Grand Designs (1999–…): Season 19, Episode 1 - Aylesbury Vale - full transcript

Visit any stately home in Britain,

and you'll be confronted
by buildings like this.

Follies, monuments,
temples in the landscape,

placed here in a quirky, romantic,
aristocratic belief

in lost, ancient virtues,
in the values of an age long gone.

Of course, to our mind,

these buildings are exactly that,
they are just follies.

And they were never built
to be lived in, of course.

I mean, look at it.
Who'd want to do that?

The Vale of Aylesbury
in Buckinghamshire

is a great, rolling, open landscape.



It is splendidly dotted with grand
country estates from another age.

Just the right hunting ground
for an architectural folly.

What a site!

I mean, that's what I call
a ruin and a half!

It may have the shape
of an ancient Tudor tower.

But this mini-castle
wasn't built for defence.

It was, in fact, built 250 years ago

to house a gentleman's
fossil collection.

Of course, now, it's become
something of a relic itself!

I mean, it is a building that
doesn't want to stand up any more.

It just wants to sort of
fall over in two big halves.

But it's not going to...

..because I think its owners
are going to try and repair it.

Those enterprising owners who want
to revive the folly



are Mimi and Jaime Fernandez,
who met six years ago in Madrid.

Madrid is a great city because
it's the best city in the world.

The people, architecture,
the tradition,

and it's the city
where I met Mimi so...

..it couldn't get better than that.

Jaime just has got so much energy.

He makes things happen, he's a doer.

He's proactive
and gets things done.

As an architect, Jaime has designed
a handful of new build houses,

but his passion is for
great, ancient architecture.

I love old buildings.
The more run down, the better.

Because I can see the potential
in those buildings,

and what they can become again.

For Jaime, the prospect of restoring
the old castle folly

in Buckinghamshire
is a childhood dream come true.

I have always wanted
to live in a castle.

Since I was very young,
and finally I've got my chance.

We've got a huge,
huge challenge ahead of us.

It's going to be...a big deal!

We'll get there. We'll get there.
We will. We always do.

Jaime and Mimi
are now based in the UK,

and have taken a short-term lease
on a rental bungalow,

a few miles from the folly.

Mimi's a former teacher, and she
looks after their son George,

who's nearly two.

She's also five months pregnant
with their second child.

A little baby.
Yes, a little baby in here!

It's not great timing
for anyone taking on

a demanding restoration project.

Hello. Hello. Hello.

What on earth made you
choose to do this?

My parents were local, and I used
to pass this all the time.

I did used to think it's so sad
that it is in this ruinous state,

and why doesn't anyone
do anything with it?

I thought it's the sort of
project that we could take on.

You must also like a fight as well.

Because to actually take on
a building like this...

I am a fighter, yeah.

It's just such a magical place.

You know, we both
fell in love with it,

and both are very passionate
about restoring it.

This comes with great
old buildings and great sites,

that there is a power of place.

Not just the building, but the site.

This is an archaeological
interest site.

There was a Saxon burial
found right there. Wow.

I'm quite scared
when digging trenches

because we might find something.

How much did you pay for it?
£100,000.

With no planning permission?

With zero planning permission.

And you're laughing.

Because we made it!

It took me one year
to get planning, but got it.

To get permission,

Jaime and Mimi agreed not to add to
the original footprint of the folly.

So their new home will be
exquisite, characterful

and very small.

When it was built in the 1760s,

this faux castle
had three simple timber floors.

A catastrophic fire
in the late 1800s

destroyed the wooden interior,

and so began a cycle of decline.

It was abandoned for 200 years,

and weather badly eroded every
stone and every inch of mortar.

Until eight years ago,

the council inserted a ring beam
of red brick to tie it together,

and avoid total collapse.

Jaime and Mimi's project will start
with trenches for utilities,

before they can begin work
on the crumbling stone walls.

Inside, they'll make
a compact kitchen

out of what will be
a lower ground floor.

The upper floors
will be supported on steelwork

that will slot into the old walls.

On the first floor, the octagonal
lounge will offer countryside

views from every window, with just
enough room for an open fireplace.

The second floor, the grandest,
will have the tallest ceilings,

and offer the best views
from two bedrooms,

each with a compact en-suite.

Jaime wants to reinstate
a spiral staircase,

squeezed into the east turret
that will lead up to the roof,

which will serve as a look-out
among the oak tree canopy.

