Original subtitles

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

Let's go get it!

...we're nearly five years in to our French adventure...

That's 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.

\ Ah, wow. I

Now Angel and I are once again lending a hand

to other expat chateau owners.

Sometimes, simplicity is the way forward. Yes, yeah.

We'll meet some old friends...

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

...and new faces.

Ooh, look at that.

They'll be plenty of ups...

Oh. SHE LAUGHS

...and downs.

We 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, Steve. Whoa! Steven.

...to ensure these once-unloved buildings...

WOOD SNAPS

I think I've made a hole.

...become the homes of their dreams.

That is amazing.

Today...

Here's the pool, here's the solar farm, here's the sun.

...one chateau owner dreams up a way to heat his pool.

Have a feel of that.

Wow. That is so hot.

That is too hot.

Another takes decorating to artistic heights.

I've done nothing but look at mountains and see...

...see the tones and how it all works together.

I'm very, very nervous about it, really.

I save cash getting creative...

I'm going to take this, stick this to it.

Put the light there, turn it around, just hold it in place.

It's very, very simple, but it's also cheap as chips.

...to make a special place for my Angel.

It's not a bad room, is it?

No. No!

Quite a lot to do.

And there are some curious findings...

Why are there giant mushrooms?

...whilst turning old stables into a new art space.

Whoa.

It's a total transformation.

All over France, chateau-owning Brits are working hard to make

our glorious homes work as businesses.

Take the lovely 15th-century Chateau Mareuil.

With five guest suites, beautiful gardens and a welcoming pool,

this is home to south-London couple Belinda and Lee

who bought this medieval castle for £378,000 four years ago.

Chateau life for me is a never-ending source of work

and fixing things up, in a nice way.

In...an absolutely nice way.

It doesn't feel like work when you're doing it,

but there's always something that needs doing, and I love that.

And I think to wake up in the morning... Yeah.

...and you do this, and look out of the window

and see the beautiful surroundings, it's so uplifting. Yep.

It's situated 40 miles north of Limoges.

But running a chateau is by no means cheap, and finding ingenious ways

to do more, on less, is part of everyday life.

This year, we've got plans to heat the swimming pool.

We want to do something environmentally friendly

and doesn't cost us too much money,

so I've been on the Internet to see what low-cost options are available

and we've decided to install a solar farm.

The unheated pool is currently only warm enough

to use from July to September,

so heating the water will hopefully extend this

by a month on either side,

a facility Belinda has already advertised on their website.

It's done, it's out there.

Ah, talk about jumping in with both feet. Yeah.

I don't even know if it's going to work.

Heated pool is promised. It was just an idea.

I went on the Internet,

and there's some guy in Spain that had done something similar...

Well. ..and I thought. You're going to have to do it.

Well, that's filling me with horror.

Cos not only do I not know what I'm doing,

but, also, I don't know how I'm going to do it,

and now I've got to get it done for the summer.

Absolutely.

Best get on with it then, Lee.

Time for a site visit.

So, in basic terms, here's the pool, here's the solar farm,

here's the sun.

We take cold water out of the pool, pump it up to the solar farm,

it goes round some pipework and while it's in the pipes,

the sun heats it up, delivers hot water back to the pool. Mm-hm.

Over a period of a couple of days,

the pool temperature will raise by between two and five degrees.

Perfect. It's free, because it's come from the sun

and the only thing we have to pay for is the pump.

I don't know if this is going to work.

I have every confidence in you, Lee.

Thank you, Belinda. Off you go.

Bob's your uncle... I'll take that, shall I? ..Fanny's your aunt.

Do you need that? Yeah, no, I don't need that.

It's all up here. Sure? I don't need instructions.

All right. Check you later. I know what I'm doing.

The principles here are sound.

Now it's a matter of putting the principles into practice.

To save a bit of cash,

Lee reckons he can fit the water heating system

using various bits and pieces left over from previous jobs.

The only running cost we've got is a pump,

and the pump is probably going to cost me about 300 euros.

And what I'm now going to do is put some corrugated sheeting over,

upon which the pipes are going to go.

I'm pleased with that.

Call the boss.

Do you remember what a pile of trash it was here?

It's just an organised pile of trash now.

No, I wouldn't say that.

This metal will hold heat from the sun.

Soleil, soleil... Soleil brille.

...el scorchio, straight onto the pipework with the water in...

Yeah. ..down to the pool.

