: that this was going to
be our home.
Sarah: Certainly.
Dick: Located 58 miles from
Bordeaux,
to make the chateau pay its way,
Sarah and George are
turning their home into
a wedding venue.
Sarah: So this will be the
bride's dressing room in here.
Dick: And they've worked hard
promoting the business
to try and get a booking
this year.
George: With these
fantastic faces,
with the effort
that everyone's put in,
I'm sure we'll find a couple
who would love
to get married here.
Dick: Those efforts seem
to have paid off,
with their first-ever wedding
booking for over 80 guests
happening at the end of
the summer.
Sarah: We are absolutely
thrilled to be having
our first wedding.
I can't tell you.
George: It's the icing
on the cake, isn't it?
Sarah: It is.
George: But we're still nervous.
Sarah: Yeah.
George: I'm certainly nervous.
Sarah: And I think as we get
nearer to the date,
we'll get even more and more
nervous.
George:
We definitely are nervous.
Sarah: Being our first one.
George: Yeah.
Dick: I'm not
surprised they're nervous.
While they may have a booking,
they don't actually have
a reception venue yet.
So they need to transform
their 19th-century coach house
into an event space
rather than the dumping ground
it is now.
George ropes in daughter
Tatiana to help.
George: I'm gonna go up here,
start banging on these.
And then as they come down,
you clear up, I'll stop.
I'll tell you when one's gonna
fall, OK?
Dick: To make a feature of
the roof,
George is removing the joists,
which held a landing.
George: Right.
This is gonna swing.
Tatiana: Didn't swing as much
as I thought it would.
A bit overexaggerated.
George: Now you look back to
it, there's a false ceiling.
It really does make it look like
a real kind of cathedral.
That's good. So you'll get the
last bits of that, all right?
Well done. Success!
Well, it just looks
so much bigger.
And once these two beams here
that are hanging
under the big beams are
taken off, you look up.
It's just, yeah,
really, really pleased.
Dick: Next on the to-do list is
to knock through
a bricked-up doorway to create
an entrance
into what will become
a special bar for the wedding.
George: So you get there.
And what I'm going to do, Tati,
is to hack off this,
which is the old plaster,
to reveal the stone underneath.
-You all right?
-Yeah.
George: Now, that's come off
nicely.
And that panel there is
the door that's been blocked up.
There's the lintel over the top
of a large piece of oak.
That goes down behind these two
long planks of wood.
So that would go through to
where we're gonna have the bar.
Dick: A good afternoon's effort,
but you've got your
work cut out,
as all the stone walls need to
be exposed and repointed
to be wedding-ready.
115 miles away at Chateau Gioux,
Debbie and Nigel have spent
the last two weeks stripping
the ceiling
and painting walls
and window frames
in their neglected sunroom.
Now they're faced with the job
of replacing the broken windows.
Nigel: It's challenging
because I've never
put any glass in before.
And I don't have all the tools
that I need to be able to do it.
I haven't got a putty knife.
A limited amount of putty
I've got.
So it's going to be quite
a challenging operation.
Debbie: So in other words,
you're not really prepared,
are you, Nige?
Nigel: No.
Debbie: No.
Dick: Oh, dear.
This doesn't bode well.
Nigel: Here we go.
Anybody outside? No.
Everything clear?
Debbie: No. Everybody's clear.
There we go.
Debbie: That was quite clean,
wasn't it?
Nigel: Yeah.
Dick: So far so good,
but you still need to take out
all the old putty
and put the new glass in.
Nigel: When it comes out
easily, it's satisfying.
When it doesn't it's a--
it's difficult.
[Hammering]
Dick: Debbie has a project of
her own, too,
also a first for her.
Debbie: Because we want to have
this as a garden room,
my idea was to have a meadow
on the walls.
So try and make it look
a little bit more like
the gardens coming
into the house.
I've never painted a mural
in my life before. Ha ha!
So it could be really
interesting.
It could be that we need to get
the blue paint out
and paint over it again.
But we'll just give it a try
and see what happens.
Dick: That's the spirit!
Angel used our garden
as inspiration
when she created
her tower of curiosities
with help from her artist
friends.
Angel: It was a very basic
brief.
And the brief was,
It's a botanical suite/tower.
They wanted to incorporate
something from the garden.
Dick: It certainly impressed
my mum, who was staying with us.
Mum: Oh, my Lordy. Well, I say,
look at that, too.
That's beautiful, Angela.
Dick: Now it's Debbie's turn.
Debbie: I'm thinking first,
I'm going for
the brown sort of grassy look.
But it's really difficult
because it's such a bubbly wall.
My idea is to try and get
sort of halfway up the wall,
so the idea is it's more
of a meadow, a meadow scene.
Nigel: A bit abstract,
isn't it?
Debbie: Ha ha. Abstract, yeah.
Dick: As Debbie cracks on,
Nigel prepares the putty.
Nigel: The window is fine.
It's cleared.
This is the part
that I'm not sure about.
I'm not sure how much putty
to put in, how to put it in,
how to glaze it.
I'm going to make it up
as I go along.
Dick: A thin bead of putty will
hold the glass in place
and give an airtight finish.
Nigel: So we need it
in long strips.
Dick: Debbie downs her
paintbrush to lend a hand
with putty preparation.
Debbie: OK.
Nigel: That's it. Rub it hard.
Squeeze it. Get all the air out.
That's it. And then roll it out
as a snake.
Debbie: OK. I bet mine's
better than yours.
Nigel: I'm sure it will be.
Consider were we
doing it to be like that.
[Debbie chuckling]
Debbie: OK. It is like going
back to play sort of, isn't it?
Nigel: This is very good.
In fact, I think you're doing
a better snake than me.
Debbie: It's a bit fussy in
the middle.
Nigel: It is, yeah.
Dick: Sausages made, it's time
to put it in place.
Nigel: All right.
So if you can get a thin bead
all the way along there,
Debbie: Along this bottom edge?
Nigel: Yes.
Perfect. Yeah, that's
exactly what we needed.
Debbie: I can't
stop it falling off. Ha ha!
[Laughter]
Nigel: It's all getting dirty.
We haven't got much putty.
Debbie, voice-over: If it was
up to me glazing windows,
then we won't be getting
very far.
So I'm leaving that to Nige.
I'll do the snakes.
Nigel: It's not an easy job,
isn't this,
especially when it's
your first time.
I think we're just about ready
for the glass.
Dick: With glass costing 80 quid
a sheet,
Nigel can't afford
to make mistakes.
Nigel: Does it fit? Yes.
You see how when you push
the glass--
Debbie: Yup.
Nigel: and you squeeze it
so that there's a good
airtight finish.
Debbie: That looks so much
better already, doesn't it?
Nigel: Yeah.
Dick: Then just finish around
the outside.
And after a lick of paint,
it'll be waterproof.
Nigel: It's not one of my
favorite jobs, isn't this?
Some things I'm not
very good at,
and it takes a lot of
patience,
and I've not
got a lot of patience.
I'm not good at this.
Debbie: It looks good, Nige.
Nigel: Thank you.
Dick: Not bad, Nigel, especially
for a first time.
Now Debbie can get back
to her own job.
Debbie: I think it's OK, yeah.
I think it's not bad.
Think a proper artist might
actually say about it, but--
Nigel: Right. How we doing?
Debbie: What do you think, Nige?
Nigel: I think that looks
fantastic.
Debbie: The sunroom, as we used
to call it,
is looking now quite summery
and gardeny.
So I think we should maybe call
it the garden room.
Nigel: You think so?
Debbie: Yeah.
It's got plants in it.
Nigel: Henceforth to be known
as the garden room.
Debbie:
Henceforth the garden room.
Dick: So it's now
the garden room.
All it needs are a few
finishing touches,
and I'm sure it'll bloom.
Dick: 37 miles north
at Chateau de Lalande, it's
half an hour until the wedding
ceremony is due to start.
