Original subtitles

I'm Dick Strawbridge and, along with my wife Angel and our two children...

I've got him!

..we're nearly five years into restoring this once-abandoned chateau.

There's something quite sort of majestic about it.

You feel like you're in the clouds.

It's been demanding...

..yet truly fulfilling.

It's made me feel a bit mushy and like a bit emotional.

And, with thousands of chateaux in France,

we're not the only Brits buying into the French fairy tale...

Oh, my goodness, it's amazing!

..so Angel and I are once again helping our fellow expats...

This is a big old build.

..as they embark on a brand-new set of chateau adventures.

Oh! Oh!

It'll be a roller-coaster ride...

Whoa!

No! No!

..but no matter what...

I'm just going to try not to cry.

..these plucky Brits...

Are we doing this with all the technological

accomplishment of the ancient Egyptians?

..are determined to transform once-unloved buildings

into the most spectacular homes...

That is amazing!

..and live the dream as custodians of their very own castles.

Today...

One day, I'll have a nice kitchen.

..a Lincolnshire family start on their next project...

Tim does care what the kitchen looks like,

but not in the same way that I care what the kitchen looks like.

..and Angel steps in to lend a hand.

How are you? I'm good, how are you? Ah, welcome.

Two expat musicians have it all to do...

We've got some really exciting plans for the look of the building.

..as they prepare for a big family wedding.

I just want it to be as magical as possible.

And a new chateau-owning couple have their hands full...

Get off, you hooligan.

..as they get cracking on their B&B.

Moving into any chateau, which dates back centuries, is a daunting task,

but doing the work yourselves can save you lots of cash,

but not necessarily time.

The 20-room Chateau les Rosieres is owned by Brit Amy

and French husband Marc, who moved in a year ago...

Stop it!

You told me it wouldn't split.

..and have been getting their hands dirty ever since.

I never took on this project because I love DIY.

The idea, some people who spend their...

She never told me that before we went into that project.

And I'm just really looking forward to the end product.

Do you really think there will be an end?

Yes! Please say there'll be an end!

Located an hour and a half's drive from the city of Lyon,

they're hoping to open it up as a high-end B&B and run yoga retreats.

They've just finished renovating the dining area,

where they uncovered and restored

the chateau's original inglenook fireplace.

Now, in one of the outbuildings, Marc and Amy

have made yet another discovery.

This is the old cattle shed and Mark's been cleaning it out

recently and cleaning away about a century's worth of cow muck

and found a load of marble pieces underneath it all.

And he THINKS

that one of them comes from the bathroom, the en-suite

to the big bedroom and so we're going to try and see if it fits.

OK.

Their plan is to transform the largest bedroom with

an en-suite into a lavish place to stay.

We're looking to be able to rent out the grand bedroom,

so we can start to have luxury bed-and-breakfast in that and

start to bring some income in before the retreat centre's up and running.

It needs lots of work.

The floors are damaged

and the wallpaper panels are crumbling,

while the bathroom is stuck in a 1970s time-warp.

They're hoping the marble sink they've found will help bring

back some charm and character.

If it's the right one.

It won't fit in, because of the tiles. It won't fit, because of the tiles.

But it looks like... Oh, it might.

Oh, yeah, but they may have had... Oh, right, OK.

So put it down a tiny bit and rest it on there.

I think it's... So, you think without the tiles there, it would?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it fits.

So if we had this in here

and we redesigned the bathroom, that would mean?

It would get to about... To about there.

Didn't we come round to saying we think the toilet can be there

and the shower there?

Reconfiguring the bathroom will cost more money,

but it'll be worth it, if they can fit that lovely sink.

Really, the only downside, for me,

is that I never envisaged having two sinks in here.

But it is a really nice idea to kind of find an original feature

and put it back, because previous owners have kind of gutted the place

and thrown loads of things away and lots of stuff was destroyed

and so it's quite a little nugget of gold that we've found

deep in the manure-soaked cow shed,

so I think...

Yeah, I think it might be a good idea to go with it.

