All language subtitles for Escape to the Chateau DIY S03E07.540p.HDTV.x264-GTi.English

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

we're nearly five years
into our French adventure...

This is heavy.

..restoring this once-abandoned
chateau.

We have another
capability at the chateau.

It's brought plenty of challenges.

Phew!

But also some amazing rewards.

I love you.

And across France,

there are dozens of other Brits
who've bought their own chateaux.

Oh, wow!

Now Angel and I are once again
lending a hand to other expat

chateau owners.

Sometimes, simplicity
is the way forward. Yes.

We'll meet some old friends...

We don't need instructions,
only when it goes wrong.

..and new faces.

Oooh, look at that!

They'll be plenty of ups...

Oh!

..and downs.

You can't ruin the wedding meal
by eating outside in the rain.

But no matter what,
these plucky Brits...

Ohh.

..will stop at nothing.

No.

Oh! Steve, whoa!
Steven!

..to ensure these once unloved
buildings...

I think I've made a hole.

..become the homes of their dreams.

That is amazing.

Today...

How are you? So good.
I'm so happy to be here.

..one chateau owner takes tips
on distressing mirrors from Angel...

You have to put
a bit of wellie in it.

Elbow grease is my least
favourite form of power.

..and finds some time
for reflection...

That's looking great.

..as this couple race to
renovate their ground floor...

We've got a bit of a problem here,

because every time people go in
and out, they'll take

some of the stones with them,
cos they're very loose, you can see.

..they end up coming unstuck.

There's an air bubble here, look.

Oh, God.

And at one chateau,
a DIY roof fix...

Oh, my God.

The things I'm doing
to save a few bob.

..has this owner wishing
he had a head for heights.

Oh, my God, oh!

Over 8,000 properties have been
bought by Brits in France last year.

A fair few of us have been
lucky enough to end up as owners

of one of these glorious places.

Take the magnificent 16th-century
Chateau de Lalande.

It's run for events and as a B&B
by British owner, Stephanie.

I think we started doing
bed and breakfast here

about six years ago,
and it's just word-of-mouth,

it's spread bit by bit and now,
we are very busy, so it's fantastic.

Located in rolling countryside
in the heart of France, Stephanie

bought the chateau 13 years ago.

During the off-season,
while there are fewer guests,

she's planning to renovate
her final B&B room.

Bed and breakfast is our main
source of income,

so it's really idiotic of me not
to have got that room ready before.

If money comes in from the B&B room,
that will give us

the money to do the next phase,
and then eventually, the entire

stable yard can be renovated into
apartments and life will be perfect.

Show me where this room is.

Finally, it's happening.

She's on a tight budget,

so has cajoled friend Michael into
giving her a hand with renovations.

So, what do you reckon,
a couple of hours of work?

A couple of hours?
Yeah, it always starts that way.

Three weeks later...
Yeah.

With the peak holiday season
starting in just a few months,

there's no time to waste.

Right.

This is the famous
chambre de la tour.

Yes, it is.

Well, what do you want done
in here, then?

Quite a lot!

I think it needs it.

It's just not working.

I have two panels of matching
fabric from the wallpaper.

They were the old curtains,
and they've faded a lot,

but I still think it's incredible
to have the matching fabric.

That's why I want to try
and save this wallpaper.

And I'm going to use this old
fabric, because it's not big enough

to make into a curtain itself, I'm
going to use the individual panels

and line all of the new curtains,
I'll edge them with this fabric.

Wow!

Problem is, I don't really like
the finished look at the moment.

I think it's making the room
look really tall and thin. Yeah.

I thought we could maybe
fix that by putting a dado.

What do you want
to do below the dado?

I really wanted panelling,
but I can't afford panelling.

Have you ever seen where
they used to paint panelling?

Just paint it on the wall
like a mural.

Oh, like trompe-l'oeil?
Yeah.

So it kind of looks 3D,
but it's actually just painted on.

What did you say, trompe?
Trompe-l'oeil.

Does it mean to deceive the eye?
Yeah.

Yeah, so it will kind of,
from a distance,

it will look like panelling.
I love it. Yeah?

So that's the ideas
for the main room. OK.

But I'm stumped with the bathrooms.