It's going to work, have faith. The proof is in the eating, Lee.

Have faith, it will work.

The metal will reflect the heat, so you've got the base done,

I look forward to seeing how you set up your pipework.

40 miles east is the glorious 16th-century Chateau de Lalande.

With 18 bedrooms, a moat and even its own chapel,

it's home to Brit Stephanie.

This is definitely my childhood dream.

I remember from the age of three, I was obsessed with the idea

that one day I would live in a chateau.

I can't still quite believe that it's come true.

Located in the Centre-Val de Loire,

Stephanie runs the chateau for events and as a B&B

and is always looking at ways of expanding the business

to bring in extra income.

Her latest plan is very close to her heart.

I've come up with the idea

of hosting weekend art retreats at the chateau.

My father was always saying that he would love to do that,

so turning the chateau into a place where artists can come

and be inspired is really important to me.

It's a lovely idea,

but it means converting an old stable into a studio.

Stephanie and her team, including mum Isabelle,

only have a month to finish it before their first art weekend.

Let's try to be positive. Ready?

THEY LAUGH

Quite a lot to do.

I don't believe it, Stephanie.

The old stables have been used as a dumping ground

even before Stephanie owned the chateau.

I'll pull. Oh, my gosh.

There's just so much stuff in there, and it's been in there for decades.

I live for this moment.

Percy and the gold...

Greenhouse.

Let me take this, I'll put this in the woodshed.

I've got it, don't worry, Percy.

I'm trying to move the garden torches,

but so far, I've just managed to put oil over everything.

Extremely flammable oil.

No-one light a match.

It's heavy, that one.

Before long, some interesting things start to pop up.

What's that? Oh, mushrooms! Mushrooms!

I

They're mushrooms.

STEPHANIE LAUGHS

They're to put in the wood.

STEPHANIE LAUGHS HARDER

What's so funny?

Mother, why are there...giant mushrooms?

Yes, well, your father bought them.

Look at this one.

Yes, this is a good eating one.

THEY ALL LAUGH

I'm not too sure how we're going to use the room,

because I don't know exactly where these big stable dividers attach.

But I think we'll play around with that

once we've got the room empty

and we also need better lighting put in.

And I'd ideally like to turn the old troughs into the sinks.

That'd be very cool, I think.

Today's been a good start, however, there's still loads to do

before Stephanie hosts the Art Weekend

in just four weeks' time.

Coming "P.

One chateau owner plans her artistic masterpiece...

Well, obviously, my name isn't Michelangelo,

so I'm going to use stencils.

So this is my trusty pool temperature thermometer,

with Sharky the fish.

...Lee makes an error of judgment...

That was a bit silly, wasn't it?

Cos he's now in the middle of the pool.

...and Stephanie and her mum don't see eye-to-eye.

Let's get the men in and let's see how it goes.

I tell you how it's going to go, it's going to go to pieces.

The 19th-century Chateau Thuries was snapped up a year ago

by Brits Jayne and Steve for £400,000.

They've spent the last 12 months transforming

it from a run-down empty shell into a B&B, complete with four

en-suite bedrooms and numerous rooms on the ground floor.

I'm hoping that people will like it, because, you know,

we've put a lot of time and effort and money, actually,

and we've done so well upstairs with the bedrooms,

that we wanted to keep that standard up, didn't we? Yeah.

Which I think we've done. We've got to keep the standard up, Steve.

We do. Yeah.

The chateau is situated close to Toulouse in southern France.

With little money coming in,

they need to officially open the B&B as soon as possible,

but they still have to finish some public areas,

including the grand staircase.

This is Jayne's most ambitious project yet.

It's a very grand sweeping staircase

and it's very difficult to know how to decorate that.

I had this idea that I was going to paint a mural on there.

There's an old style of painting called grisaille,

which is painting in one colour, so, monochromatic.

And I had this idea that I was going to cover this massive, great

big area with a landscape, which is going to reflect the area around us,

so we'll be able to see the Pyrenees and the Black Mountains.

Right, so are we going to go at a regular height?

Just keep going. Yeah, keep going.

This is no mean feat.

The wall is ten metres long and three metres high

and follows the main stairs.

Amateur interior designer Jayne hasn't attempted anything

quite like it before.

So, I was talking to you about grisaille.

Yeah. Which is like painting in grey tones an things.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, obviously, my name isn't Michelangelo,

so I'm going to use stencils.