Stephanie's mother Isabelle will
make her way to the chapel
in a newly restored carriage.
[Isabelle speaking French]
Isabelle: It looks lovely.
Isabelle: Ah!
And look at Gerry!
Where are you?
Stephanie: Oh, yes,
look at this.
Isabelle: Look at that...
Dick: Gerry arrives to see
Isabelle off.
Gerry: They need somebody to
race the horse?
[Stephanie laughs]
Gerry: You look lovely.
Isabelle: Thank you.
Gerry: You look lovely.
Isabelle: And so do you.
Gerry: So do you, darling.
You look lovely.
Stephanie: Thanks.
Dick: Now for the bride to be
escorted to the chapel,
but careful not to mistake
the horse's groom
for your groom, Isabelle.
Gerry: Congratulations.
[Laughter]
Gerry: Good-bye. Good-bye.
[Stephanie laughing]
Gerry: I'll tell Percy.
Isabelle: Good-bye. I'm off.
Dick: To make the most of
the short journey,
they go the long way around,
down a local lane
while Stephanie nips across
the lawn
to greet the priest who'll be
doing the blessing.
Stephanie: Mummy was made for
a carriage, wasn't she?
Ha ha!
She seems to have got quite
close
to the man doing the carriage.
Gerry: Yeah, she does, doesn't
she? I noticed that.
[Gerry clapping]
Isabelle: Thank you, Manny.
Isabelle: We made it, certainly.
Stephanie: Ha ha!
[Applause]
Stephanie: If you and Percy
would wait together
whilst we all go in.
Dick: The big moment has
finally arrived--
Isabelle and Percy's vows in
front of family and friends
from all over the world.
Stephanie: If you would stand.
All: * Amazing grace *
* How sweet the sound *
* That saved a wretch *
* Like me *
[Percy and Isabelle repeating
phrases in French]
Isabelle: Thank you very much.
A good day to all of us.
And best wishes, us.
Stephanie: Whoo-hoo! Yeah! Yay!
[Attendees cheering]
Isabelle: Bring them on.
Stephanie: Keep walking on.
Ha ha!
Dick: Congratulations to
the happy bride and groom.
Let the festivities back at
the chateau begin.
[Isabelle laughs]
Dick: Over in southwest France,
after 2 months of hard graft,
the walls in Sarah and George's
coach house
have been exposed and repointed.
However, there's no rest for
the chateau owners,
as today they have to create
a new floor.
George: Well, we're off
to lay the concrete.
Cement lorry coming in
half an hour.
Get things ready, and then we'll
go all afternoon.
Bonjour.
Dick: Local builder Frédéric,
his wife Isabelle,
and Sarah and George have laid
the reinforcing steel mesh.
Now they'll have to work
as a team to spread
the 10,000 liters of concrete.
George: Now we're just waiting
for the cement lorry.
It should be here in 10 minutes.
And then it's all hands
to the deck.
[Conversation in French]
Sarah: Ohh!
[Laughter]
Sarah: He said it's going to be
physique.
George: Physique.
Sarah: Oh, gosh.
I'm quite scared. Ha ha!
It comes in a big chute,
and then we have to spade it
into the wheelbarrow.
George: Into the wheelbarrow?
Sarah: Yeah.
George: It doesn't get into
the wheelbarrow?
Sarah: Oh, my God. No.
I'm gonna be dead at the end.
George: It's gonna be
really quick.
Sarah: Right. OK. So we're
ready?
George: We're ready.
Dick: Just in time for
lorry number one.
As well as working against
the clock to lay the concrete
before it sets, lorry number 2
is due in 19 minutes.
Sarah and George really will
need to get stuck in.
George: Well, exciting.
[Man speaking French]
George: You seen my grass?
Ha ha.
Sarah: I'm really nervous.
Ha ha!
I'm just worried I'm not
going to be quick enough.
George: Here it comes.
Sarah: Oh, my gosh.
Sarah: This is gonna be thick.
[Conversation in French]
Sarah: I'm gonna go with this,
Georgie.
George: What?
Sarah: Like a baby's rake.
George: No, you don't.
That won't work.
Sarah: Oh, God. I thought that
might not go down very well.
What can I do?
Should I do it with a spade,
with a shovel?
Sarah: OK.
Dick: Each cubic meter of
concrete weighs over two tons.
I can tell you
it's backbreaking work,
especially under time pressure.
[Sarah groans]
George: It's quick, isn't it?
Blimey.
Sarah: OK, OK.
Sarah: I think mine doesn't look
quite as good as everybody--
[Laughs]
as everybody else's.
Dick: After 30 minutes of
raking,
the concrete is starting
to stiffen,
making it harder to level.
Sarah: Well, I think they're
doing really well.
I've got quite a lot of lumps
in mine--ha ha--in my side.
I think I've got a bit more work
to do.
How you doing, Georgie?
Dick: And it's vital that
the patches, which are now even,
aren't disturbed.
George: No? OK.
Sarah: OK, OK.
[Sarah and George chuckling]
He's not happy with his team
of English people, but--ha ha!
Dick: To be fair,
he is responsible
for getting it all even before
the concrete starts to set.
Sarah: Keep going now?
[Chuckles]
George: No?
Sarah: * Oh la la *
Dick: Frédéric's working
against the clock
with the help of his automatic
laser level,
but there's a problem.
Sarah and George: Oui.
Sarah: OK.
George: I think the machine is
really important
because that's what gives you
the height
the concrete has to be at.
And without that, you'd be on
your hands and knees
measuring every 10 seconds.
Dick: Disaster averted,
but that's no excuse
for a break, you two.
That second lorry load of
concrete is on its way.
115 miles away in central
France, Debbie and Nigel are
close to finishing their
garden room.
Having plowed all their money
into buying the property,
they need to count the pennies
when renovating.
Debbie: We've got
financial constraints
in terms of, we can't do
everything immediately.
Nigel: Chateau on a shoestring.
Debbie: Chateau on a shoestring,
yeah. Ha ha.
Dick: Now it just needs
a few finishing touches,
and a good way to save money,
as Angel and I know,
is to upcycle.
Debbie: Now, this is a daybed
that we have.
It was left, actually, by
the previous people
using one of the bedrooms.
Nigel: Now you want this
in that corner.
Debbie: So we thought
the perfect place, I think,
in that corner, Nige.
Nigel: Right.
Debbie: Right.
Right. Those need to go on
the--on the daybed.
Nigel: Very nice.
Nigel: Got me a new comb.
Debbie: Oh, you've got
your new comb, yeah.
I think--
Nigel: In the window?
Debbie: I think just--yeah.
Dick: All manner of things
can be used to add
some rustic charm to a room.
Nigel: I think that might look
nice mounted on the wall.
Debbie: I think it--might
detract from the paintings.
I don't know. What do you think?
Nigel: Oh...
don't want anything to detract
from your paintings.
Debbie: I think we'll
just--leave it there for now.
Nigel: Leave it there for now
until we decide.
Debbie: Yeah. Now let's see.
OK.
Great. As long as there's enough
room for people to sit.
Nigel: Yeah. That looks good
like that.
Nigel: What are we going to do
about this rust?
Debbie: It's part of it.
I know you like everything
pristine and gloss white,
but I don't.
I think it'll work just fine.
It looks perfect.
Nigel: It adds to the character?
Debbie: Adds to the character.
Yeah. It does.
[Nigel laughs]
Nigel: I'd like to paint it.
Debbie: No.
Nigel: OK, dear. Not a problem.
Just do as I'm told? Heh!
Debbie: And this little thing,
which you said was a fly,
a tsetse fly.
Nigel: It's definitely a fly.
Debbie: Fly don't have antennae
like that in the front.
Nigel: That's not a bee.
It's a fly.
Debbie: It's a bee. A fly-bee.
Ha ha.
Dick: As a beekeeper,
I don't recognize it.