And a reinstated grand staircase
will complete this project,

for which they have a modest budget,

£200,000 that comes from the sale
of a previous home.

So the 200 grand covers
everything on the project,

the whole project budget, yeah?

Yeah, it does. Including living.

Including your fees as an architect,
in other words. Yes.

So... And who's doing it?
I was planning on bringing

three guys from Spain.

And how much are you doing?

A lot, probably.

And you're project managing as well?
Yes, yes.

So, you're architect,
project manager, builder...

Jack of all trades.

How much experience have you had
of conservation building

with stone buildings?

One. This one.

This one, yeah.
When do you hope to move in?

Over the summer?

Yes, as quick as we can. Six months.

That is very...
Yeah, six months could be.

I reckon. Not betting!

I couldn't possibly say,
but it's not six months!

Let's try to do it, and see
if it was impossible or not.

I won't hold you to it, Jaime.
I'll just stand back in admiration!

It's clear that Jaime
is a wide-eyed optimist.

It's not only his ludicrously
short schedule,

he's also given up work,

so his family will survive by
dipping into their build budget.

And all of this with
no experience of restoration.

Here's an historic buildings joke.

How many conservation officers does
it take to change a light bulb?

To which the answer is,

"What do you mean, change?"

And there you have in a nub
the dilemma of this building.

All the distinction
between conservation, repair,

restoration,
dramatic reconstruction,

new build, all these things actually
pale into insignificance

in comparison to the fact

that this place
is going to undergo change,

it's going to stop being
a ruin and start being a house.

This place is never going
to look the same again,

at least not in my lifetime!

Just a few weeks after my visit,
Jaime cracks straight into

his supposed six-month programme,
starting with the trenches

for power, water and sewerage.

But, this is an old
Saxon burial ground,

so the planning conditions dictate

that Jaime has to pay
an archaeologist

to examine every bucket
of earth the digger brings up.

Fairly modern-ish, probably 18th
century or 17th century tile.

So we'll keep that one!

It's a very slow process
because of the archaeology.

And every day they are here,
it's another £400 or £500,

so everything moves much slower,
and if we find something,

then everything sort of stops,

and then it's like,
"What do we do now?".

Oh, look!

Aren't we lucky? Oh, a shoe!

Two days in, and Jaime's learning
that work on ancient buildings

is a slow and expensive business.

Lessons that have already been
learnt just half a mile away

at Dinton Hall.

This was the family home
of Sir John Vanhattem,

the man who built Mimi and Jaime's
folly as part of his estate.

And, 20 years ago,
this too was a derelict shell.

This is a beautifully
detailed restoration.

Somewhat sets the bar
a little high for Jaime, eh?

The current owner, who took charge
of the restoration,

is Richard Vanbergen.

How long did it this take
to do this project?

This whole thing
took about ten years, just under.

Ten years of your time.
Ten years of my time.

Yes. Which I regret. Do you?

Yes. Too much?

Too much, too long!
You can't get time back.

I think I went through three
architects, two builders,

three quantity surveyors.

At the end of the day,
I had to do a lot of it myself.

If we'd done it the way in which
the listed buildings officer wanted

it would have taken 100 years
to do this job.

Wow. OK...

Shall I tell you how much? Go on.

Nearly ten million quid.

To do this, ten years, ten million
quid to repair this building? Yes.

Well, it's a very fine job.
A very beautiful job as a result.

If I were to have it valued,
I might not get my money back!

During the restoration of this
building, Richard found documents

written by Sir John Vanhattem about
the building of the castle folly.

1769 he says...

"Laid the foundation stone
of Dinton Castle."

Three years later, in 1772, he says,

"Found in trenching
the ground about the castle,

"a glass cup and skeleton,

"and many human bones,
broken spears,

"and bits of swords
and other weapons."

What he'd obviously
discovered was the Saxon grave

underneath the site,

which he dutifully then just put
back in the ground and buried,

only for Jaime to then
dig it up all over again.

Nobody took too much notice of Saxon
bones in the 18th century.

But today,
buried bodies on building sites

can bring a project to a dead halt.

You've got something in here, look.
You see the dark fill here? Yes.

That could be a grave.

Yeah, that is a grave.
This is the shape... A grave, yep.

Well, the situation is that
we've discovered some bones.

We've got some skull fragments
and part of a pelvis.

If we then have to apply
to get them moved and lifted,

it could potentially
take us three weeks.