I wholeheartedly agree, Amy.

Now, Marc wants to get stuck into removing the outdated wall tiles...

Here we go, serious stuff!

LAUGHTER

..although Amy wants to avoid damaging the walls underneath...

Stop, stop.

Stop it!

Get off, you hooligan.

..as there could be original stone worth preserving.

Need help? No.

All right, come on, then.

Ah, stone! Is it?

Ah. This is stone.

You won't damage it with that, will you? No. No?

It doesn't look like an extremely nice stone to me,

because it's... It's quite rough.

..it's quite rough and irregular.

The stone might not be worth protecting,

but the tiles still need to come off.

Are you having fun?

Yes, I am having fun - nice, quiet fun.

It seems Amy is intent on doing it the old-fashioned way.

Oh, what a mess!

No! Stop it.

Go away with your power tool.

Though, with the whole room to do, it could be a long old job.

300 miles away is the picturesque Chateau de la Ruche,

set in 15 acres of land.

For the last two years, it's been home to Lincolnshire couple Tim

and Rebecca and their two children, Rufus and Laurie.

It was the land that made us want it, I think.

I just love the kind of countryside aspect of it,

the outside space and the fact that it was just a very beautiful,

very French-looking house.

Located 40 miles from our place in the Pays de la Loire region,

they run it as a B&B and have recently created a stunning

third guest suite,

to bring in some much-needed extra income.

We wanted it to be when you walk in the door,

it's kind of luxurious and special and you feel like you've come

somewhere that's just a really lovely place to be.

One of their most pressing projects is the kitchen, which is

currently spread across two adjacent rooms and is causing nothing

but headaches, particularly when you're cooking for guests.

The sink in the little kitchen doesn't work, so if I need

water, I have to walk from the little kitchen into the big kitchen.

The fridge is also in the big kitchen, because there isn't

room in the little kitchen, so I probably just add to my step count

immeasurably every day just walking backwards and forwards to the sink.

Rebecca's had enough.

Today, they're moving everything into the larger room

to create an interim kitchen.

So this bit is just going as is,

but we're going to take the worktop off that bit, aren't we?

That was the plan. Yeah.

We have been living in that terrible little kitchen for the whole

time, it's very tight.

While she's doing that and I'm trying to clear up around her and

get stuff taken out to people, it does get a little bit cosy in there.

For now, they're using the existing fixtures and fittings

until they have enough money to create Rebecca's dream kitchen.

I am very much looking forward to the new kitchen.

One, because of the space and two, because it's the first room

we'll actually be doing for ourselves,

because every room we've done so far has been for the business

and for the guests.

Hopefully, when we get some money,

it will be my kind of forever house dream kitchen.

Also on hand to clear stuff out is live-in mate Dale.

The obligatory drawer of crap that everyone has in their kitchen.

One day, I'll have a nice kitchen.

Tim is very anti...

..well, not very anti, well,

fairly anti my spending money.

Tim does care what the kitchen looks like,

but not in the same way that I care what the kitchen looks like, so...

I don't really want to compromise.

Well, I don't really want compromise.

There are solutions -

for our first year, we worked out of a small service kitchen,

until I had the time to fix up the original one in the basement.

At the minute, it's a shell, before long,

it's going to be an amazing place.

It took a lot of hard work, but it's incredible how far your money

can stretch with a bit of creative know-how.

So, today, Rebecca has popped over to our place to meet up with Angel...

Hello. Hello.

..in the hope of getting some inspiration.

How are you? I'm good, how are you?

Welcome. I brought you some flowers from the garden.

Oh, my gosh! They look...

And a lemon drizzle, because...

Oh, my God, do you know that that's my favourite? No.

Come in, come in, in fact, I should get the kettle on.

Lemon drizzle cake is always a winner.

Fingers crossed Angel can come up with some great ideas.

Coming up...

Oh!

..Amy and Marc start on the bedroom,

with a little help from some friends...

The boys' team have already got two of the panels down

and we haven't even got the edging down.

..as they speed up their renovation project.