Bathrooms, I say, cos the cupboards
on either side of the alcove,

I've turned one into a loo.
Oh, wow.

And the other one is a shower.

It's a bit prison toilet.

It does look a bit prison toilet.

I think that we're going to have
to think about this a little bit

longer, we need to keep
brainstorming.

All right, I'm going
to get on with the curtains.

While they ponder the loo,

Michael can crack on
with fitting the dado rail.

While Stephanie gets busy
with needle and thread.

It's really lovely to be able
to use the old fabric

and see it coming together
in a new way.

I did not know that buying
a chateau would mean

I'd have to become
an expert curtain maker,

but I've made easily over 100 drops
and goodness knows how many pelmets.

I had to do it out of necessity,
I couldn't possibly have employed

somebody to make all these curtains,
it would have cost a fortune.

Half an hour later,
the curtains are taking shape.

I'll be pleased
when they're completely even,

but I think it's definitely
getting there.

Looking good.

But there's a lot more work ahead
to get the B&B suite refurb sewn up.

This is 15th-century
Chateau Mareuil,

which South Londoners Belinda
and Lee bought four years ago.

My family thought I was crazy when I
told them what we were going to do.

I think they thought we were
just having a bit of a game

or a laugh or something.

Lying 40 miles from Limoges, after
years of renovation, they launched

the chateau as an events and holiday
let business last summer.

This was something I have worked
out only very recently.

I don't want to hear.

But we have spent at least £150,000.

I'm not listening.

Euros? 150,000.

I heard that.

I'm sorry you heard that.
And it may be more than that,

on the work that we've done to date
here at Chateau Mareuil.

Did you just say, to date?

Belinda and Lee have now
staged their first event

in the chateau's salon.

Anyone who would like some lunch,
I hope you all do want lunch,

it's a lovely lunch.

Hooray, it's ready.

But their main event space is
the medieval castle keep, or donjon.

It's currently in need of urgent
repair, thanks to a recent storm.

We've had a bit of a hole
in the roof,

where some tiles have come loose
and I've been trying to get

a roofer to come and fix it,
but the quotes we've had have been

exorbitantly high, so I
decided to have a go myself.

So I've hired Steve
and his machine for the day,

and I've gone and bought some tiles
and I'm going to just go up

and have a go
and see it I can fix it.

By hiring a cherry picker with
a licensed operator for just

over £300, Lee may save himself
thousands on the roof

and could get the donjon back up
and running more quickly.

It's really important to get
the donjon roof fixed,

because we've used it for events
and we want to carry on doing that,

so it's got to look its best.

Lee is going to be really brave
and get up on the cherry picker.

I think he will try not
to show his fear, very hard,

but I know him really well, and
I think he's really quite scared.

So I'll get these two in there.

Stick four in there
and we'll see how we go.

We've got four tiles there.
Yeah, yeah.

If getting your leg over
was always this easy!

Even up.

I'm only up about a metre
off the ground,

and you can feel this thing
wobbling around quite a bit.

I'm looking at the wind in the trees
now, and the wind's picking up.

Right.

That's the sandwich alarm.

Somebody's had too many sandwiches.
Yeah.

We've gotta throw
some ballast off here.

The cherry picker can carry
a maximum of 200kg,

so something's got to go.

Take those two off.

We're obviously overloaded.

Close to the limit, yeah.

Middle aged man.

With only two tiles on board,
that's not much of a payload,

you'll be going up and down all day.

I reckon you secretly like this,
Lee.

Oh, my God.

The things I'm doing
to save a few bob.

Oh!

Oh, God.

Eurgh.

We're going down now.

It's a descending feeling.

Oh, my God.

You'll just have to get used to it,

or you'll never get that
roof mended.

Coming up:

One couple get their ground floor
revamp off to a cracking start.

Even if they do get carried away.

Steve, I think I've made a hole.

Lee touches down...

Oh!

This feels so good.

..but not for long.

I'm getting very nervous
because it's getting very,

very windy up there.

This is scary, Steve.

This is Hairy McLairy,
Scary from the Dairy.

And at Chateau de Lalande...

How's it going in here?

..Stephanie's renovations
aren't going smoothly.

The finish is not very nice.

What's happened is all the old paper
has started to bubble off.