Two days in, and Jaime's six-month
schedule is already under pressure.

I do not regret anything yet!

But so many times I think, like,
"What am I doing?

"What am I getting into?"

Just two days
into a six-month schedule

and work at Jaime and Mimi's
Buckinghamshire folly

has begun to reveal
its buried secrets.

We found some bones.

We are not allowed to touch them

and the option would be getting
an exhumation licence,

or trying a different trench,

hoping not to find anything.

The team start digging
the only remaining path

for the main sewage pipe.

If we find anything here,

our options to dig a different
trench do not exist.

It's an anxious wait,

but Jaime gets lucky

and there are no more bones
to be found.

But a job that would normally take
a few hours

has taken closer to two weeks

and the total cost for groundworks
is ?30,000 -

double what Jaime was expecting.

His inexperience
is beginning to tell.

I'm still thinking we will be
moving in this summer.

Impossible is nothing.

By late Spring, with the groundworks
thankfully complete, Jaime begins to

source stone to repair
his castle walls.

We are looking for grey and gold.

This is good, this is the
kind of stone we are looking for.

In fact, I want this bag!

The colour of the stone

is as important to the planners
as how they are used.

But the expert Spanish stonemasons
Jaime had lined up to do that job

have been in touch.

I've been let down
by my Spanish guys.

When my Spanish guys said

"We're very sorry, we are starting
a big job," they killed me!

I was demolished.

A bit panicky. Now I am working
with a team that I don't know.

They are quite young...

..and...

..yeah, that is a bit scary!

The hastily appointed new building
team will install the steels,

the roof and the floors.

But, first, let's see how they
get on with the stonework.

I've never worked on something
this old and so unique.

It is a learning curve for us.

It is a big learning curve.

And Jaime's dedication
to the project

isn't making life easy for them.

Yeah, this is much better.

Jaime loves touching every piece
of stone, so, erm,

I won't build a wall on this castle
on my own.

Jaime will be beside me, I suppose.

Unlike the builders,

Mimi's had much more time
to grow accustomed

to Jaime's micro-managing.

I just don't look too much
into the way he works because

he is a bit more ad hoc

and I have quite different way
of working.

Kind of boggles my mind.

We are, more or less, on schedule

Shit! I forgot
calling the ecologist.

A lot on my mind.
I really need to call this guy.

Hello! Hello?

Oh, hello, good afternoon.

Is Dale in the office?

Dale or?

Hello?

Can you hear me?

Hello?

Sh...

This project already
sits in the balance,

between the inexperience
of everyone here

and the sheer drive, control,
and vision of Jaime.

No, no, no, no. I'm telling you...

..this is the way to do it.

Jaime's hard to work with because
he wants everything done

the way he sees it in his head,

and some things
you can't do in your head.

For more than three months
Jaime has dedicated himself

to every detail of this building.

Three yellows,
two red, two lime.

But on the home front Mimi
is just one month from her due date

and, understandably,
she wants her husband at home.

Unfortunately, I've just had
a really bad pregnancy.

It has been a very intense month

and I do find that hard.

So I have said, you know,

from now on, like, try and have
at least one day at home.

So we've got some time as a family.

As Jaime is carrying so much
of this project in his head,

only he really knows the precise
detail of what's needed.

Daddy!

So when he does finally take
one day off,

things inevitably start to go wrong.

Sunday, I didn't come,
I took it off.

I shouldn't have done it, but I did!

In Jaime's absence, the timber roof
structure was installed.

But, instead of draining
to a middle gully,

the pouring rain runs off
to the side

where it could damage
the stonework.

All we need to do is rip it up
and start again.

We're not the first to make
a mistake, anyway!

If you don't come for a whole day
this is what happens.

Damn it!

Never happen again.

After three days of extra work,

this project reaches
an important milestone.

Since yesterday, this can no longer
be called a ruin

as we have a roof!

With the roof
and the basic stonework complete,

the next step is to restore
the more detailed stonework,

all in agreement with
the planning conditions.

What we're doing is trying to keep
as much historic fabric as we can.

Obviously, we need to do
a very good job,

or we could end up hung by the ears!

Replacing detailed masonry,
like windowsills,

is usually a time-consuming business

that requires
highly accurate masonry.

Remarkably,
Jaime has a secret weapon.

A perfect digital model of his site.

The good thing about this is,
it's to scale.

We made this in one morning
in a couple of hours.