Angel gives Rebecca the guided tour...

Now, this is... I say it's Mr Strawbridge's kitchen!

Bonjour. Ca va?

..and we catch up with two chateau owners,

who gear up to host a big family wedding.

I do hope that my brother's only ever going to get married once!

This is the stunning 19th-century Chateau La Grande Maison.

It's home to musicians Ben and Billie who've spent eight

years renovating it into a luxury guesthouse and events business.

A chateau life is pretty special.

You know, sometimes we find ourselves complaining

a bit about the workload or something like that

and then you just have to pinch yourself and remind yourself

of how privileged we are, actually, to be in a place like this.

Located near the Loire Valley...

..they spent the winter transforming the old library,

to host book club weekends there.

Sometimes, the best way to enjoy the house is to see it through other people's eyes.

You know, that's why we like having guests here. We get such great feedback from people.

And that gives us the motivation to keep going,

cos we feel like we're doing something right

and when we get that feedback, it's special, isn't it?

Now they're preparing for the biggest event of the summer,

the wedding of Billie's brother.

We're just about to have a visit from the caterers

who are going to cater for my little brother's wedding and I'm excited.

But it's a little bit nerve-racking,

because once the date is in the diary, really, it's happening,

that day has to be a great day, come rain or shine.

It's got to be great. You know?

But I do hope my brother's only ever going to get married once.

To help everything run smoothly on the big day,

Ben and Billie want to give wedding coordinator Angela,

and caterers Laurence and Eric, a tour of the chateau.

Ca va? Ca va bien? Merci, et vous? Oui, tres bien.

So we'll try the Orangery first, shall we?

Entrez. We finished this last summer.

We've got two doors, so it's easy for people to get in and out,

So it's a nice space for people to mingle

and there's a balcony on top of here, as well. Wonderful.

They're expecting at least 60 guests, and it's always good

to have a backup indoor space for entertaining.

OK, do come in.

This is the ballroom space.

We can fit eight tables in here.

We can come here if it's raining? Yes. Yes, exactly. OK.

Hopefully, we'll be eating outside,

but it's really important to have a plan B if it's raining.

Of course. Yes.

Luckily, Ben and Billie's chateau has lots of options.

We'll just show you the coach house.

It's a good functional space.

You know, we can set out serving areas, tables.

I'm thinking about one thing very important. The drinks.

Yes, exactly. The beers!

How are we keeping the beers cold?

They take a lot of place in the refrigerator.

We have a pressoir that we use as a bar area, as well. Mm-hm.

That's got one big fridge but, yeah, we'll... It's perfect.

It will work. It will work. Excellent.

It seems as though Ben and Billie have it all covered.

They now just need to check in with Billie's brother.

PHONE RINGS

Hello? Hey, there! Hi, Pete and Sam!

First question, about the numbers...

Yeah, I think we're going to say 50 adults and ten children.

Ideally, you'd like to eat outside? Yeah.

But your numbers would all fit inside the main part

of the ballroom if it's not going to be good weather. I understand.

There's so much to organise and Ben

and Billie also have a surprise up their sleeve.

When it gets dark,

Ben's got a lovely plan for some architectural lighting.

It's just some up-lighters, lighting all the architectural

characteristics of the building, and the plan is to get that

finished for the wedding, so we just thought we'd run that by you.

That would be amazing,

cos we were thinking of bringing out lights and things. Ah.

So if you could do that, that would be fantastic.

Yeah, wonderful.

Lovely to talk to you and we'll speak again soon.

Bye. OK, cheers, Pete. Bye.

Thanks very much.

It's really special to me for us to have the wedding here

and I just want it to be as magical as possible.

And he's put his trust in me and I'm not going to let him down. Mm.

Let's hope it all goes to plan.

260 miles away, at Chateau de Rosieres...

..Amy and Marc are working towards creating their first luxury

guest suite for their B&B.

So far, they've chipped off all the '70s tiles

and ripped out the bathroom. Whoa.

Now, they're starting work in the bedroom.

That's one.