Debbie: I think it's a really,
really nice room,
nice sitting area.
Nigel: It is, yes.
Time for a cuppa tea.
Debbie: Shall we sit in here
with a cuppa tea?
Nigel: I think that's
a good plan.
I'll go put the kettle on.
Debbie: All right.
Debbie: From being a redundant
room full of rubbish,
it's turned into a nice little
extension to our garden,
I think.
Dick: Couldn't have put it
better myself, Debbie.
Debbie: Everything that we do in
the chateau we enjoy.
Everything we do makes
the place better.
Nigel: It makes it better,
and it seems to bring it
back to life.
Tea, dear.
Debbie: Lovely.
And it's lovely just to be
looking out, isn't it?
Looking out over the estate.
[Laughter]
-The paddock.
-The paddock.
Dick: There's nothing quite like
a well-earned cup of tea
when you've ticked off another
job on the list.
Dick: 37 miles north at
Stephanie's
after the ceremony
in the private chapel,
it's time to start celebrating
her mother Isabelle's marriage
to Percy with a champagne
reception.
Stephanie: Ah! Cheers, all.
Attendees: Cheers.
Stephanie: Cheers.
Isabelle: It was my most
anxious moment,
the chapel moment, because it
does mean something to me.
Stephanie: Did you finally feel
like a bride?
Isabelle: Yes, I did. I did.
Yeah, but the point--
Stephanie: Job done, then.
Isabelle: Did he feel like
a groom? I'm not sure.
Percy: I had tears in my eyes.
Isabelle: Did you really?
Percy: But you didn't notice.
Isabelle: No, I didn't see that.
Stephanie: Today's idyllic. I
can't believe how perfect it is.
After all this stress.
My mother always, always says,
"I don't want to fuss.
I do not want to fuss.
I'm very humble, very simple."
And then the minute there's
a party, she's just
the star of the show.
Lookit. She's reclining
on a carpet in the courtyard
under a parasol with Percy
feeding her tidbits. Ha ha!
Dick: A bride's prerogative,
I suppose.
And no wedding reception is
complete
without one age-old tradition.
Stephanie: We've decided to
cut the cake.
My incredibly dodgy, floppy,
"first-ever attempt
at a wedding cake" cake.
And we thought that we should do
it in front of the carriage
because it's been a big part of
the day.
It's lovely. Isn't it pretty?
Dick: It's looking great,
but Stephanie seems to have
overlooked something.
Isabelle: We need a knife.
We need a spatula.
Stephanie? Where is my daughter?
Where is the organizer?
Where are the plates?
Oh, my goodness.
Not this one.
Isabelle: You sure you did? OK.
Darling, you better come here.
Look.
Don't you dare.
Man: Ladies and gentlemen.
Isabelle: The cutting
of the cake.
[Cheering and applause]
Isabelle: Done.
Stephanie: You have to feed
each other.
Isabelle: Do we?
Open your mouth, darling.
[Stephanie laughing]
[Cheering and applause]
Isabelle: It's all yours.
Make the most of it.
Dick: What a beautiful day,
but it's not over yet.
With a 6-course dinner to
prepare for 30 guests,
Stephanie's still got
her work cut out.
In southwest France,
Sarah and George have been
working against the clock
to lay the floor in their
coach house.
George: Ah, harder work than I
thought. Really hard work.
But we've done 6 liters cubed.
We've got 4 to go.
Dick: The second lorry load of
concrete has now arrived,
and there's no letup on the
pressure to spread it evenly.
Sarah: Oui. Oui. Merci.
I'll leave a bit back.
George: So?
Sarah: Ha ha!
George: Yeah.
George: Oui. OK.
There's more concrete than
the height of the door,
so we've got to shovel this out
because otherwise the doors
won't close.
Dick: Luckily, the excess
concrete can be put to good use,
as there are a few gaping
potholes
in the chateau's driveway.
Sarah: Oh, God. Look at
the blob. Look, that's no good.
I'll get told off. Oops.
George: Tell him we got to get
lots more out.
-Really?
-Yeah.
Because our doors won't--
Sarah: We could get rid of the--
George: But we need lots,
darling.
Sarah: Yeah, the big one
down there.
George: Yeah, but he can't
continue until we get rid of it.
-OK.
-That's what we're saying.
Dick: Now it's a race against
drying concrete
to remove the excess.
Sarah: Oh, no!
Dick: That's one way to get rid
of it, Sarah.
[Sarah laughing]
Dick: In an effort to get
the concrete out
as fast as possible, everyone
grabs a wheelbarrow
and runs.
[George groaning]
George: I've just dropped that
big wheelbarrow out there.
So you've got one grippy pizza
in the drive now.
-Oh, lovely.
-Yeah.
Dick: As Frédéric's been so busy
smoothing the floor,
he's not noticed
something's missing.
George: Oui.
[George chuckling]
George: He wants a wheelbarrow
full of concrete.
Sarah: What shall I do?
George: He thought there was too
much, but he left it there
just in case,
and now he needs it.
And we've used it.
Sarah: Do you want me to get--
I can go and get one. Ha ha!
I can go and scoot my lovely new
drive off if you want.
George: You ask him, darling.
Dick: Judging by the expression
on Frédéric's face,
I think you know the answer,
Sarah.
[Sarah chuckling]
George: What are you doing,
darling?
Taking coals to Newcastle?
Sarah: Scoop it all off.
[Laughter]
George: Back in the barn,
Frédéric still
doesn't have enough concrete.
George: I think I'm gonna go
and get my pizza.
[Sarah groans]
Sarah: Well done, Georgio.
George: Right.
There's my big pizza.
Sarah: Yay, bravo, George.
Dick: Finally,
Frédéric is smiling.
Sarah: So did you smooth it back
down again or not
when you dug it out?
-Excuse me?
-Yeah, you obviously haven't.
We got too much now. Ha ha!
Dick: With the last bit smooth
and leveled,
Sarah and George's coach house
transformation
has come on leaps and bounds.
George: It's a great space.
Sarah: Yeah, it was much quicker
than I thought, actually.
George: Yes.
Sarah: I don't know what time--
I have no idea what time it is.
George: Well, you worked very
hard, darling.
There was a time earlier on
that I was thinking
we were gonna have a sit-down.
[Sarah chuckling]
It wa--ha ha!
It was very physical.
Sarah: It's very hard work.
Dick: Your wedding barn is
well on the way.
And once that floor is dry
and polished, I reckon
it'll look incredible for
the wedding in 3 months' time.
125 miles away in central
France, Stephanie's busy
preparing a 6-course dinner
for Isabelle and Percy's
evening banquet.
Stephanie: We're actually doing
really well.
And the first 3 courses
are nearly done.
And now we're just starting to
put the fourth--
the main course--together,
which will be in the oven
whilst we're eating the rest.
Dick: Outside on the terrace,
some of the wedding guests
are helping to add the final
touches to Stephanie's
lace-covered pergola.
Man: We made them work out
how many we've got
so we have a sort of
equal number on each strand.
Stephanie: Right. I'll make
the couscous last minute,
so I'm not going to do that
just yet. Um...
Woman: OK, got it. Go.
Stephanie: You sure?
Woman: Yeah, yeah.
Stephanie: Right.
OK, I'm going to go, then,
and check on my mother,
and I'm going to go and show her
the table.
Dick: In just 3 days,
Stephanie's turned
a 30-meter terrace
into a setting
for a wondrous
wedding banquet.
The specially built pergola has
been draped
in over 80 meters of lace
and decorated with foliage from
the grounds,
flowers, chandeliers,
and fairy lights.
Isabelle and Percy have
a surprise in store,
as they haven't seen
the fully adorned terrace.
Isabelle: Oh! How wonderful.
Stephanie!
Oh, it is so beautiful.
Smart! It is lovely.
Percy: Very nice.
I love it, darling.
Stephanie: Good.