Seriously? They just came with
a scanner positioned

in eight different locations.

Perfect accurate measurement
of every single thing.

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I mean,
we can see all the fireplaces,

this is the staircase.

With this 3D scanner
there's hasn't been any surprises.

This is the future of conservation.

Using the precise measurement
of the 3D scan,

Jaime has developed computer models
of his missing masonry.

In an Oxfordshire stone yard there's
a piece of 21st century innovation

that's waiting to be fed
Jaime's digital design.

Ah!

This is elemental stuff.

This is where people take slices
of rock dug out off the ground

and then saw them up,
in machines like that.

But there's one piece of technology
here

that I think, sort of,
takes the biscuit.

It's one of Britain's very few
360 degree stone-cutting robots.

This impressive robotic
arm has multi-axis flexibility

and can carve the most intricate
shape from the hardest of stones.

It costs ?5,000
and takes just a few days

to carve 30 precise replicas,

which, it seems, have saved
this project time and money.

Now centuries-old sills
sit alongside robo-cut ironstone.

It goes, right -

old, old, old, old,
old, new, old, new, old, new, old.

That's great
and that's, kind of,

just putting back the teeth
and conserving what is there.

I'm very proud of this work,
I have to say.

I'm loving it now and
a very good match with the mortar.

You deserve to be proud it's a very,
very elegantly finished thing!

It's nice.

There is,
among the apparent inexperience,

some beautiful and careful repair
work being done here

that the planners
are happy to sign off.

But that's just the stonework,

this building is still
a shell without floors or windows,

hence a change of plan.

We have had to renovate the contract
of the house we are renting

for another six months, so we've got
until the 22nd of December.

Are you burning through your budget?

No, I'm using my budget. It goes
quick because we are moving quick.

How much is in the bank?
We've got 80,000.

The 80,000's going to run
out, so what happens then?

It shouldn't run out.
I mean, we've got enough to finish.

This is what I do, this is my job.

I utterly respect that
but I'm also very aware

that when clients
ask their architects

how much things are going to cost
the answer is, usually,

fairly wide of the mark!

I'd say it's under control.

If not, I'll ask you for money.

You can ask all you like!

But with no income,
more rent to pay,

and a new baby due
in just a few weeks.

My word, it's now
the meagre ?80,000 in the bank

that poses the biggest threat here.

Three months into their restoration
of their old folly,

Jaime and Mimi have already spent
over half of their ?200,000 budget.

Ah, right. Come on,
let's do it properly!

My main concern is that we're going
to have the money to get it
done before Christmas.

Don't worry. It's going to be fine.

The external stonework is complete,
and the floors can be fitted
into the jagged shell.

Despite a lack of experience
and a frenetic energy,

this project
is starting to deliver.

Talk about speed!
This is remarkable!

I was really concerned that this was
going to turn out to be some
kind of poorly done pig's ear.

But it is glorious so far!

Externally this castle is a
finely balanced repair job,

inside it's moved on, too.

Oh, a proper room! What a joy!

I mean, actually to be able to stand
on a floor in a building and

have a ceiling and be enclosed
- it's great.

However, this a floor that's going
to get divided, isn't it?

Unfortunately, yes.
So, where are the walls going to go?

On the middle. In the middle.
Right down the middle.

You get half a fireplace each?

This is a wardrobe,
this is our storage.

OK, and the big question is how do
you get the stairs to wind in that
gap all the way up to the roof?

That is a question
that I cannot answer right now.

It's how high?
I will in a couple of weeks.

But just as Jaime is about to start
the internal fit-out,

life gets in the way.

BABY WAILS

Lucas arrived on July 12th,
it's gone really, really quickly,

a bit of a blur.

SPEAKS SPANISH

For those first eight weeks,
Jaime was very much home based.

Working but kind of able to support
with the kids as well.

If he'd have been on site it would
have been much more tricky.

In fact, Jaime doesn't get back on
site until mid-Autumn,

just three months before the family
have to be out of their rented
house.

The scaffolding may be down,
but little else has changed.

Phew! Just thinking how much work
- under floor heating,

all the flooring, stud work first,

the plumbing.

Bloody hell!

And time isn't the only pressure,

the reservoir of money is also
running low.

I think there's less than 50...
Less than 50 to finish.

Much less than 50.

With a half finished folly and no
income,

Jaime can't borrow from the bank,
so he's asked his family
in Spain for a loan.