I've got some nice fir trees.

Yep. Cypress. Cypresses. Yeah.

I think we need to keep it fairly simple. Just the effect.

Because otherwise, I'm going to be there for a year, painting it.

Cos it's a big staircase.

How long was Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel?

I don't think we've got the time, somehow.

Steve's already started painting the staircase ceiling white

and the plan is to also paint the walls white as a background,

but Jayne has a new idea.

What if this wasn't white?

I'm thinking pink.

Like a terracotta kind of plastery, pinky colour?

Not flat. I normally like your ideas, I'm not sure about that one.

The ceiling's going to be white. Yeah.

And you want the wall to be a different colour. Yeah.

I've got to get - or someone has to, it's usually me...

To cut in? I have to cut in.

What do decorators do?

Scaffolding.

Whereas, on a roller, and it's all going to be white,

it's easier to do.

So... It's something to think about, Jayne. OK.

Well, could you think about it, then?

This is going to be a busy highway.

People are going to be putting their hands on there,

knocking their suitcases.

White's not a good colour, really, is it?

Well, it's... As a background.

Well, it won't be, cos at the bottom here it will be feuillage.

Trees. Feuillage?!

Feuillage.

All right. Well, look, that's the next stage, isn't it?

It depends how... If you want something done quickly

before we open, then white will be the quickest thing to do.

The reality of this mammoth task is sinking in.

I'm happy to work long clays and work as hard as we need to,

but even doing that, I think it's still going to be quite a big task

to try and get everything done.

I always knew that, though, right from the start.

You're a lot more optimistic than I am, Jayne. I'm sorry.

I'm not a pessimistic person, but you always think,

"Oh, we can do that, slap a bit of paint on here

"and we'll have it done", you know?

It's not as easy as that.

No, but I think you would have preferred to have had two years

to prepare, rather than one, wouldn't you, Steve?

Let's face facts, time is never on our side.

Back at Chateau Mareuil, Lee has taken on his biggest challenge yet,

attempting to build a home-made solar farm from scratch

without any experience and only a bit of internet research.

Come on, Belinda, I'll show you what we're going to do.

Today will be a dummy run on a small sample of water to see if it works.

What I'm going to do is put coils of pipe on

and then I'm going to fill this up, leave it for a period... Mm-hm.

When all the coils are full... Mm-hm.

...to see... To see if it actually works?

...if it actually works. Ah.

This holds the heat and it reflects it upwards,

so when the pipe lays on it like this,

the sun is getting a direct effect on the top of the pipe

and this is heating the pipe from underneath. Mm.

So the pipe is getting total heat all the way round.

Sounding so knowledgeable. No, no, I'm not.

This is the first time I've ever done anything like this.

Wait and see what happens.

Lee, Lee.

Looking at that pipe, it's not going to work.

Cannot bend it!

How are you planning to bend it?

Trust me. I-l...

Trust me. It's gonna work.

Brilliant. That's not going to come off.

Whilst I admire Lee's efforts to re-use stuff,

thick plastic pipe is the wrong material for this job,

as it's a really poor conductor of heat.

See, I want this one to join that one.

Water flowing through it won't heat up.

That goes in there, like that.

It's taking shape, look.

Now, the final loop.

That's it.

Now, Lee fills the pipes with water.

The two big pipes here are the flow and return pipes

going up to the solar farm.

So I'm going to turn this on.

And I've got water coming out.

This is a good sign.

I'm going to go back and turn it off, now, and get a thermometer.

As the next part of his experiment, Lee wants to find out

the starting temperature of the water in the pool.

So this is my trusty pool temperature thermometer,

with Sharky the fish.

So I'm going to chuck Sharky in.

That was a bit silly, wasn't it?

Cos he's now in the middle of the pool.

Come on, Sharky, over you come.

It's reading 24 degrees.

The pool temperature is 24.

I'll leave it in there for a while.

The while being two clays later.

Lee pops up to check the progress of his experiment.

Oh, that's hot.

That's hot!

That's very hot.

I'm not actually surprised, Lee.

With stationary water sitting in a plastic pipe in the sun,

it's bound to be.

Oh, this is boding well.

Mm. Heating up static water is one thing,

but if the water was flowing, it wouldn't heat up much at all.

40 miles away, at Chateau de Lalande,

Stephanie has finished clearing out the old stables,

ready to use it for her very first artists' weekend,

which is just eight clays away.