OK.

So, what are our options?

This is stunning Chateau Thuries.

Dating from 1885 and sitting in
four acres of woodland, its owners,

British couple Jayne and Steve,
moved in nine months ago.

We walked in and even though
this house had been shut

up for over four years, it just had
this most wonderful feeling to it.

The thing that really hooked me,

the land that it came
with was wonderful.

I was blown away by that.

Located under an hour from Toulouse,

Jayne and Steve plan to
open as a B&B in four months' time

and are currently
renovating their ground floor.

You've missed a bit, Steve.

Right on the edge.

Oh, there?

Right on the edge.

Oh, I can see. Yeah, yeah.

They made some progress
with their dining room,

in time for a festive
visit from their daughters...

Group hug, group hug.

..and are now moving onto
the rest of the downstairs.

With their savings rapidly running
out, the stakes couldn't be higher.

This is our home,
but it's also our business,

and we've got to earn a living.

If we're not earning any money,
then we're in big trouble.

Steve and Jayne have a
huge task ahead of them

to have the chateau ready in time.

Today, they're focusing
on the salon,

which will be their guests'
main relaxing space.

This is the original
wallpaper that was put in

when the house was built - hand
blocked, beautiful old wallpaper.

But it's a little bit
dark and dingy,

and I want to lighten up the
whole of this floor, really,

so it's all going to be white
and lovely and bright.

Rather than stripping
and filling the walls,

the plan is to cover the existing
wallpaper with lining paper.

It could save them valuable time
and money, which is essential,

because they've
a lot on their plate.

Shall we just have a quick look
at this panelling, then? Because...

Oh, it's completely rotten,
isn't it?

All this is fine,
it's only this central bit.

Look, all you're talking about
is replacing that central...

That bit, and that bit and that bit.

I know. Piece of wood goes
in there, four screws.

Loving your optimism, Steve.

But it looks like a
fairly big job to me.

Luckily, mate Dave is
here to lend a hand.

First things first,
get the old batons off the walls.

What we don't want is to be
pulling out huge lumps of plaster.

But it's all a question of...

Rather slowly than...

Doesn't matter if it breaks,
like that. OK.

Oop.

Steve, I think
I've made a hole.

There's going to be a
little bit of filling.

It's just trying to keep
it as flat as possible

and to do as less work as possible
before I put the lining paper on.

As Dave removes the last batons,
Steve starts on the papering.

Ta-dah. Hey. Nice pinny.

Lovely pinny, isn't it?

It's gone a bit watery.

I'm just hoping it's going to
be adhesive enough.

It's the moment of truth -
if the lining paper lies

smooth on the wall,
it'll save Steve weeks of prep.

Now is that pretty much going
straight down, David?

It is, bang-on. Good.

Overall, this is really smooth
compared with all the other

rooms, even the master
bedroom, which I...

It's going to save a lot
of time, isn't it?

You won't be filling and sanding.
Oh, this is wunderbar.

It's great.

This is absolutely what we wanted.

Well, the main thing about this is,
there's no filling

and rubbing down and filling in and
rubbing down and dust everywhere.

I reckon that's two weeks saved.

I think overall, that was
successful. Great.

Good day's work. Time for a beer?

Beer time. OK. Good stuff.

Beer time.

Excellent!

But you'll need to get back
onto it tomorrow.

At Chateau Mareuil,
despite his fear of heights,

Lee's battling on with
fixing the donjon roof.

As their main event space,
it's a crucial job.

I don't know what I'm doing here.

A storm has left a hole in the roof,
so Lee needs to hang new tiles,

all the while suspended
50 feet above the ground.

That's one's definitely
hooked on there now. OK? Right.

Oh. No, it's not.

Lee hates heights.

Even doesn't like going up ladders.

If it's just he and I on our own,
I always have to be

standing at the bottom of the
ladder if he's going up, so...

No, he really doesn't like them.

Jesus, this is scary, Steve. This is
Hairy McLairy, Scary from the Dairy.

You took the words right
out of my mouth, Lee.

Steve, what does that look like?

If that feels solid,
I'd leave that at that.

It is solid, yes, it is.

And put the next one on.
We'll get some more tiles.

More tiles, yep.