Money that will go towards
installing his intricate four storey
staircase.

It is such a narrow, narrow space.

Thanks to the 3D scan and two months
on the computer...

..I've managed to make the design
and cut the pieces.

So now the staircase is cut.

I don't know yet if it
will fit or not.

I am a bit nervous about that.

Before the timber staircase
is fitted, Jaime needs to make

the house water-tight,
so the next big job is the windows.

Getting them fitted is a big step
forward, but there's now just
five weeks until they have to move.

We always live on the edge.

I think we'll do it on time but,
again, it's going to be so tight.

A few weeks later,
with the clock ticking,

the staircase is finally
brought to site.

Are we ready?
We finally have stairs going in.

Looks like Jaime's masterpiece.

Let's hope they fit!
That's it.

Over four days assembled sections
are slotted onto stainless steel
rods,

which have been drilled and
bonded into the awkward old walls.

Jaime's super accurate computer
modelling seems to have

turned out to be, well,
super accurate.

The staircase fits really well!
Millimetric!

I was surprised myself.

With a staircase and a weather tight
building,

Jaime can make a start on the
first fit electrics

and the internal walls.

We've got a little stove,
burning money.

Every day is super expensive.

It's like.. I don't know.
I don't even want to know!

Mimi and the children have been
promised a house in just over
two weeks.

Mwah!

Not surprisingly, they keep
visiting to check up.

You need to do all around
the bottom.

I think you should get on and
finish that off!

What have you been doing?

But for Jaime it's a case of
too little, too late.

I am exhausted.
We have achieved a lot.

Not super happy because we are not
going to make it on time.

Just a couple of weeks,
just a couple of weeks.

Three days before Christmas, Jaime
and Mimi are forced out of
their rented house.

The whole family have to go to Spain
to stay with Jaime's parents.

A short-term solution while there's
still so much to do a thousand
miles away.

Kitchen? Kitchen, you haven't
got listed down there, have you?

Oh, the kitchen? No.

I don't think moving in without the
kitchen installed is going to be a
very sensible thing, to be honest.

OK, well, then I'll need
to get on with that.

I'm going back to the UK to finish,
and I'm quite scared,

two weeks is very tight to have it
properly finished.

It will be finished and habitable
and we will move in with the
kids on that date.

I promise you that.

Bullshit!
THEY LAUGH

I think we're all eager to be in now
and have our own space again.

So the pressure is really on
to get it ready.

Mimi, I love you.
I love you, babe! Good luck, OK?

Make sure you have it done.

Love you, Lucas. We want to move in,
don't we? When we get back.

Jaime is committed to returning
on his own to get the castle

habitable in just two weeks - which
seems to me wildly optimistic.

Back in England and the weather
has changed!

Everything is a mess.

But it's just stuff.

Sitting room, another bombsite!

Jaime's original building team
are now unavailable.

His only help on site is Mimi's dad,
a retired vicar.

This one? Yeah. Oh, I see. Right.
And where does that rubber ring go?

Jaime doesn't always communicate
what the agenda is.

It's in his mind but
it's in nobody else's.

Almost inevitably, Jaime misses his
deadline and two weeks later,

the castle is still unfit
for habitation.

Mimi and the children are back from
Spain and are staying with her
parents

while all their possessions
are stuffed into a friend's garage.

For Mimi, the constantly slipping
moving date is proving unbearable.

So, all this stuff is in here
waiting to go in.

When can it go into the house?

Well, I've had everyone I meet, all
of my friends, everyone is asking

the same question and I'm starting
to lose it really.

Because it's been a couple of weeks,
a couple of weeks, couple of weeks
and nothing.

It's just really, really hard!
When should I come back?

How long should I leave
you alone for?

I don't know. I really have no idea.

I've stopped answering that question
when we're going to be in because...

I just don't really want
expectations at the moment.

You going to be able to forgive the
building? That's a good question.

Yeah, there's moments were I really
hate it, actually.

I think I've walked up there a few
times and just said,

"Jaime! I don't want to see this
again, get rid of it!"

And it's still without a kitchen
and still without the basics that
we need.

It's been exhausting, actually,
in so many ways.

So hopefully we're coming out
the other end now. Yeah.

Mimi is experiencing the agony that
old buildings inflict

as they refuse to conform
to anything

as prosaic as budget or schedule.

Jaime, however,
has to defiantly ignore that agony.

When do you think you'll be in?