Well, Mummy, the clearing is wonderful.

Stage two is getting...

ls a big problem?

...some of the dividers back into place and they are solid.

The original horse stall dividers are heavy old wood and iron.

Stephanie wants to use them as room dividers,

which presents her and her mum Isabelle with a hurdle.

Are you OK? The problem is, uh...

this is facing the wrong way.

That's the back of the wall and that's the front...

Yeah, so we have to spin it round. ..of the stall.

And I don't think for a minute we'll be able to do that.

Well, we have to move them.

We can't have them...here.

Why not? That's safe, there.

We can put it against the wall, but we cannot anchor it to the ground.

If they fall on somebody, they kill them.

Well, I don't want them to fall, Mummy. I want them to go up.

Frankly, it is too big a job.

You cannot do it without a forklift.

Because it's solid.

Well, let's try. We have to... Let's get the men in

and let's see how it goes.

I tell you how it's going to go - it's going to go to pieces.

And it's very dangerous.

We can move it forward, absolutely. Yes, let's move it forward.

I want an idea of how it would look.

Please, keep your feet on the ground.

It is not poss-i-ble.

Mummy, when have I ever kept my feet on the ground?

ISABELLE SIGHS

Stephanie wants to move one partition into place

and see how it looks, so has enlisted the help of close

family friend Gerry and live-in volunteers Grant and Ben.

I want one of these...

"the right way round...here.

Before moving the stable divider,

they strengthen its joints with wooden blocks.

It really is such a bad idea.

Stephanie, I think...

Mummy, we're trying to do a job and all you're doing is stopping us

from doing the job every step of the way.

Yes, I am, because of the danger.

It will fall on someone.

What do you think, Grant?

We can get it out very easily straight and lean it against that.

Yep. And then have a look.

It's very dangerous, in my opinion.

The planning is not...

SHE SIGHS

I don't know.

It-it upsets me.

Isabelle may be anxious, but Grant reckons he has things in hand.

So, someone's got to be designated to move pipes.

OK, Mummy.

Mummy will move pipes.

Isabelle is tasked with sliding pipes under the heavy partition

to act as rollers - a tried and tested ancient technique,

but not using plastic waste pipes.

\ Push Ben. I

Easier said than done.

We're doing this with all the technological

accomplishment of the ancient Egyptians.

No, you have to lift up a bit, Grant.

Clear? Yep.

Move your hand, Ben.

Great teamwork, chaps.

I absolutely love the way it looks.

Having the two is going to make the room.

Today has been very fraught.

Mummy has been on top form.

Sometimes, when my mother decides that something is a bad idea,

she will not let it go.

I have never been against Stephanie's ideas,

and although I want with all my heart

to support her in her projects,

there are times when they are unrealistic with the means we have.

COCKEREL CROWS

And the cockerel agrees.

Now they're happy with its position,

it will need to be fixed in place,

but first, they need to decorate the stable

to make it more like an art studio.

Coming "P.

Jayne's under pressure with her painting.

It's certainly not all going to all be done today, that's for sure.

I build Angel a room of her own.

She's going to become creative,

which I know is going to cause me more pain.

Isabelle is still not happy.

Darling, it's getting too cluttered.

I'm sorry, I can't hear over the banging, Mummy.

And things heat up for Belinda and Lee.

Just put one of your fingers inside and tell me. Go on.

God, that's really hot! SHE LAUGHS

Chateau Thuries in southern France is surrounded by

four acres of parkland and stunning views.

Today, Jayne is in search of inspiration for a huge mural

that she's planning to paint on the wall of the main staircase.

I just wanted to get some photographs

because it'll help me when I'm painting the grisaille wall.

This whole area is absolutely beautiful.

Such staggering scenery around us that it would be really nice

just to reflect that in the imagery that I'm painting on the walls.

So, we've got the Pyrenees, which look amazing.

I mean, it's a bit misty today, but they look incredible

when it's a clear day.

I thought it would be quite nice to paint those on the wall.

This is Jayne's first stab at painting a mural this big.

It's a 10m x 3m curved staircase wall.

Don't envy you THAT, Jayne.

I've got it in my mind what I want to do,

so it's just kind of putting it into practice

and, uh... Anyway, we'll know a little bit later

whether it's working or not.

I'm very, very nervous about it, really.

I think I must be completely bonkers, actually.

I do set these tasks for myself, sometimes,

but I am a firm believer that you can do anything you want to do

if you put your mind to it.