Yeah, that actually
looks a lot better.

Yeah.

I'm feeling happier that
we're going down.

But only carrying two tiles at
a time means plenty of up

and down trips.

Oh.

Not going to kiss the ground,
are you?

Oh, this is... This feels so good.

Sorry, Lee, you need get
back in there and up again.

Just over an hour later,
the hole's fixed.

Now for the other side of the roof.

Unfortunately,
there's trouble blowing in.

Oh, Christ.

No, let's go down. Yeah.

That's too dangerous.

Yeah, let's take it down.

OK? OK, I'm clear.

The wind's picked up,
so Lee's coming down.

Oh.

Firm land.

I'm happy I'm standing
on proper earth.

When we were right on the extremity,

with both of us in that bucket,
the thing was rocking all over

the place, and I have to say,
I felt really dead scared.

And even Steve was saying,

"I don't really want to be doing
this any more, let's get down."

Cos it was just too dangerous.

It's always better being
safe than sorry,

but with winter weather
so unpredictable,

it could be some time before Lee can
get back up and finish the job.

Back at Chateau de Lalande, work has
continued apace in Stephanie's fifth

and final B&B guest room.

So, how's it going in here?

Michael's been painting below the
new dado rail, but there's an issue.

The finish is not very nice.

What's happened is all the old paper
has started to bubble off... Yep.

..the walls, and where it's been
patched up over the years,

you can see all of the joins.

It just doesn't look very nice.

So, what are our options?

Well, the only thing that
I can think of is to use a Stanley

blade and just score underneath
here and use a wallpaper steamer

and just take off the paper
from there to there.

OK, well, doing the job,
let's do it properly.

Let's get that wallpaper off.
Have you got a wallpaper stripper?

Yes. We have everything
in this house.

We just have no idea
where any of it is.

Well, if it's going to be anywhere,
it'll be in here.

I can't see anything
obvious right now.

What about the storage
room at the end?

Is there a wallpaper
stripper in there, do you think?

I thought I had two, weirdly.

Ah. Wallpaper stripper.

It says it on the outside, but do
you suppose there's one in there?

That looks like...
It's a miracle.

The key to doing any job is
having the right tools,

that are in good working order.

Well, the wallpaper stripper's
meant to have a lid just here.

The lid is missing.

The steam's just going to escape.

So...

It's a shambles, the whole thing.

That may be, but this is a
job that needs doing.

So the only option left is to
take an old-fashioned approach.

We have hot water and sponges.

Excellent.

OK, I can be starting to wet
the paper, if you want?

Yeah, there's sponges there.

All right.

By soaking the wallpaper,
it should come away more easily.

This is what we used to
do before steamers.

It is never, ever as simple as
you think it's going to be.

When we start any project here,
it takes longer than we think,

and becomes
unnecessarily complicated.

But it'll be worth it
when it's done.

It's lined with newspaper.

So that means we can
date the wallpaper.

This is so exciting,

it's like a journey back in time
with everything that we peel off.

The date of this newspaper
is 9 April, 1964.

1960s.

Now, if we can just find a little
hidey hole with the treasure,

we'll be sorted.

They're getting there slowly.
It's a painstaking process.

At least Stephanie knows
the drill by now.

It's very common for us

to start a project thinking it's
going to take a couple of days

and then find that it takes weeks
longer because of things like this.

Pray for no more setbacks.

Coming up...

So where would you start
with this, then, Jean?

The emergency is about
taking down the trunk.

At Jayne and Steve's, a fallen tree
threatens to stump progress.

Stephanie takes a trip to our place
for angelic inspiration.

So I just thought maybe you could do
a whole mirrored wall at the back?

I love... I really love that idea.

I love it.

And Lee is a man on a mission.

This is what I wanted you to see.

But is it enough to
get into Belinda's good books?

Oooh. Oh. Look at that!

At Chateau Thuries, Jayne
and Steve are busy renovating

the ground floor to open officially
as a B&B in four months' time.

This is wunderbar.
Yeah, it's great, isn't it?

This is absolutely what we wanted.

Now a more pressing problem has
forced them to down tools.

We've got to trim all these
bushes down and stuff as well.

A cedar that fell in a recent
storm needs dealing with.