They're removing the old wallpaper panels

and have roped in friends, Claire and Jon, who are over from the UK.

The boys' team have already got two of the panels down

and we haven't even got the edging.

I think they're beating us quite substantially. Oh.

SHE LAUGHS

Jobs like these are never straightforward.

To me, the most...

the simplest way is to start like this.

And then you have a little leverage point,

and you can pull it from here. Merci.

With some brute force, it comes off quite easily.

We are on a bit of a deadline here,

because these two have to actually go and catch a plane.

And I've got to get them all down whilst they're here to help us

and we can do the clearing up afterwards and stuff.

Yeah, I should keep holding that as well, like I said I would.

With extra hands on deck, it doesn't take long to get the panels down.

Much as we'd like to keep you,

I know you've got to catch a flight, so thank you ever so much.

That's all right. No problem. It's been great.

A pleasure as always. Thank you. Yeah.

Uh... Do you want some gloves?

With the demolition in the bedroom complete,

it now needs a good tidy up.

SHE LAUGHS

Today, Amy also wants to test out some decor ideas in the bathroom,

after being inspired by old murals she found while clearing it out.

We found these beautiful little murals painted into the plaster,

which is really cute.

They are on that wall and all around behind the door, here.

Marc's really keen to keep them but, unfortunately,

the walls have been a bit massacred around them and I think...

I think you have to be a bit careful in a place like this

of keeping stuff just because it's old.

If it doesn't look very nice, it's not really worth it.

So they've decided to try painting their own mural instead.

Marc has re-plastered the ledge under the window,

and Amy wants to test out a section there.

I'm going to just try and do a vague imitation of what they did,

there, just as an idea, some inspiration.

So I'm going to try

and do little pink flowers that have actually turned out blood-red,

but there you go, and a yellow middle and some brown stalks.

Amy's using natural pigments to paint on wet plaster,

in keeping with the old murals.

Isn't that cute? Very cute. It just looks...

Apart from it not being the right shade,

it looks just like the ones that used to be there, non?

Yeah, it's really nice.

Do you want to have a go? Non. Non?

I wouldn't volunteer either, Marc,

but adding your own personal touches does make it more special.

You know I'm not good at that.

No, I know, but it's a really enjoyable experience,

I promise I won't judge you.

But I will, Marc.

It's quite a naive form of painting, so it doesn't matter so much

if your painting is a bit...naive.

It looks good to me. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Over at our place...

Wow, this is amazing.

Thank you.

..chateau owner Rebecca has popped around in the hope that Angel

can come up with some creative ideas for her new kitchen.

So I've seen a picture of your kitchen.

Tell me what stage you're out now. Is it the same? Yes.

What's it like? What's happening? what have you got?

We're using bits of the old kitchen.

So when we arrived at the house,

we had a tiny kind of galley kitchen, then we moved

the units and stuff out of there into what will now be our kitchen.

OK. Great. Which is nice but, yeah, interim. It functions as my... OK.

Doesn't look pretty but it functions.

Well, you know, we had our service kitchen

and that was our interim kitchen for...

..up until our wedding, so about 11 months. Yeah.

But it was fine because you know that it's not going to

be your forever kitchen and you just get on with it, don't you?

Yeah, you do.

So what's your dream kitchen like then? In your mind's eye?

In my mind's eye, the dream kitchen

is kind of very eclectic, lots of old pieces

of furniture, beautiful granite worktops, very easy to keep clean.

And I was kind of trying to convince Tim that we needed some very

nice wooden cabinets made and all this kind of stuff.

You don't. No.

Sorry, I'm with Tim on that one,

and I feel like I will be on your side most of the time.

But, actually, I don't think you do. No.

In the pictures that I've seen, at the moment, you've got

sort of melamine cabinets and this beautiful sort of centre island.

Yes. Beautiful.

I think if you try and paint all of that,

which is probably the plan, isn't it? Yeah.

Uniform colour.

You get this gorgeous, bright space and I think in the kitchen,

having that lovely, bright space is going to be sort of the key

to making it just yours and wonderful. Yeah.