And, you know, I've got lots of references on screen

that I can look at.

So, thank God for the Internet.

While Jayne plans her artistic vision,

husband Steve preps the staircase wall.

And this is what's taking all the time, really...

...the constant filling...

...and making good.

That's a huge old wall to prepare, never mind paint a mural on.

I'm just hoping it's all going to look all right,

but if it doesn't, then the worst thing that can happen

is, really, that we just paint over the whole lot.

SHE CHUCKLES

And that would be another painting job for you, Steve.

I have possibly bitten off more than I can chew, yeah.

Jayne says she's no Michelangelo, but you have to give her credit.

That's a huge challenge she's taken on.

You feel OK, up there? Yup.

When we've been driving around lately, I've done nothing

but look at mountains and see...see the tones

and how it all works together.

The further things are away from you,

the lighter they should be because they're in the distance.

The grisaille-style of mural Jayne wants means colours

are monochromatic shades ranging from dark grey

to pale mushroom and white.

I'm quite pleased with the progress today, but I need to do all

the detail and finishing off, so it's going to take a while.

With the B&B guests arriving soon, you haven't got long,

but it's already looking fabulous.

At our place, we understand how important it is

to have your own space, especially when you're working together

most of the time...

We've got a big house.

But there's not many places that Dick or myself can go to

to be away from the craziness, to be calm.

...so I created a workroom and treasury for Angel

in an unused attic room.

Well, I think she's going to come up here

when the children are at school and she gets some time.

She's going to become creative,

which I know is going to cause me more pain.

Angel needs to be able to work day and night,

so she requires good lighting.

It was my turn to get creative in my workshop.

Got lights. The lights are low energy.

They're LED plates, which is lots of light

without taking any more room space up.

It's not a tall room up there.

Rather than have the light panels suspended from the low ceiling...

...l made wooden clips to attach them to the roof.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to take this,

stick this to it, put a hole through the middle,

which means when it comes time to put the light to the roof,

put the light there, turn it around and just hold it in place.

It's very, very simple, but it's also cheap as chips...

...which we like.

Squirt of wood glue, start the process going.

Mass production.

With help from builder mate Steve, it was then the moment of truth

to see if the ceiling lights passed muster.

We got the two plates, one on each side, which means there

shouldn't be shadows because the light... There's light coming

from all over this, which means the shadows are reduced.

That's why you have a big area like this. Yep. That will work, won't it?

If we screw that in there, when we come to putting the board up against it, twist it around,

it's going to hold it in place at that point, correct? Yes.

The LED lights are thin panels, which means they're unobtrusive.

That's going to be painted white, That's it done, isn't it? Yep.

It's as simple as that, is it? Yeah.

Job well done.

Then all it needed was a touch of creative magic from Angel.

And a little help from Dorothy.

What do you think, baby? Ahh.

It's not a bad room, is it? No. No!

Especially looking back to how the room was.

This room's brilliant, because it's full of my treasures.

It's bright and it's white, so when I need to work late at night, I can do just that.

Over 170 miles away, another transformation is well under way.

In the old stable, Stephanie and her team have reinstalled old

stable dividers as room dividers and have started decorating.

A few finishing touches, and she'll be ready for her first artists' weekend.

I'm just moving in my father's art library now.

I'm so happy it's finally got a home.

The reason I'm doing this is for my father,

because he always wanted Lalande to be a retreat for artists.

The weekend is going to be run by Stephanie's friend, Oliver,

who will be dressing the studio with his own paintings.

So let's just put it here for now and then work out exactly where we want it.

Just as Stephanie thought she's on top of everything, there's a hiccup.

I just phoned Oliver to find out how far away he was,

and he's driven to the wrong Chateau de Lalande.

He's now three hours away and he has to greet all of his attendees.

Anyway, I'm not stressing about it.

Did you hear what's happened with Oliver? This is why we're running a bit late.

He took the wrong turn? No, he's gone to the wrong Lalande, he's three hours away.

So we're having to do everything that he was supposed to be doing!

This is the man who's running an art retreat and he's got the wrong Lalande!

You could put it down to artistic interpretation.

OK, here we go. This is very exciting to see this room coming together, after all this time.

But the question on everyone's lips, is, what will mum, Isabelle, think?

Who, after all, was married for nearly 50 years to an artist.

It looks awfully nice, but it's too crowded for an artists' studio, in my opinion.