Isabelle: I think Stephanie has
achieved the impossible.
Percy: I think
it's quite amazing.
A real transformation.
Dick: Now time for everyone to
dine in true chateau style.
[Pop]
Isabelle: Do sit down.
[Laughter]
Stephanie: Cheers, everybody.
Gerry: Cheers to you and Percy.
Isabelle: Thank you, all.
And to all of you, thank you for
being here.
Dick: Cheers and bon appétit.
As dusk descends, the chateau
takes on a magical look.
Isabelle: Ohh.
"Isabelle et Percy"!
Stephanie: Yes.
Isabelle: Magnifique.
Dick: In chateau style,
a wedding tradition started
in the 19th century...
Stephanie: And it's down
in one piece!
[Cheering and applause]
Isabelle: You did so great.
Dick: a croquembouche made by
a local bakery.
Isabelle: OK. Well done,
darling. Well done.
Stephanie: I'll just taste this
one just to make sure it's OK,
Percy.
[Laughter]
Stephanie: Mmm!
[Clinking]
Percy: I'd like to thank
everybody who's here tonight.
To Stephanie, I originally
thought I would do this
in French, but I'll just say,
Merci beaucoup.
[Laughter]
And you really made this
a very special day
for me and for Isabelle.
Thank you so very much.
Isabelle: Thank you.
[Applause]
Percy: Thank you very much for
saying yes.
Thank you for being a good
friend and a very special person
for the last 6 years to me.
Isabelle: Thank you very much.
Thank you, darling.
Percy: Oh, well, I'll try to
make you very happy.
Isabelle: Thank you.
[Woman trilling]
Percy: A more beautiful bride
there has never been.
Isabelle: Ah!
Percy: It's been brilliant,
much more
than what I anticipated.
I'm very ecstatically happy.
Isabelle: Ah, ooh, ooh!
Yes, and my day has been
absolutely wonderful, too.
[Laughter]
Stephanie: Highlights of today:
seeing my mother
in the carriage,
seeing the chapel being used,
seeing the terrace
like this,
and hearing Percy's beautiful
speech.
I loved today. I think it was
a great success.
It was so beautiful.
I would love to see more happy
people getting married here.
Dick: Well, what a glorious day.
Stephanie has done Isabelle
and Percy proud.
And all her hard work
has paid off.
Isabelle: Cheers.
Attendees: Cheers.
Dick: Next time...
Debbie: This is probably, yeah,
my worst nightmare.
Dick: it's panic stations at
Debbie and Nigel's.
Nigel: I believe that you can
do this better.
Debbie: Yeah, I was gonna say,
you just get out the way.
Dick: Sarah and George try to
woo a wedding couple.
Sarah: And then there's a little
courtyard outside
if any of you wanted
a gin and vodka.
Woman: Ha ha!
Dick: And Stephanie plans
a Renaissance revival.
Stephanie: I would like
a 4-poster in here,
but I don't think I can
afford one.
Dick: But standards start
to slip.
Isabelle: This is disastrous.
Gerry: It's only disastrous
because you've got
a defeatist attitude.
and along with my wife Angel
and our two children...
Son: Welcome aboard, mateys!
Dick, voice-over: we're now
five years
into restoring
this once-abandoned chateau
Angel: This is beautiful.
Dick, voice-over: It's brought
its challenges...
Angel: Oh!
Dick, voice-over: and some
amazing rewards.
Angel: Thank you for my
flower garden, Mr. Strawbridge.
Dick, voice-over:
And across France, there are
dozens of other Brits who are
on their own chateau adventure.
Stephanie: Yay!
Dick, voice-over: We'll meet
some old friends...
-Smile.
-I am.
Dick: and new faces.
Man: These rooms really haven't
been touched in 60 years.
Dick, voice-over:
And we'll reveal more
about our own chateau life.
Angel: It is so much better
in real life.
Dick: There'll be highs...
Woman: Yay!
Dick: and lows...
-Oh, no!
-Oh, God.
What a disaster.
Dick: as these plucky Brits...
Fiona: Time is money.
Dick: transform these
once unloved buildings
into incredible homes...
Woman: I just cannot believe how
much work you put in for us.
Dick: as well as businesses...
[Cheering]
Dick: and get to live the dream
as custodians
of their very own castle.
Stephanie: Cheers, everybody!
Dick: Today...
Stephanie: Oh, Mama!
Dick: a chateau owner hosts
a very special wedding...
Isabelle: I think it should
be there.
[Laughter]
Dick: although the bride has
fears over the flowers.
Isabelle: I just hope it doesn't
tickle the horse's behind,
because then I could go at
a frisk gallop.
Dick: One couple are in a shaky
situation...
Debbie: This looks
really wobbly, Nige. Is it...
Nigel: Why don't you go up
and test it?
Debbie: No.
I'll let you do that.
Dick: but end up having
a smashing time.
And it's a race against
the clock for another couple...
Man: It's quick, isn't it?
Blimey.
Dick: as they try not to put
a foot wrong.
Man: No? OK.
Woman: OK. OK.
He's not happy with his team
of English people, but--ha ha!
Dick: Throughout France,
numerous Brits are
enjoying chateau life.
And for many of us, that means
running all kinds of events.
But there's nothing quite like
hosting a wedding
and making someone's special day
extra special.
Take the magnificent
16th-century Chateau de Lalande,
sitting in 60 acres of land
and with its own chapel.
The 40-room chateau is
run as a B&B and events venue
and has been home to Stephanie
for the last 13 years.
Stephanie: I forget how much we
have done.
And the most important part is
that every single year is
more fun than the last,
and it's the process
that's the great thing.
Dick: Situated 53 miles
from Limoges in central France,
Stephanie's been gearing up to
host her first wedding at
the chateau.
And it's going to be
extra special
as it's for her mum Isabelle
and fiancé Percy.
So every detail has to be
perfect.
Stephanie: Oh, gosh.
I hope it stops.
Dick: She's managed to restore
an old carriage,
which had been abandoned for
decades.
She's also adorned a specially
built pergola on the terrace
with over 80 meters of lace.
Stephanie: Lots of borders.
That's fantastic.
We should use the borders
as borders.
Isabelle: I hope it doesn't
look like a washing line.
Dick: And she arranged for
the chapel to be decorated
with foliage.
Isabelle: How lovely!
But I don't know if it--if there
is a bit of a pagan twinge.
Stephanie: Well, I like that.
I see you slightly in pagan.
Isabelle: Yeah,
but the priest is not.
Dick: The big day has
finally arrived.
Although Isabelle and Percy
legally tied the knot
a couple of months ago, they'll
now share their nuptials
with 30 of their nearest
and dearest.
Isabelle: Oh, Mama!
Isabelle: Trés magnifique...
Stephanie: You look beautiful.
Isabelle: Trés magnifique.
Stephanie: I'm very proud.
Isabelle: Thank you.
Stephanie: But you need flowers.
Isabelle: Yes, I do.
Stephanie: Wow!
Isabelle: Beautiful.
Dick: Live-in helper Marie has
arranged all the flowers
for the day, including
the bridal bouquet.
Marie: So I can leave it to dry,
but whatever you like.
Stephanie:
Marie, it's beautiful.
Isabelle: I think it should
be there.
[Laughter]
Marie: And then we have
the flowers for the hair.
[Marie laughing]
Stephanie: Do you have my
hairpins? Oh, here they are.
Isabelle: Oh, it is beautiful,
but am I not too old for it?
Stephanie: Absolutely not.
Mummy!
Marie: Oh, my God.
You look amazing.
Isabelle: Thank you.
Stephanie: You look...
Marie and Stephanie:
absolutely beautiful.
Stephanie: There's no such thing
as too old for lovely things.
No.
Isabelle: Shall I dispense
with my hearing aids, then?
[Laughter]
Stephanie: No, no. They're
also extremely necessary.