Fortunately, chateau helper
Jean is a trained tree surgeon.

This is a necessity because of,
really, health and safety

and danger to the public.

I think that Jean will save us
hundreds of euros, possibly even...

Oh, Steve... Thousands?

You know, there's a lot of
work to do here, I think

it's going to save us thousands.
OK. He's a godsend.

So where would you start
with this, then, Jean?

I think now the emergency
is about taking down the trunk.

It's supported only by this
small branch here, you know?

So I need to put it to the ground,

then I guess we're
going to split it...

For firewood. ..for firewood, yeah.
Yeah.

Great.

As Jean sets to work...

..back in the chateau,
Jayne's turning her attention

to the entrance hall's
130-year-old mosaic floor.

We've got a bit of a problem here,

because every time
people go in and out,

they'll take some of the stones
with them, cos they're very loose.

You can see...

So what I've done,
I've cleaned this area up,

and I've hoovered out
all the debris,

and what I need to do
is do a little patch test

with some terra-cotta-coloured
grout

in there, just to see if I can, um,

mend and set the areas
that have been damaged.

Here's hoping.

Original features like this
are key to a chateau's magic.

So this floor's very special.

When we first came
to see the chateau,

I absolutely fell in love with it.

But it does need
a little bit of TLC.

And what I want to do is
actually just do a little test,

put some in there.

The problem is when it's wet,
is that you can't kind of see

what it's going to look
like when it's dried.

At the moment it's looking
a little bit bright.

But I think that if it dries
to look anything like

the actual dried powder,

it should work really well.

So I think overall, looking at it,

I think that's going to work,
which is very exciting.

In the salon, Steve is busy
replacing the rotten boards

with cheaper MDF panels.

Mm, that's great.

What we have now...

..is all we have to do is to

do a little bit of
caulking around the edge,

and then glue that on there.

So we need some glue.

Finally attached is a
central panel of plywood.

Steve's sure no-one will
ever know the difference.

If it's screwed on straight,
that is.

What I just want to make sure
is that this line

is lined up with that.

Well, it's also...
Th-that looks... Yeah.

That looks slightly over
to the right to me.

It needs to come
a little bit further...
Yeah, you're right, it does.

..over to the left.

A bit more?

No, I think that's
about right, actually.

That's slightly out, Jayne.
It's going to be...

You know, once it's painted in...
No, I know. ..I think,

you know, really, nobody's
going to examine it that closely.

Job done, and you've managed
to keep the cost down.

Now to get on with
decorating the room.

Back at Stephanie's,
B&B season is coming up fast.

Her curtains for the alcove
in her fifth and final

guest room are finished.

This is a very unusual curtain job.

Usually I'm hanging, normally,
onto a curtain rail,

and these don't need
to open and close,

they're going to be
purely decorative.

So, they're going to be
a fixed curtain.

But I haven't done anything
quite like this before,

so I'm working it out as I go along.

Stephanie's first job

is to put up the three swags
that'll make up the pelmet.

With a few tacks, the pelmet
quickly starts to take shape.

That one's fixed.

And then finally,
the curtains themselves.

It's great.

And actually makes it feel like a
little room in here, or on a stage.

To be or not to be,
that is the question.

It's perfect.

I love it. I love it.

Stephanie's home-made curtains,

complete with her trim to match
the wallpaper, are impressive.

The curtains have been
quite complex in here,

and I'm making huge curtains
for the window.

So they're even more work
than the alcove ones.

Every spare second that I have now
at Lalande will be in this room.

Until I've got it finished.

But it's all starting
to come together.

Next, Stephanie needs to
work out how to give her

toilet in a cupboard
a touch of je ne sais quoi.

This place is amazing.
I love it so much.

So she made the four-hour drive
to our place for some inspiration.

Hi! I'll come to the side,
otherwise I'll knock you over!

Oh, come into the hall.
It's good to be back.

Oh, it's good to have you back.

Do you want a cup of tea or coffee?
I'd love some tea. Tea. Yeah.

Always.

Oh, what a beautiful sight. Wow.

Cheers. Cheers, gosh. Ooh, cheers.

Mmm.

So, I have had a little look
at your project,

but tell me a bit
about the room and

what it's going to
be used for and...