To give Rebecca an idea of some of the things we've done...

Do you want to come and see the kitchen? Yes, I'd love to.

..Angel wants to show where I spend most of the time

when we're hosting big events.

OK, this is...

I say it's Mr Strawbridge's kitchen.

LAUGHTER

This is where he would stand.

So, now, I know you've got an island... Yes.

..and a Rayburn. Yes. But this countertop,

honestly, it is indestructible and it's really worth...

If you're going to spend money anywhere,

don't spend it on the carcasses.

No. Cos you can do them cheaply.

And I know you've just got that eclectic taste in you.

You know, we use things that we find around the place,

there's a copper tin, there.

You know, it's just, it's nice, it's homely.

And it's stuff in here that makes Dick smile. Yeah.

So all his little bits and pieces, you know, they've all got a story.

One of the stories that still makes me smile is how Angel created

vintage-looking tiles for a fraction of the price.

Dick said, You're not allowed to spend £10,000 on tiles.

I have no idea why!

I think you do.

Angel printed her designs onto transfer paper

and heat-pressed them on to sublimation tiles.

And I've got 600 of them to do.

It was well worth the effort and saved us a small fortune

when we didn't have any money to spend.

This is going to look great. Mm.

This technique can be used on lots of kitchen items

and Angel wants to show Rebecca how she can personalise hers.

This must keep you fit, up and down the stairs.

You would think so! I hope she's going to like it.

Coming up...

I'll never get tired of that.

..it's all systems go as Ben and Billie prepare for the wedding...

Hopefully, I haven't just made the biggest cat litter

tray in the village.

..Angel starts working her magic...

I love the Breton stripe. Yeah.

You've obviously moved to France because of it.

Cos of my stripes, yeah.

..and Amy and Marc's project hits the buffers.

That's not good, that's not good, that's good, that's good,

that's not good.

You're such a know-it-all.

THEY CHUCKLE

In southeastern France,

Amy and Marc have been working on design ideas

for their luxury B&B guest suite.

The bathroom layout has now been reconfigured.

See here...?

In the bedroom, they've come with up with an extravagant way to

replace the old wallpaper panels.

So, we're having fabrics hand-painted.

We found this incredible designer in the UK,

who's going to do a different design on each one,

with a theme from our own travels and places we've been together.

And when she's finished, we will mount them ourselves

into the old frames.

I think now that we've got these horrible, old '70s wallpapers off,

it's a bit easier to imagine what a difference it's going to make.

It's going to be so bright and beautiful.

Sounds exciting.

The first one will be finished in two months.

So, for now, they have to make do with a sample.

These are an example of her leaves.

It's just going to look so bright and lovely,

and flowers, and things like that.

It's going to be really, really nice.

With the decoration for the walls decided,

they now want to start sanding the parquet floor.

I'm looking to get rid of the varnish.

It just looks a bit miserable.

But what I don't want to do is sand away the floor

cos you can't get it back and it's beautiful.

Amy wants to test a small area in the corner.

So, I just put it down and then turn it on?

Yeah.

The sander they have to hand is meant for walls and ceilings,

so they're not going to do the whole job with it.

Rather than try to follow the veins of the wood.

OK. So, you do it like this on this side and then like this.

Can I try? Yeah, yeah.

It's crucial they sand along the grain,

otherwise they run the risk of gouging the wood.

Put your weight like this and...

OK. ..voila.

Their ultimate goal is to remove all the old varnish,

then finish it with beeswax.

That's...I'm unilaterally deciding that that's enough of a sample.

There's still a long way to go,

as only bits of the varnish have been sanded away.

Does that look all right?

Is it not enough still?

Yeah, it needs finishing, but...

LAUGHING: No, but, I mean, am I getting somewhere with it?

Is that still not down enough?

This is good, that's not good, that's not good, that's good.

That's good, that's not good.

You're such a know-it-all.

While Marc tries to smooth it out,

Amy takes a breather,

safe in the knowledge they're going to have to get the right

bit of kit when they get round to doing it for real.