Dick: Outside, the horse
has arrived to pull
a beautifully restored carriage
for Isabelle's short journey
to the chapel.
Marie has also worked
her floral magic on that.
Isabelle: The carriage looks
beautiful. Did you see it?
Stephanie: I saw a little bit
last night of what she'd done.
Isabelle: I just hope it doesn't
tickle the horse's behind...
Stephanie: Nobody wants to
tickle--
Isabelle: haunches because then
I could go at a frisk gallop.
Stephanie: Ha ha!
Isabelle: I think
it's very good. Yes.
I don't recognize me.
Stephanie: Don't you think
a little bit of drama
like that?
Isabelle: Oh, darling...
isn't that like what's her name?
Stephanie: Cruella de Vil.
Isabelle: Yes, yes!
Stephanie: No, Mummy.
It looks superb. Yeah, you need
drama. Of course you do.
Oh, Mummy, you're the bride.
Isabelle: You sure?
Stephanie: Yes, I'm sure.
Dick: You look anything
but Cruella de Vil,
and I look forward to
the wedding itself.
37 miles south is the stately
Chateau Gioux,
which sits on 5 acres of land
on the edge of
the Millesvaches park.
It has 4 bedrooms and 2 salons
and was bought recently for
£280,000
by Yorkshire couple
Debbie and Nigel,
who've just opened as a B&B.
Debbie: Got lots of exciting
times to come.
I think the whole package
will be exciting.
Nigel: We got the room
and the space,
and we opened our own business.
Debbie: All the elements are
there to make it
something really special,
aren't they?
Otherwise we
wouldn't have done it. Ha ha!
Dick: Located 30 miles east
of Limoges,
Debbie, who used to run
a farm shop,
and Nigel, a former bar manager,
have done up 3 bedrooms...
Nigel: Oh! Oh!
Debbie: What do you think?
Nigel: Eh, that looks fantastic.
Dick: and welcomed
their first guests.
Debbie: This is
the Vassiviere Room.
Man: That's amazing!
Debbie: You like it?
Man: Yeah, very happy for
the night.
Debbie: Yes?
Man: Yes, yup.
Dick: Now they have their sights
set on a new project--
a run-down conservatory at
the back of the chateau.
Nigel: This is an extension that
was built to the chateau,
I guess, just after the war,
really...
Debbie: Yeah...
Nigel: when it was turned
into a nursing home.
At the moment, it's just been
an area
where we've dumped things,
but we want to try and make it
into a nice area, a nice
comfortable sitting area.
Dick: And Debbie already has
a clear vision for it.
Debbie: I'd like it to be
a very, very pale
sort of Mediterranean blue
and some paintings of flowers,
wisteria on the walls,
lots of tropical plants,
flowers.
Just a really green,
lovely green space.
Nigel: An oasis.
Debbie: An oasis,
an oasis of calm.
Dick: Sounds idyllic,
but looking at the state of
the room,
you've certainly got a lot
of hard graft on your hands.
Debbie: Right.
Shall we get cracking, then?
Dick: The ceiling has to be
prepared for decorating,
the walls and rusty window
frames painted,
and broken glass replaced.
Nigel: Right.
Where do you want to start?
Debbie: Where do you want
to start? More to the point.
Nigel: That in this corner here.
Debbie: Yup.
This looks really wobbly,
Nige. Is it...
Nigel: Why don't you go up
and test it?
Debbie: No. I'll let you
do that.
I'm not good on heights.
If it's a wobbly surface
like that,
then I'll just be hopeless.
Nigel: Right. Here goes.
Oh.
Debbie: Ohh.
Nigel: How about that.
Debbie: Is it coming off
quite well?
Nigel: Yeah, not too bad.
Come have a go.
Debbie: No, I don't have a go.
Nigel: As long as I get
the loose flaky stuff off,
that's all, really, I need off,
isn't it?
Debbie: Yes.
Dick: While Nigel gets on
with the ceiling,
Debbie's keeping her feet on
the ground
and scraping years of old paint
off the window frames
and sills.
Debbie: If you asked me to do
this at home in the UK,
I'd think, "Oh, no.
What a boring job."
And when you start to see
the impact you're having,
then it makes it all worthwhile.
Nigel: Yup, that'll do for now.
Debbie:
We've made some progress.
We've got a start in here,
haven't we?
Nigel: A good start on
the ceiling.
There's quite a bit of work
left to do yet.
Could finish scraping
the ceiling,
and then you've got to finish
all this.
[Laughter]
Made her look.
Dick: Well, you've made
a good start,
but the hardest part is
still to come
to get this extension
up to scratch.
The majestic 19th-century
Chateau de Brives
sits in 30 acres of land
with 5 outbuildings
and 25 rooms.
It's been home to
antique dealers Sarah and George
and their children
Tatiana and Alexi for 9 years.
George: We definitely realized
on the very first day that
this was the house that
we wanted...
Sarah: Yeah, that we would love.
Yeah.
George: that this was going to
be our home.
Sarah: Certainly.
Dick: Located 58 miles from
Bordeaux,
to make the chateau pay its way,
Sarah and George are
turning their home into
a wedding venue.
Sarah: So this will be the
bride's dressing room in here.
Dick: And they've worked hard
promoting the business
to try and get a booking
this year.
George: With these
fantastic faces,
with the effort
that everyone's put in,
I'm sure we'll find a couple
who would love
to get married here.
Dick: Those efforts seem
to have paid off,
with their first-ever wedding
booking for over 80 guests
happening at the end of
the summer.
Sarah: We are absolutely
thrilled to be having
our first wedding.
I can't tell you.
George: It's the icing
on the cake, isn't it?
Sarah: It is.
George: But we're still nervous.
Sarah: Yeah.
George: I'm certainly nervous.
Sarah: And I think as we get
nearer to the date,
we'll get even more and more
nervous.
George:
We definitely are nervous.
Sarah: Being our first one.
George: Yeah.
Dick: I'm not
surprised they're nervous.
While they may have a booking,
they don't actually have
a reception venue yet.
So they need to transform
their 19th-century coach house
into an event space
rather than the dumping ground
it is now.
George ropes in daughter
Tatiana to help.
George: I'm gonna go up here,
start banging on these.
And then as they come down,
you clear up, I'll stop.
I'll tell you when one's gonna
fall, OK?
Dick: To make a feature of
the roof,
George is removing the joists,
which held a landing.
George: Right.
This is gonna swing.
Tatiana: Didn't swing as much
as I thought it would.
A bit overexaggerated.
George: Now you look back to
it, there's a false ceiling.
It really does make it look like
a real kind of cathedral.
That's good. So you'll get the
last bits of that, all right?
Well done. Success!
Well, it just looks
so much bigger.
And once these two beams here
that are hanging
under the big beams are
taken off, you look up.
It's just, yeah,
really, really pleased.
Dick: Next on the to-do list is
to knock through
a bricked-up doorway to create
an entrance
into what will become
a special bar for the wedding.
George: So you get there.
And what I'm going to do, Tati,
is to hack off this,
which is the old plaster,
to reveal the stone underneath.
-You all right?
-Yeah.
George: Now, that's come off
nicely.
And that panel there is
the door that's been blocked up.
There's the lintel over the top
of a large piece of oak.
That goes down behind these two
long planks of wood.
So that would go through to
where we're gonna have the bar.
Dick: A good afternoon's effort,
but you've got your
work cut out,
as all the stone walls need to
be exposed and repointed
to be wedding-ready.
115 miles away at Chateau Gioux,
Debbie and Nigel have spent
the last two weeks stripping
the ceiling
and painting walls
and window frames
in their neglected sunroom.
Now they're faced with the job
of replacing the broken windows.
Nigel: It's challenging
because I've never
put any glass in before.
And I don't have all the tools
that I need to be able to do it.
I haven't got a putty knife.
A limited amount of putty
I've got.
So it's going to be quite
a challenging operation.