It's a 16th-century room
but that was redone in the 18th,

so you know they put those
alcove beds with a little

cupboard on either side
of the alcove. Yup.

So I put a shower in one. Right.
And a loo in the other. Brilliant.

Then they're tiny, they're really
tiny. Yeah, OK, that's fine.

But I want to make them special
because of that... OK, yeah.

..so that it's a surprise
as you walk in.

OK, I have,
and I've not done it before,

but I did start a similar project
about three years ago

but ran out of time,

and just before me and Dick
were getting married,

when we were doing up
our honeymoon suite,

I was going to do
a whole wall of mirrors.

So I bought, at the time, just these
kind of like mirrored tiles. Right.

They're square,
they're nothing fancy,

and my idea then was
to distress them,

and just to make a wall.

Now, a mirrored wall just gives an
illusion of extra space, doesn't it?

Yeah. As soon as you walk in.

I just thought maybe you can do
a whole mirrored wall at the back.

I love... I really love that idea.

I love it.

I mean, I've got enough tiles to
give you for both rooms.
Are you serious?

Yeah, yeah, I think so.

That's unbelievably generous of you.

Honestly, I'm really excited
about doing a project

and seeing you finish it.

Right, shall we go and have
a little look around? Ooh, yes.

And start getting these mirrors
out. Yeah, fantastic.

OK, I don't get it,

but I'm looking forward to
seeing what these two rustle up

in Angel's treasury.

Back at Belinda and Lee's,
the weather has relented,

and the donjon roof is
finally fixed,

much to Lee's relief.

So, because we've managed to
successfully repair the roof

and patch the hole up properly,
and secure the tiles,

the building is
completely watertight now.

The roof may be sorted,
but before they can start holding

events in the donjon, and bringing
in income, work needs doing.

The donjon has once again turned
into a sort of bit of a

rubbish tip, basically.

And, you know, it needs to be tidier
than it is, it needs to look

like a place where you could
have a party, and at the moment,

it looks like a rubbish dump.

So I'm a bit disappointed, to be
honest, in how it's ended up.

Belinda couldn't bring herself
to come in here,

cos she said, "Every time I go in
that room of yours..."

It's become my room now.

"..every time I go in that room of
yours, it's in a complete state."

So what my plan is today,

is to clear bits and pieces out
and tidy the place up a little bit.

Right, and then when it's clear,
I'm going to bring her in and say,

"Ta-da, we've got our donjon back,
now you can start planning events."

That's my plan.

Right...

So, I'm going to get
these trestles out,

put those over by the door.

Fair bit to do, Lee.
It's all wreck.

Oh, look at this stuff.

I like the juxtaposition of having
something really, really rough

and something really
elegant together.

Just a few last touches
to woo Belinda.

Bubbly.

Flowers.

And last of all...

..a ribbon.

Need to get a pair of scissors

without her seeing me.

Right, it's all set,
I've now tidied the donjon up,

I've laid a table for two,
and basically it's now ready

to open again for the summer season,

which is something
Belinda's wanted for ages.

So I'm just going
to go and find her.

Right. Ooh, it's a ribbon.

Yes. What does that mean?

It's under new management.
Oh, yeah, whose is that, then?

It's not my donjon any more,
it's returning back to you. Oh.

And there's the scissors. Thank you.

You've got to cut the ribbon
and go inside.

I hereby reopen this donjon. Oops.

Yup, right.

This is not very good,
I haven't done this before.

There you go. Now we push this open.

This is what I wanted you to see.

Ooh, oh, look at that!

Oh, that looks lovely.

It's all been cleaned. Aw.
Everything's been tidied.

And it's ready to rock and roll.
Ready for a party.

Come on, sit down and
I'll pour you a drink. Ooh, I say!

Didn't expect this.

Ready? I'll point it at the wall.
There.

Oh, thank you.

This is what I've been doing while
you've been over there pruning.
What, drinking?

No!

SHE LAUGHS

To the success of the donjon.
Cheers to the donjon.

And to the next event. And its
rejuvenation. Its rejuvenation.

Cheers. Good work, you two. You
certainly earned that glass of fizz.

Lovely. Oh, that's good.

The donjon's looking great,

looking much better than it was
this morning. Well done, Lee.