Over at our place...

Oh, this lovely. I want one of these.

..Angel has brought chateau owner Rebecca

up to her craft room in the attic.

It's a nice place to be, for me, because it's so high up.

And calm and quiet. No-one bothers me. Yeah.

She spends many hours up here, working her creative magic,

and wants to show Rebecca a simple way to personalise her new

kitchen without it costing a fortune.

Kitchen tea towels in France. Yeah.

I mean, they don't really get better, do they?

No, they are gorgeous.

And they all use this gorgeous, really thick, heavy linen

because they've also got to be... Functional. ..functional.

That's why I wanted you to use these ones... Yeah, definitely.

..because these are actual French tea towels.. Yeah, perfect.

..that no-one wants, they're unloved.

ANGEL MOCK CRIES

Angel loves a tea towel and wants to customise some for Rebecca,

by using her chateau logo on plain ones

she's picked up for a euro each.

Right, do you want to cut the rest of these up? Yeah.

I'm actually just going to press these. OK.

By simply transferring the logo onto a standard T-shirt transfer,

it's a straightforward job.

We're going to use a heat press for this because I've got one. Yeah.

But you totally don't need a heat press. OK. You can use just an iron.

HEAT PRESS BEEPS

It doesn't take long,

20 seconds, in fact.

Ooh, it's hot.

That's a hot baby. Yeah, that looks really good.

Angel's not finished yet, though,

as no French tea towel is complete without stripes.

I LOVE the Breton stripe. Yep.

You've obviously moved to France because of it.

Yeah, because of my stripes, yeah.

So, I think we should be inspired, kind of, by that

and the colours, which is obviously, it's navy blue,

but it can be a red, and, you know, different things.

In order to create coloured stripes that don't wash away,

Angel is using watered-down fabric dye.

The water in the fabric dye makes a lot of difference, doesn't it?

It does, yeah. It really stops it from being so intense

and makes it, sort of, a lot like kind of old tick fabric. Yeah.

And then it looks like it's... Aged. ..aged.

We all, us chateau owners, all like old things, don't we? We do.

To finish them off, they need to be left to dry...

Lovely. Yeah.

..before giving a final iron to set the dye.

I think they look nice. Yeah, they do.

Well done. Well done, you.

And Angel has other ideas to extend the stripy

theme around Rebecca's kitchen.

I have got a few more bits for you.

Look, simple white china, porcelain paint, masking tape.

Very similar to what you do. So, that's for you. Thank you.

To stripe or not to stripe, that is the question. Yeah.

But, if you've put a little bit of a Breton stripe on these...

Yeah, perfect.

Lastly, but not least, your works of art.

Ah.

A box of goodies, thank you. A box of goodies.

Right, let me carry this down for you. Thank you.

Ahh.

BOTH LAUGH

It's been such a lovely afternoon.

It's just been nice to have an afternoon away

from the craziness of our place.

It's given me lots of ideas for different things

I can try to jazz up the kitchen a bit.

Lovely to meet you, thank you so much.

Best of luck with everything. It's been lovely.

It's going to be lovely, the first room we're doing for ourselves,

so that's a big, big deal for us.

Bye. Bye, my love.

Best of luck, Rebecca.

Can't wait to see how you get on.

Over at Chateau la Grande Maison,

it's just over a month until Billie's brother's wedding

and she's determined to make it a day to remember.

What's the plan? Right, this old space.

So, she wants to transform a small

disused room in an outbuilding to have a bit more outdoor space.

I think making this into a little Moroccan outdoor lounge.

That'd be lovely, yeah. Would that be nice?

That'd be fantastic.

I don't think we need to do anything with the walls or the floor,

it's really characterful, isn't it? Just give it a good clean.

Yeah. I just think, just dress it.

I've been picking up all this Moroccan stuff.

I love anything Moroccan. Yeah.

And I've got us these nice big cushions and, you know,

like, brass things, and little lanterns and stuff.