I couldn't say. A couple of weeks,
a couple of weeks?

Yeah, but you said that in
January to Mimi.

So, yeah. I'm now sounding like a
proper builder. "In two weeks.
Two weeks' time."

There are thousands of things to do.
I know, I know.

You feeling mad, stressed, crazy?
I'm feeling positive, as always.

I know you are.
I am a positive man.

There is optimism and love,
and that's...

Those are the things that
matter in life. OK.

Have you explained that to
your wife?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I try to explain
it every day.

Good. That's an important
thing to do!

Old buildings are a little bit
like elderly relatives.

They can be just curmudgeonly and
difficult to deal with,

smelly and damp, like this place.

No wonder Mimi has come to...well,
almost hate it, to resent it.

Not comprehending why Jaime
is so positive,

why he drives forward with
such energy.

But he has to, doesn't he?

Because these projects only happen
because of positive human energy,

because of ridiculous
levels of optimism.

I just hope that the pair of them
kind of remember...to stay together
on the way through.

When Mimi and Jaime Fernandez first
began the slow conversion of their

ruined folly into a two bedroom
house, they had no idea they were

at the start of the most frenetic
and stressful period of their lives.

Now, 15 months since
I first met them,

the dust has begun to settle.

The site is wooded with oak trees,

and now eccentrically fenced
with wind fallen timber.

Not building a wall, using just an
old tree trunk - that's typical
Jaime, isn't it? It's bonkers.

Although the building is much more
grown-up, and it looks rather good.

It is a beautiful miniature castle.

This folly has sprung alive again.

Its windows glint, its walls are
brighter,

battered and bruised with time
but now delicately repaired
with lime mortar.

And it has a new grand staircase,
and a new birthday.

Ha-ha-ha! Hello! Hi!
What an arrival.

I thoroughly expected you to be
descending in monogrammed slippers,
somehow.

King and Queen of your castle.

You're both in?
Yes, since early March!

Slightly later than Christmas,

slightly later than the first
original six month plan,

but it's all water under the bridge.

Doesn't matter now does it, really!

When we spoke last, you were not in
love with this building were
you? You were hating it.

No, it was a tough moment because
we'd moved out of the rental
property,

still didn't know when we'd move in.

It was a really, really tough time.

So at that point, yeah,
I wasn't in love with it at all.

But it's warming, warming on me.
Good!

And you know what? Better to blame
the building than to blame him!

It's good to see.
We've survived! Good!

Yeah, a project like this
really tests a relationship
to the boundary.

And we've made it, so...well done!

Jaime's clear, rational treatment
of the outside marks him out
as a skilled architect.

Though it was always going to be
harder to make the inside
into clean, usable space.

Oh, how very, very nice.

It's great.

But it looks like he might
have cracked it.

Hey, I like your hand rail.

I'm very proud of that.
No, it's a nicely done thing.

The kitchen is a lot more spacious
than I ever imagined it would be.

There is plenty of room for a
table, and you have a charming
utility room. Yeah.

And a charming swing. Yeah.

The stove fits perfectly,
almost like they made the fireplace

300 years ago to fit the stove.
Exactly.

You can't be too precious about
this building, can you?

It is quite rough and ready.

Yeah. Yeah. Like us! Exactly!

I don't think it would be right for
everything to be perfect,

I think part of the beauty of this
is that it has these rough features.

Because you are kind of melted
into these amazing vistas.

I want the full castle tour!

How mysterious, how enticing.

I do like the way the staircase
takes you through the building,

it kind of pulls you through
the building.

Nice to live in castle, isn't it?

Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

And up here - lighter.

Yes, the 360 view, it's amazing!
You can see everywhere.

Magic to be able to see,

see as you do in this room and
have views like this. Remarkable!

I didn't think I'd say this,
but this room is big.

You could get 15 or 20
people in here for a party.

Yes, definitely.
I'm looking forward to that!

The walls are very powerful,
there is so much going on,

the mix of stone and brick, all the
graffiti is around the walls.

Well, I suppose had you plastered
that wouldn't be visible, would it?

You wouldn't have that. Well,
exactly, it would be such a shame.

It was me against the world -
everybody was like,

"You're not going to leave the walls
like that?" Even me. To be fair.

It would have been easier just to
plaster everything but no.

No, I decided to keep it.

When local youths scrawled their
initials in these walls,

they had no idea they were
decorating Jaime and Mimi's
living room.