Debbie: So in other words,
you're not really prepared,
are you, Nige?
Nigel: No.
Debbie: No.
Dick: Oh, dear.
This doesn't bode well.
Nigel: Here we go.
Anybody outside? No.
Everything clear?
Debbie: No. Everybody's clear.
There we go.
Debbie: That was quite clean,
wasn't it?
Nigel: Yeah.
Dick: So far so good,
but you still need to take out
all the old putty
and put the new glass in.
Nigel: When it comes out
easily, it's satisfying.
When it doesn't it's a--
it's difficult.
[Hammering]
Dick: Debbie has a project of
her own, too,
also a first for her.
Debbie: Because we want to have
this as a garden room,
my idea was to have a meadow
on the walls.
So try and make it look
a little bit more like
the gardens coming
into the house.
I've never painted a mural
in my life before. Ha ha!
So it could be really
interesting.
It could be that we need to get
the blue paint out
and paint over it again.
But we'll just give it a try
and see what happens.
Dick: That's the spirit!
Angel used our garden
as inspiration
when she created
her tower of curiosities
with help from her artist
friends.
Angel: It was a very basic
brief.
And the brief was,
It's a botanical suite/tower.
They wanted to incorporate
something from the garden.
Dick: It certainly impressed
my mum, who was staying with us.
Mum: Oh, my Lordy. Well, I say,
look at that, too.
That's beautiful, Angela.
Dick: Now it's Debbie's turn.
Debbie: I'm thinking first,
I'm going for
the brown sort of grassy look.
But it's really difficult
because it's such a bubbly wall.
My idea is to try and get
sort of halfway up the wall,
so the idea is it's more
of a meadow, a meadow scene.
Nigel: A bit abstract,
isn't it?
Debbie: Ha ha. Abstract, yeah.
Dick: As Debbie cracks on,
Nigel prepares the putty.
Nigel: The window is fine.
It's cleared.
This is the part
that I'm not sure about.
I'm not sure how much putty
to put in, how to put it in,
how to glaze it.
I'm going to make it up
as I go along.
Dick: A thin bead of putty will
hold the glass in place
and give an airtight finish.
Nigel: So we need it
in long strips.
Dick: Debbie downs her
paintbrush to lend a hand
with putty preparation.
Debbie: OK.
Nigel: That's it. Rub it hard.
Squeeze it. Get all the air out.
That's it. And then roll it out
as a snake.
Debbie: OK. I bet mine's
better than yours.
Nigel: I'm sure it will be.
Consider were we
doing it to be like that.
[Debbie chuckling]
Debbie: OK. It is like going
back to play sort of, isn't it?
Nigel: This is very good.
In fact, I think you're doing
a better snake than me.
Debbie: It's a bit fussy in
the middle.
Nigel: It is, yeah.
Dick: Sausages made, it's time
to put it in place.
Nigel: All right.
So if you can get a thin bead
all the way along there,
Debbie: Along this bottom edge?
Nigel: Yes.
Perfect. Yeah, that's
exactly what we needed.
Debbie: I can't
stop it falling off. Ha ha!
[Laughter]
Nigel: It's all getting dirty.
We haven't got much putty.
Debbie, voice-over: If it was
up to me glazing windows,
then we won't be getting
very far.
So I'm leaving that to Nige.
I'll do the snakes.
Nigel: It's not an easy job,
isn't this,
especially when it's
your first time.
I think we're just about ready
for the glass.
Dick: With glass costing 80 quid
a sheet,
Nigel can't afford
to make mistakes.
Nigel: Does it fit? Yes.
You see how when you push
the glass--
Debbie: Yup.
Nigel: and you squeeze it
so that there's a good
airtight finish.
Debbie: That looks so much
better already, doesn't it?
Nigel: Yeah.
Dick: Then just finish around
the outside.
And after a lick of paint,
it'll be waterproof.
Nigel: It's not one of my
favorite jobs, isn't this?
Some things I'm not
very good at,
and it takes a lot of
patience,
and I've not
got a lot of patience.
I'm not good at this.
Debbie: It looks good, Nige.
Nigel: Thank you.
Dick: Not bad, Nigel, especially
for a first time.
Now Debbie can get back
to her own job.
Debbie: I think it's OK, yeah.
I think it's not bad.
Think a proper artist might
actually say about it, but--
Nigel: Right. How we doing?
Debbie: What do you think, Nige?
Nigel: I think that looks
fantastic.
Debbie: The sunroom, as we used
to call it,
is looking now quite summery
and gardeny.
So I think we should maybe call
it the garden room.
Nigel: You think so?
Debbie: Yeah.
It's got plants in it.
Nigel: Henceforth to be known
as the garden room.
Debbie:
Henceforth the garden room.
Dick: So it's now
the garden room.
All it needs are a few
finishing touches,
and I'm sure it'll bloom.
Dick: 37 miles north
at Chateau de Lalande, it's
half an hour until the wedding
ceremony is due to start.
Stephanie's mother Isabelle will
make her way to the chapel
in a newly restored carriage.
[Isabelle speaking French]
Isabelle: It looks lovely.
Isabelle: Ah!
And look at Gerry!
Where are you?
Stephanie: Oh, yes,
look at this.
Isabelle: Look at that...
Dick: Gerry arrives to see
Isabelle off.
Gerry: They need somebody to
race the horse?
[Stephanie laughs]
Gerry: You look lovely.
Isabelle: Thank you.
Gerry: You look lovely.
Isabelle: And so do you.
Gerry: So do you, darling.
You look lovely.
Stephanie: Thanks.
Dick: Now for the bride to be
escorted to the chapel,
but careful not to mistake
the horse's groom
for your groom, Isabelle.
Gerry: Congratulations.
[Laughter]
Gerry: Good-bye. Good-bye.
[Stephanie laughing]
Gerry: I'll tell Percy.
Isabelle: Good-bye. I'm off.
Dick: To make the most of
the short journey,
they go the long way around,
down a local lane
while Stephanie nips across
the lawn
to greet the priest who'll be
doing the blessing.
Stephanie: Mummy was made for
a carriage, wasn't she?
Ha ha!
She seems to have got quite
close
to the man doing the carriage.
Gerry: Yeah, she does, doesn't
she? I noticed that.
[Gerry clapping]
Isabelle: Thank you, Manny.
Isabelle: We made it, certainly.
Stephanie: Ha ha!
[Applause]
Stephanie: If you and Percy
would wait together
whilst we all go in.
Dick: The big moment has
finally arrived--
Isabelle and Percy's vows in
front of family and friends
from all over the world.
Stephanie: If you would stand.
All: * Amazing grace *
* How sweet the sound *
* That saved a wretch *
* Like me *
[Percy and Isabelle repeating
phrases in French]
Isabelle: Thank you very much.
A good day to all of us.
And best wishes, us.
Stephanie: Whoo-hoo! Yeah! Yay!
[Attendees cheering]
Isabelle: Bring them on.
Stephanie: Keep walking on.
Ha ha!
Dick: Congratulations to
the happy bride and groom.
Let the festivities back at
the chateau begin.
[Isabelle laughs]
Dick: Over in southwest France,
after 2 months of hard graft,
the walls in Sarah and George's
coach house
have been exposed and repointed.
However, there's no rest for
the chateau owners,
as today they have to create
a new floor.
George: Well, we're off
to lay the concrete.
Cement lorry coming in
half an hour.
Get things ready, and then we'll
go all afternoon.
Bonjour.
Dick: Local builder Frédéric,
his wife Isabelle,
and Sarah and George have laid
the reinforcing steel mesh.
Now they'll have to work
as a team to spread
the 10,000 liters of concrete.
George: Now we're just waiting
for the cement lorry.
It should be here in 10 minutes.
And then it's all hands
to the deck.
[Conversation in French]
Sarah: Ohh!
[Laughter]
Sarah: He said it's going to be
physique.
George: Physique.