So, I think, literally, make it look like, you know,

like if you went to a bazaar. Yeah.

OK.

But Billie's not the only one on a mission to impress.

Ben's started working on the chateau's lighting display,

which he hopes will provide the perfect backdrop

for the evening celebrations.

As soon as I saw the house,

I knew we had to do some beautiful lighting project -

it was crying out for it.

It's taken a while to get round to it, but this wedding...

A lot of the events are all in the garden,

the evening meal is in the garden,

so it's the perfect moment to get this project completed.

Before he starts putting in the lights,

Ben is creating a gravel border.

Hopefully I haven't just made the biggest cat litter

tray in the village.

Whether the local cats will find it, hopefully not.

To achieve the effect Ben wants,

he's bought 26 multicoloured LED lights for around £170...

..and each of them needs to be strategically placed.

The main features we're going to pull out with the lighting is

the columns of the orangery, and the arches of the pressoir,

so you're creating an impression of the house,

rather than a full floodlight of the house.

I think it's going to look amazing.

I can't wait for the night when we switch them on for the first time.

I've got it pictured in my mind, what it's going to look like,

but until we try it, who knows?

Never get tired of that.

Billie's also made good progress in the outbuilding...

..and is using bargains she's picked up at local flea markets

for the finishing touches.

Can I come in?

You can enter my secret Moroccan retreat, you're allowed in.

Wow.

Fantastic.

Using just cheap, second-hand furniture and ornaments,

Billie has transformed this disused space

into an inviting lounge for the wedding.

It'll be fantastic for the wedding, what a lovely space.

I was thinking, by the end of the night,

we'll want somewhere to come and sit. Come in here for mint tea.

Sit in here. So, yeah.

Cheers. Cheers, well done.

Coming up...

I've got the paintings.

..Amy and Marc still have problems to iron out...

Oh, yeah, that is splutter...ooh. Yeah, that's the problem.

Oh, it's all brown.

..and Ben goes to town for Billie's brother's wedding.

It's not the size of the wine press that matters,

it's what you do with it, apparently.

In southeastern France,

Amy and Marc have roped in another set of friends, Katie

and Chris, to help them put up new wall panels in their guest suite.

It's a big day, as their specially commissioned hand-painted

fabrics have arrived.

I've got the paintings.

Let's smack the paintings on the wall.

Right. That's exciting.

Each design is based on their travelling adventures,

so let's hope they really like them.

There.

Oh, that's the Rwenzori from our honeymoon. Oh, that's nice.

Oh, look at that.

Beautiful.

Look at that. This is it.

SHE GASPS

Is it the one with the iguana on it, as well?

Yes, the iguana in the tree.

This is it. Look at the colours on that.

Still a little bit... Do you think we should iron it or not?

Maybe we could just steam iron the... The edges.

..the edges that are white anyway. Yeah, yeah, OK.

Sounds like Marc's erring on the side of caution.

Will you hold it against me if I ruin our painting? Yes.

SHE LAUGHS

Thankfully, mate Katie has agreed to oversee.

Are you a bit of an expert with a steam iron?

I've had steam irons for years. Do you want to... Nope.

SHE LAUGHS

Not worth the risk, is it? No.

To avoid unwanted marks,

Katie wants Amy to first test it out on the bedsheet.

So do it on here first just in case it splutters.

Oh, yeah, that is spluttering. Ooh. Yeah. That's the problem.

Oh. Oh, it's all brown.

The first time you use it, that's what I was worried about.

You need to iron a bit, first.

God, thank goodness you said that. Yeah, you don't want to...

I've ruined many a T-shirt.

A potential disaster has been averted.

There's a bit... Do you want me to clean that?

It does not bear thinking about.

You know, the thing that goes wrong is usually

the thing that you haven't thought about,

so I've been really worried about ripping it when it's on the wall,

I didn't think about what would happen

if the iron exploded on the fabric. Yeah.

When starting on the artwork,

Amy decides not to take any chances and uses a tea towel for protection.

My first time using a steam iron is

when I'm doing something as precious as this.