Are you pleased with it?
I'm pleased with it. I think
you've done a great job.

So you'll be able to walk in here
and not feel bad any more.

No, and, I mean, it looked terrible,
didn't it? It really looked a mess.

And I've got to say, you know,

one of the things I'm really
pleased about...

Is the fact that you did it
yourself? I did it myself.

Up on a cherry picker, doing the
thing, and it saved us thousands.

Thousands.

You've also learned some new skills
along the way, Lee.

That's one of the great joys about
owning these magnificent buildings.

Now you need to get that
donjon paying its way.

I think now this space has a future.

We've probably extended
the possible life use of this

beyond the four, five
summer months into

sort of eight months now. Yeah.

So what we really need now is
some events booked in here.

We need some income coming in,
and that's going to help us

pay for the rest of the work that
we need to do in this place.

Good. So you're pleased, then? Yeah,
definitely. Thank you. Excellent.

Lovely.

Coming up... Ah!

..Angel and Stephanie get
busy in the treasury.

Oh, this is it. This is the one.
That looks gorgeous!

This is what I want to do.

Jayne's patience is running low.

Can you help, please?
Give me that, then.

Oh...

Couldn't you get...?

And so are the coffers.

We've got to start making some
money, otherwise we're stuffed.

In southern France, it's now less
than two months

until Jane and Steve welcome
their first guests of the season.

They've been busy lining the walls

and decorating throughout
the ground floor.

But the job isn't done yet.

It's all very... It's at that
very exciting stage now.

The finishing stage.

We've been working
flat out to get all

the decoration work done.

And we've got six weeks till we
actually open,

so we've got to finish all
the other rooms in that time.

So we've really got our work
cut out for us.

Well, I went through the piggy bank
the other day, and I was

thinking, Jane, the piggy bank is
getting to be a bit empty now.

I know.

Really, you know, we've got to start
making some money to live on.

Otherwise, we're stuffed.

Their next task,

inspired by the chinoiserie screen
Jane made

for their Oriental bedroom,

is to create a panelled
wallpaper mural in the salon.

So what we've got, we've got four

of these pieces of screen-printed
mural... Hm-mm.

..that all line up together. Yeah.

And you've pre-made these things

that we can then paste
the mural paper

and then mount it onto those
and mount it onto the wall.

First, they need to lay
the panels flat

so they can figure out
which roll goes where.

It's a two-man job this, Steve,
can you help, please?

Give me that, then.

Can't you get...?
Gordon Bennett.

Right.

And that's the easy part.

See, that's quite...
See, that says panel four on it.

Is it? So that's the last one.

That will be at the end.
Shall we put that...?

Shall we move it over?
Cos we know that that's panel four.

Oh, that's good.
Where does it say four, Jane?

Here. OK.

Yeah, that's the correct order.

Now you can see it
in all its grandeur.

There's a major tree in the middle.

So we've decided where
this is going to go on here.

So we need to paste this first.

Pasting wallpaper like this
is a high-stakes business.

The paper is in the hundreds.

And all the other
materials are about 100.

So it's all added up to
quite a lot, really.

Because they're quite rare,
all this is really collectible

and it's quite difficult to
get hold of these.

And it's the main sitting room,
so you've got to...

You've got to make a statement.

So you've got to spend
a bit of money.

He doesn't like it, but you've got
to spend a bit of money.

So are you ready, then?

Yeah. Oh, God.

Here we go.
I'll do it like wallpaper.

If it's too wet,
it won't stick properly.

OK, so I've rolled it
so that we can start at the bottom.

And that is the edge where you can
see where it's...

If you get the straightness first.

Well, the only way I can do that is
by laying that down and seeing...

If it's out slightly, it'll go out.

By the time it gets to
the other end, it will be out.

I know, I know.

We'll have to do it quite quickly,
I think.

Is that going out?

Is it going out, Jane?

Yes, it is, it's going out.

It needs to move over here
towards here, the door.

OK.

Just lift the whole thing up.

Well, this isn't going to expand,
we've never done this before.

That's spot-on now.
And that's spot-on here.

That's absolutely spot-on now.

The paper is finally on. Now
there is another fly in the paste.