Sarah: Oh, gosh.
I'm quite scared. Ha ha!
It comes in a big chute,
and then we have to spade it
into the wheelbarrow.
George: Into the wheelbarrow?
Sarah: Yeah.
George: It doesn't get into
the wheelbarrow?
Sarah: Oh, my God. No.
I'm gonna be dead at the end.
George: It's gonna be
really quick.
Sarah: Right. OK. So we're
ready?
George: We're ready.
Dick: Just in time for
lorry number one.
As well as working against
the clock to lay the concrete
before it sets, lorry number 2
is due in 19 minutes.
Sarah and George really will
need to get stuck in.
George: Well, exciting.
[Man speaking French]
George: You seen my grass?
Ha ha.
Sarah: I'm really nervous.
Ha ha!
I'm just worried I'm not
going to be quick enough.
George: Here it comes.
Sarah: Oh, my gosh.
Sarah: This is gonna be thick.
[Conversation in French]
Sarah: I'm gonna go with this,
Georgie.
George: What?
Sarah: Like a baby's rake.
George: No, you don't.
That won't work.
Sarah: Oh, God. I thought that
might not go down very well.
What can I do?
Should I do it with a spade,
with a shovel?
Sarah: OK.
Dick: Each cubic meter of
concrete weighs over two tons.
I can tell you
it's backbreaking work,
especially under time pressure.
[Sarah groans]
George: It's quick, isn't it?
Blimey.
Sarah: OK, OK.
Sarah: I think mine doesn't look
quite as good as everybody--
[Laughs]
as everybody else's.
Dick: After 30 minutes of
raking,
the concrete is starting
to stiffen,
making it harder to level.
Sarah: Well, I think they're
doing really well.
I've got quite a lot of lumps
in mine--ha ha--in my side.
I think I've got a bit more work
to do.
How you doing, Georgie?
Dick: And it's vital that
the patches, which are now even,
aren't disturbed.
George: No? OK.
Sarah: OK, OK.
[Sarah and George chuckling]
He's not happy with his team
of English people, but--ha ha!
Dick: To be fair,
he is responsible
for getting it all even before
the concrete starts to set.
Sarah: Keep going now?
[Chuckles]
George: No?
Sarah: * Oh la la *
Dick: Frédéric's working
against the clock
with the help of his automatic
laser level,
but there's a problem.
Sarah and George: Oui.
Sarah: OK.
George: I think the machine is
really important
because that's what gives you
the height
the concrete has to be at.
And without that, you'd be on
your hands and knees
measuring every 10 seconds.
Dick: Disaster averted,
but that's no excuse
for a break, you two.
That second lorry load of
concrete is on its way.
115 miles away in central
France, Debbie and Nigel are
close to finishing their
garden room.
Having plowed all their money
into buying the property,
they need to count the pennies
when renovating.
Debbie: We've got
financial constraints
in terms of, we can't do
everything immediately.
Nigel: Chateau on a shoestring.
Debbie: Chateau on a shoestring,
yeah. Ha ha.
Dick: Now it just needs
a few finishing touches,
and a good way to save money,
as Angel and I know,
is to upcycle.
Debbie: Now, this is a daybed
that we have.
It was left, actually, by
the previous people
using one of the bedrooms.
Nigel: Now you want this
in that corner.
Debbie: So we thought
the perfect place, I think,
in that corner, Nige.
Nigel: Right.
Debbie: Right.
Right. Those need to go on
the--on the daybed.
Nigel: Very nice.
Nigel: Got me a new comb.
Debbie: Oh, you've got
your new comb, yeah.
I think--
Nigel: In the window?
Debbie: I think just--yeah.
Dick: All manner of things
can be used to add
some rustic charm to a room.
Nigel: I think that might look
nice mounted on the wall.
Debbie: I think it--might
detract from the paintings.
I don't know. What do you think?
Nigel: Oh...
don't want anything to detract
from your paintings.
Debbie: I think we'll
just--leave it there for now.
Nigel: Leave it there for now
until we decide.
Debbie: Yeah. Now let's see.
OK.
Great. As long as there's enough
room for people to sit.
Nigel: Yeah. That looks good
like that.
Nigel: What are we going to do
about this rust?
Debbie: It's part of it.
I know you like everything
pristine and gloss white,
but I don't.
I think it'll work just fine.
It looks perfect.
Nigel: It adds to the character?
Debbie: Adds to the character.
Yeah. It does.
[Nigel laughs]
Nigel: I'd like to paint it.
Debbie: No.
Nigel: OK, dear. Not a problem.
Just do as I'm told? Heh!
Debbie: And this little thing,
which you said was a fly,
a tsetse fly.
Nigel: It's definitely a fly.
Debbie: Fly don't have antennae
like that in the front.
Nigel: That's not a bee.
It's a fly.
Debbie: It's a bee. A fly-bee.
Ha ha.
Dick: As a beekeeper,
I don't recognize it.
Debbie: I think it's a really,
really nice room,
nice sitting area.
Nigel: It is, yes.
Time for a cuppa tea.
Debbie: Shall we sit in here
with a cuppa tea?
Nigel: I think that's
a good plan.
I'll go put the kettle on.
Debbie: All right.
Debbie: From being a redundant
room full of rubbish,
it's turned into a nice little
extension to our garden,
I think.
Dick: Couldn't have put it
better myself, Debbie.
Debbie: Everything that we do in
the chateau we enjoy.
Everything we do makes
the place better.
Nigel: It makes it better,
and it seems to bring it
back to life.
Tea, dear.
Debbie: Lovely.
And it's lovely just to be
looking out, isn't it?
Looking out over the estate.
[Laughter]
-The paddock.
-The paddock.
Dick: There's nothing quite like
a well-earned cup of tea
when you've ticked off another
job on the list.
Dick: 37 miles north at
Stephanie's
after the ceremony
in the private chapel,
it's time to start celebrating
her mother Isabelle's marriage
to Percy with a champagne
reception.
Stephanie: Ah! Cheers, all.
Attendees: Cheers.
Stephanie: Cheers.
Isabelle: It was my most
anxious moment,
the chapel moment, because it
does mean something to me.
Stephanie: Did you finally feel
like a bride?
Isabelle: Yes, I did. I did.
Yeah, but the point--
Stephanie: Job done, then.
Isabelle: Did he feel like
a groom? I'm not sure.
Percy: I had tears in my eyes.
Isabelle: Did you really?
Percy: But you didn't notice.
Isabelle: No, I didn't see that.
Stephanie: Today's idyllic. I
can't believe how perfect it is.
After all this stress.
My mother always, always says,
"I don't want to fuss.
I do not want to fuss.
I'm very humble, very simple."
And then the minute there's
a party, she's just
the star of the show.
Lookit. She's reclining
on a carpet in the courtyard
under a parasol with Percy
feeding her tidbits. Ha ha!
Dick: A bride's prerogative,
I suppose.
And no wedding reception is
complete
without one age-old tradition.
Stephanie: We've decided to
cut the cake.
My incredibly dodgy, floppy,
"first-ever attempt
at a wedding cake" cake.
And we thought that we should do
it in front of the carriage
because it's been a big part of
the day.
It's lovely. Isn't it pretty?
Dick: It's looking great,
but Stephanie seems to have
overlooked something.
Isabelle: We need a knife.
We need a spatula.
Stephanie? Where is my daughter?
Where is the organizer?
Where are the plates?
Oh, my goodness.
Not this one.
Isabelle: You sure you did? OK.
Darling, you better come here.
Look.
Don't you dare.
Man: Ladies and gentlemen.
Isabelle: The cutting
of the cake.
[Cheering and applause]
Isabelle: Done.
Stephanie: You have to feed
each other.
Isabelle: Do we?
Open your mouth, darling.
[Stephanie laughing]
[Cheering and applause]
Isabelle: It's all yours.
Make the most of it.
Dick: What a beautiful day,
but it's not over yet.