With no harm done, Amy wants to get a sense of how it looks on the wall.

Let's see. You've got the top end there.

They've already put in a padded panel,

so they just have to hang the fabric on top.

Up like that.

Right, we'll step back and have a look at that.

That's not bad. Yay! Whoo!

Are you happy? It's so much.

I can't wait to hang the other ones.

I know, I can't.

This was just our first attempt at putting one up.

To cover the edges, we'll have some sort of edging,

like a ribbon or something, we haven't chosen yet.

So it will look like a beautifully finished painting at the end.

It's going to be like living in a tropical paradise in here.

Can you imagine just lying in that four-poster bed

and looking round the walls? It's going to be incredible.

I'm so happy with it.

It's a great start but with the floor to do and a bathroom to

install, they're still some way off being ready for their first guests.

260 miles away, near the Loire Valley...

Lights either side here and one light there.

..Billie's brother Pete and fiancee Sam have arrived,

to check on the final wedding preparations.

So they start on the floor.

Although Ben is going to have to make do without Billie,

who's been booked for a last-minute gig in the UK.

She's got this great job in the UK. It would have been handy

if it was last week but it's this week,

so we're just cracking on with it, but it's going to plan.

Today, Ben's called in a favour,

as he wants to set up a bar area in the chateau's winery.

One, two, three.

So mate Ronnie has kindly agreed to lend him part of an old wine press.

LAUGHTER

I'm just going to...

My boards are three metres.

To make the bar, Ben simply plans to stick three boards on top of it.

Ah.

155, so it will be 150. Voila.

But it looks as though it's going to be too wide for them.

I think it's too big for the boards.

What we could do is use my wine press for the bar

and put this wine press where my wine press is.

Sounds like a plan as Ben's one is a lot narrower.

Yours is bigger than mine, Ronnie. Yep.

It's not the size of the wine press that matters,

it's what you do with it. How you use it, yeah.

Maybe go to your left, Pete. Put it in there.

Back in the day, these wine press casings

would have been filled to the brim with grapes.

And using them as a bar will ensure the winery has some

extra-special charm when it comes to the wedding day.

That's going to be great.

So we've got a couple of barrels we've bought to go on here.

With the bar sorted,

it just leaves the boys to put Ronnie's one into place.

To me, to you, to me, to you.

Ooh, perfect. There you go.

Time to see what the bride-to-be thinks.

Oh, that's fantastic! I love it!

Oh, brilliant.

Let's get the full effect.

Sam. Ronnie. Cheers, Pete.

There you go, Pete, I'll take that one, you have that one.

Thanks, everyone. Cheers. Cheers.

Oh, fantastic.

With the night drawing in,

Ben can finally show off the chateau's new light display.

Do a Nasa countdown.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Blast-off!

Wow!

Oh, yes! Amazing.

Shows off the arches. Well done, Ben.

Thank you. It is really nice. Really, really pretty.

Ben has one final trick up his sleeve.

We can have that colour for the party. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, I like the natural look, so let's not go for any day-glow.

OK.

You can't win them all, Ben, but it's not dampened the bride

and grooms' spirits.

It looks fantastic, doesn't it? It does. It looks amazing.

Really like it.

I'm really, really happy. I'm especially pleased that Pete

and Sam really loved it cos your wedding is all about creating

magic and lighting in the evening and everything.

It's all kind of coming together now,

and I can't wait for the weekend to start.

Cheers! Thank you. Cheers, cheers. Cheers, guys.

Cheers, Emma. Cheers, Ronnie.

Next time...

Rain stops play for Ben and Billie.

Hopefully, it's just going to blow through

and we're going to be fashionably late, as a bride should be.

I recruit the children to help me in the garden.

We have to go all the way.

But Arthur has other ideas.

Hey, I can't see!

Amy and Marc are hoping to finish their B&B suite,

if the livestock will allow.

LAUGHING Stop it! Pack it in!

No. No.

And things reach breaking point for Tim and Rebecca.

I'm so fed up of this house!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media