But of course, Jaime has left his
mark here too...

..in his very delicate adding of the
new against the old and crumbling.

That juxtaposing of ancient and
modern is nowhere better

expressed than in the
winding turret staircase

that Jaime struggled with
for so long.

You know, normally staircases in
buildings are annoying and
just take up a lot of space.

Here the staircase is sort of,
it's part of the magic,

the romance of the building,
isn't it? Of a castle!

It took a while to resolve this but
all really well resolved
things feel so natural.

It feels right!

And I really do like the fact they
are built out of giant plywood
chunks.

You know, laminated and glued
together.

Very simple and powerful, with all
the bolts showing.

As basic as an old-fashioned
cantilevered stone staircase
would be.

Above the sitting room are the
two grand bedrooms.

This is nice. You see, any sense
of compromise and division,

doesn't register because the windows
are taller on this floor,

and the ceilings are so much higher.

You've got en-suites as well? Yes.
In both, it was the way to save
space.

You would have had to have a
corridor or have to come to the
landing to go to the bathroom.

In the end this was the best
solution, in my opinion.

From the bedrooms, the staircase
winds its way through the turret
to the roof.

A fitting observation deck.

I do like this space up here!

There's something about being up in
the canopy isn't there, as well,

which is a different relationship
with the trees, the site.

You do get that sense, you know,
of sort of being almost in a tree
house.

Cos you are so surrounded by trees.

It's a really nice feeling,
actually.

It's such a peaceful space to be.

Looking forward to start
enjoying it.

I think you guys need to just...
Start chilling a little bit.
Yeah, exactly.

This is a small house but its thick
walls have needed so much work.

For what usable space they have,
this has been an expensive project.

How much money have you got left?
HE LAUGHS

It's a bit embarrassing but the
other day I went to McDonalds,
I couldn't pay.

So not much in your account. No.

So how much did you spend
in the end on it? Around 300. OK.

Which is expensive, but this is a
building with a lot of

material in, a lot of wall, a lot of
stuff going on.

And all of it in another culture,
in a second language as well.

Yeah. In the beginning when I
started all the planning process,

I used to work with
a translator and a dictionary.

It was like, phew!

I mean, even easy words like,
you'd say, "a joist",

well, I didn't know how you said
"biletta".

Yeah. And then there are different
construction systems.

And there were times where it seemed
like you were losing your grip on
the project.

That it was sort of spinning out
of control almost.

Yeah, there were many times that I
felt I was losing control, but...

..I feel proud. It looks great.

It's very successful, I think.

Would you do another
project of this kind?

I have been thinking of that a lot,
in fact.

And what I think is
I will not do it for myself,

because that involves
all my family and too much stress.

I would do it for work.

A new baby, a new home and a
possible new career in restoration -

the changes wrought in
Mimi and Jaime's lives have

followed the changes
in fortune of this place.

So, you've saved the building and
what has been the reactions

of people since the change
has happened?

I think... BOTH: Very positive.

Yes. That's great,
you've rehearsed that well.

Well, overwhelming positive,
actually.

I think it generated a huge amount
of interest, cos it's been a ruin.

And to see it actually come to life
again has really excited people,
I think.

You know, we've constructed
something now that is going

to hopefully be standing
for a long time to come.

It's been heart and soul really,
hasn't it?

You've poured everything into this.

I think that is really...
Challenging.

You know, it's incredibly
impressive.

After centuries of decay, this place
very nearly ceased to exist.

Mimi and Jaime saved it.

Was this fossil of a building
a folly to take on?

Well, no! Not according to the
conservation officer, who loves it!

Or the planning committee, who are
very proud of it,

or all the locals here who see it as
a revived landmark in this place.

Or Mimi and Jaime, for that matter,

who have been through the emotional
mill to get here

and who are now renewing
their relationship with this place.

Oh, and there's another reason
why it's not a folly,

or at least not any longer.

Because it was built for part time
use, sort of on a whim.

And now for the first time in
250 years, the first time since

it was built, it has a meaningful
purpose - it's got a job to do!

Yeah.

It's become a bit of an obsession.

Stop there. Stop there. Stop there.
Who designed something like this?

Absolutely nuts! We need to get the
bloody thing finished.

We need somewhere to live.

That represents the ambition
of a delusional optimist.

But maybe ego got the better of us.
Or maybe got the better of me.

We have had one quote, for 80.

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