With a 6-course dinner to
prepare for 30 guests,
Stephanie's still got
her work cut out.
In southwest France,
Sarah and George have been
working against the clock
to lay the floor in their
coach house.
George: Ah, harder work than I
thought. Really hard work.
But we've done 6 liters cubed.
We've got 4 to go.
Dick: The second lorry load of
concrete has now arrived,
and there's no letup on the
pressure to spread it evenly.
Sarah: Oui. Oui. Merci.
I'll leave a bit back.
George: So?
Sarah: Ha ha!
George: Yeah.
George: Oui. OK.
There's more concrete than
the height of the door,
so we've got to shovel this out
because otherwise the doors
won't close.
Dick: Luckily, the excess
concrete can be put to good use,
as there are a few gaping
potholes
in the chateau's driveway.
Sarah: Oh, God. Look at
the blob. Look, that's no good.
I'll get told off. Oops.
George: Tell him we got to get
lots more out.
-Really?
-Yeah.
Because our doors won't--
Sarah: We could get rid of the--
George: But we need lots,
darling.
Sarah: Yeah, the big one
down there.
George: Yeah, but he can't
continue until we get rid of it.
-OK.
-That's what we're saying.
Dick: Now it's a race against
drying concrete
to remove the excess.
Sarah: Oh, no!
Dick: That's one way to get rid
of it, Sarah.
[Sarah laughing]
Dick: In an effort to get
the concrete out
as fast as possible, everyone
grabs a wheelbarrow
and runs.
[George groaning]
George: I've just dropped that
big wheelbarrow out there.
So you've got one grippy pizza
in the drive now.
-Oh, lovely.
-Yeah.
Dick: As Frédéric's been so busy
smoothing the floor,
he's not noticed
something's missing.
George: Oui.
[George chuckling]
George: He wants a wheelbarrow
full of concrete.
Sarah: What shall I do?
George: He thought there was too
much, but he left it there
just in case,
and now he needs it.
And we've used it.
Sarah: Do you want me to get--
I can go and get one. Ha ha!
I can go and scoot my lovely new
drive off if you want.
George: You ask him, darling.
Dick: Judging by the expression
on Frédéric's face,
I think you know the answer,
Sarah.
[Sarah chuckling]
George: What are you doing,
darling?
Taking coals to Newcastle?
Sarah: Scoop it all off.
[Laughter]
George: Back in the barn,
Frédéric still
doesn't have enough concrete.
George: I think I'm gonna go
and get my pizza.
[Sarah groans]
Sarah: Well done, Georgio.
George: Right.
There's my big pizza.
Sarah: Yay, bravo, George.
Dick: Finally,
Frédéric is smiling.
Sarah: So did you smooth it back
down again or not
when you dug it out?
-Excuse me?
-Yeah, you obviously haven't.
We got too much now. Ha ha!
Dick: With the last bit smooth
and leveled,
Sarah and George's coach house
transformation
has come on leaps and bounds.
George: It's a great space.
Sarah: Yeah, it was much quicker
than I thought, actually.
George: Yes.
Sarah: I don't know what time--
I have no idea what time it is.
George: Well, you worked very
hard, darling.
There was a time earlier on
that I was thinking
we were gonna have a sit-down.
[Sarah chuckling]
It wa--ha ha!
It was very physical.
Sarah: It's very hard work.
Dick: Your wedding barn is
well on the way.
And once that floor is dry
and polished, I reckon
it'll look incredible for
the wedding in 3 months' time.
125 miles away in central
France, Stephanie's busy
preparing a 6-course dinner
for Isabelle and Percy's
evening banquet.
Stephanie: We're actually doing
really well.
And the first 3 courses
are nearly done.
And now we're just starting to
put the fourth--
the main course--together,
which will be in the oven
whilst we're eating the rest.
Dick: Outside on the terrace,
some of the wedding guests
are helping to add the final
touches to Stephanie's
lace-covered pergola.
Man: We made them work out
how many we've got
so we have a sort of
equal number on each strand.
Stephanie: Right. I'll make
the couscous last minute,
so I'm not going to do that
just yet. Um...
Woman: OK, got it. Go.
Stephanie: You sure?
Woman: Yeah, yeah.
Stephanie: Right.
OK, I'm going to go, then,
and check on my mother,
and I'm going to go and show her
the table.
Dick: In just 3 days,
Stephanie's turned
a 30-meter terrace
into a setting
for a wondrous
wedding banquet.
The specially built pergola has
been draped
in over 80 meters of lace
and decorated with foliage from
the grounds,
flowers, chandeliers,
and fairy lights.
Isabelle and Percy have
a surprise in store,
as they haven't seen
the fully adorned terrace.
Isabelle: Oh! How wonderful.
Stephanie!
Oh, it is so beautiful.
Smart! It is lovely.
Percy: Very nice.
I love it, darling.
Stephanie: Good.
Isabelle: I think Stephanie has
achieved the impossible.
Percy: I think
it's quite amazing.
A real transformation.
Dick: Now time for everyone to
dine in true chateau style.
[Pop]
Isabelle: Do sit down.
[Laughter]
Stephanie: Cheers, everybody.
Gerry: Cheers to you and Percy.
Isabelle: Thank you, all.
And to all of you, thank you for
being here.
Dick: Cheers and bon appétit.
As dusk descends, the chateau
takes on a magical look.
Isabelle: Ohh.
"Isabelle et Percy"!
Stephanie: Yes.
Isabelle: Magnifique.
Dick: In chateau style,
a wedding tradition started
in the 19th century...
Stephanie: And it's down
in one piece!
[Cheering and applause]
Isabelle: You did so great.
Dick: a croquembouche made by
a local bakery.
Isabelle: OK. Well done,
darling. Well done.
Stephanie: I'll just taste this
one just to make sure it's OK,
Percy.
[Laughter]
Stephanie: Mmm!
[Clinking]
Percy: I'd like to thank
everybody who's here tonight.
To Stephanie, I originally
thought I would do this
in French, but I'll just say,
Merci beaucoup.
[Laughter]
And you really made this
a very special day
for me and for Isabelle.
Thank you so very much.
Isabelle: Thank you.
[Applause]
Percy: Thank you very much for
saying yes.
Thank you for being a good
friend and a very special person
for the last 6 years to me.
Isabelle: Thank you very much.
Thank you, darling.
Percy: Oh, well, I'll try to
make you very happy.
Isabelle: Thank you.
[Woman trilling]
Percy: A more beautiful bride
there has never been.
Isabelle: Ah!
Percy: It's been brilliant,
much more
than what I anticipated.
I'm very ecstatically happy.
Isabelle: Ah, ooh, ooh!
Yes, and my day has been
absolutely wonderful, too.
[Laughter]
Stephanie: Highlights of today:
seeing my mother
in the carriage,
seeing the chapel being used,
seeing the terrace
like this,
and hearing Percy's beautiful
speech.
I loved today. I think it was
a great success.
It was so beautiful.
I would love to see more happy
people getting married here.
Dick: Well, what a glorious day.
Stephanie has done Isabelle
and Percy proud.
And all her hard work
has paid off.
Isabelle: Cheers.
Attendees: Cheers.
Dick: Next time...
Debbie: This is probably, yeah,
my worst nightmare.
Dick: it's panic stations at
Debbie and Nigel's.
Nigel: I believe that you can
do this better.
Debbie: Yeah, I was gonna say,
you just get out the way.
Dick: Sarah and George try to
woo a wedding couple.
Sarah: And then there's a little
courtyard outside
if any of you wanted
a gin and vodka.
Woman: Ha ha!
Dick: And Stephanie plans
a Renaissance revival.
Stephanie: I would like
a 4-poster in here,
but I don't think I can
afford one.
Dick: But standards start
to slip.
Isabelle: This is disastrous.
Gerry: It's only disastrous
because you've got
a defeatist attitude.