There is an air bubble here, look.

I can see one here.
See, you're going to get it.

No, but look, that's quite
a big one.

That's why I think
we should wait till it dries

before we do any more.

Oh, God.

I think that we need to know

that this is successful
before we do any more.

Well, the point is,
if it's not successful,

there's not a lot
we can do about it, is there?

I didn't expect it to
bubble in the way that it bubbled,

and I've got my heart
in my mouth now.

We've done what
we think is the best thing.

And we'll just have to keep
our fingers crossed

and hope that it dries flat
when it's dried.

We want to get it all right,

because we haven't got long before
we open,

and, yeah, the stress is mounting.

Vesuvius is going to erupt soon.

Hang in there.

After months of graft,
you are so close to having

the whole place ready for your first
official guests.

You just need to keep going.

In the Pays de la Loire,

Stephanie has come to our place
for inspiration for the bijou WC

in her last guest suite.

She is determined to make it unique,
and that's where Angel comes in.

Have you been in here before?
I saw it once last time.

Oh, you did? Yeah.

Angel has a cunning plan involving
distressed mirrors.

This is it. This is what...
That looks gorgeous.

This is what I want to do. Wow.

Do you like it? Love it. Love it.

Great. We can do this with a bit
of paint stripper and some bleach.

So that is quite an economic way
to do it, isn't it?

I would love to learn to do that
so much.

Right, let's get busy.

They are using mirrored tiles
and stripping them

with some pretty potent chemicals,
so protection is a must.

Right, so what we're going to do,

I'm not going to put oodles on,
yeah, but I'm going to put enough...

Angel starts with paint stripper
to remove the backing.

Do you want to do one and I do one?
There you go, babe.

How thick does it need to be?

Well, so, not too thin
and not too gloopy. Cos the...

Where it's, you know these little
bits that are a bit thicker?

It will work a tiny little bit
quicker.

I'm going to just set my clock.

Three minutes. Great.

Three minutes later,
and armed with wire wool,

they can start the next step.

Oh, yeah, great, you see? So it's
started to come off. So you start.

Come on, Steph,
put a bit of welly in it.

Elbow grease is my least
favourite form of power.

Keep holding it up
and you can start to see... OK.

Oh, yes, starting to look nice.

With the backing off, Angel can get
to work with the bleach

to remove the reflective silver
layer.

And it's only going to work on
the areas... On these areas. OK?

It's not going to work on...
It you won't do that, OK.

It won't do that, so, OK.

I've got to leave that for five
minutes now, so... Three, five.

OK. Three for the stripper,
five for the bleach.

Yeah. OK.

Five minutes later,
and they can wipe off the bleach

and admire their handiwork.

That is looking great.
It's really eating its way at it.

With a little time, and a whole lot
more elbow grease later,

Angel and Stephanie have the
beginnings

of a pretty impressive
mirrored wall.

They're going to look great.

They start to look amazing
when you put them all together.

They do. They do. And I think it's
going to be right for your room.

Yeah.

Especially if you have something
really beautiful

that is reflecting into it.

Thank you. Really, thank you.

You are so welcome, darling.
Love it.

I love doing stuff with you,
sweetheart,

so it's always a lot of fun.

Today has been amazing.

I love seeing Angel
and she has such great ideas.

And so now this tiny little space
that I was stumped on,

I've got vision for it,
I know where I'm going,

so I'm going to go home

and I'm going to get distressing
mirrors,

I'm going to finish that bedroom.
It's going to be done.

Good luck, Stephanie. I can't
wait to see the finished article!

Bon collage!

But you've still got
an awful lot to do

before that last suite
welcomes its first guests.

Next time... Give me
a dimension for your water feature.

I offer some engineering advice
to Belinda and Lee.

It will probably be about 12 square
metres. That is not small.

So things don't go exactly to plan.
Whoops.

Oh, Belinda is going to go mad.

Get rid of the evidence.

Steve and Jane's friends answered
the call for help...

Can you put the knob on?
On the staircase?

..and have a smashing time of it.

CRASH!

Uh-oh! And as Stephanie also
calls in the troops...

I think it might need to go up
a wee dod. A wee dod?

..it seems it was all well
worth the effort.

Oh, this is wonderful!

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