Darling, it's getting too cluttered.

I'm sorry, I can't hear over the banging, Mummy.

Oh, clear. Let's hope Isabelle sees it in a new light when it's finished.

Back at Chateau Mareuil...

Hey, Belinda.

You've got to come and have a look at this.

...Lee is keen to show off the fruits of his labour.

That's really well organised. Yep. That looks good.

It's got a certain architectural rhythm to it. It does.

How did you bend that pipe?

Well, it came in a natural coil,

so what I did was I elongated it along the corrugated sheet. lt looks really good.

Go and have a feel. Don't touch it, just get your hands near it. ls it really hot?

Yeah, it's baking. In fact, it's so hot, you could fry an egg on that.

Oh, that's really hot, there. You can see, where the sun's hitting it. Yeah.

That's really hot.

\ Ooh, yeah. I

Just put one of your fingers inside and tell me.

Go on.

God, that's really hot. I know. SHE LAUGHS

No, that's really hot.

Can you imagine the water in there? Yeah. Well.

I can tell you now, Belinda, the water left in the pipe will be hot.

Right.

For the next part of his experiment,

Lee wants to find out just how hot the water is.

OK.

\ Turn it on. I

\ Bit more. I

Wow, this is like bathwater. It's hotter than my bath.

Belinda, come up here, this is incredible.

And family friend, Lisa, is on hand to test the waters.

Have a feel of that.

Wow. It's so hot! I know.

That is almost... That is too hot.

You're not wrong, Belinda.

However, if water was flowing through this plastic pipe into the pool,

it wouldn't capture enough heat.

For this system to work,

the pipe used will have to be a good conductor.

So what's the temperature of that water?

According to Sharky, this is 46 degrees.

46. 46 degrees.

Yes! Congratulations, it worked! Thank you very much.

46 degrees, that's 24, that's a rise of...

\ Er, six is 30. I

22 degrees. 22 degrees.

Sharky, me boy. You've brought it home.

Before Lee and Belinda go to the expense of connecting everything up,

I need to give them a call.

Hello. How are you? Oh, there you are. Hiya, Belinda. Hiya, Lee.

Good, thanks, how are you? Not bad at all.

I didn't realise what you'd clone to Lee, Belinda, you've turned him into an eco-warrior!

I know. He's a new man, Dick.

The principles of what you've done, I love.

But I'm afraid, mate, I don't think your system's going to work.

THEY LAUGH

You're laughing, that's a good start.

Why's that? It's a material choice.

If you've got a thick, plastic pipe, OK, it's hard for the sun's heat

to get through it because it's an insulator.

Right. Normally, we'd use copper, cos copper's a good conductor of heat.

Any metal painted black is good, the thinner the wall, the better.

So it's the transfer of the heat that's the key thing.

Cos it only has a chance to heat the water in the time it comes in the bottom

until it goes out the top.

Yeah, no, I totally get what you're saying.

I mean, the reason we used that is we had some left over and we didn't want to waste it.

We were just trying it all out, but I think you're right,

we need to change that end of the system.

I've made these systems, by the way, using old radiators.

All those principles you've got in your head now,

the only thing that is flawed, and it's only a little bit,

is that the material you're using doesn't want the sun to get to your water.

That's quite a big flaw, actually. Yes! Yeah.

Mm. Oh, Belinda. Minor, minor technical physical issue.

I'm thinking there's a spin-off from this, as well, Dick,

because if I use a mixture of old radiators and copper pipe,

it would double then as a sun collector and some modern... Piece of sculpture.

A piece of postmodern sculpture.

Listen, you two, look after yourselves, and, Belinda, don't let him get too arty on you.

Take care. Thank you for your help. Thanks, Dick. Take care. Bye.

Bye-bye. Bye. Gone.

He had a point. All the principles are right.

All I've done is just... I know. It's just the wrong material.

Yeah, but at one end. just think right, that was just a few minutes' conversation,

and that's saved us so much money. I know.

And a whole load of grief, because what we'd have done is

we'd have got it all working and it wouldn't have heated up

and then I would have been scratching my head, thinking, "What have I clone wrong?"

Glad to have been of assistance. Call me any time.

You've had a busy eight months,

with your Christmas event...

...roof repairs... Oh.

...water feature installation... Oh, my goodness me. Yay!

Happy birthday, Tina.

...and hosting a 60th birthday party.

I've never made anything so bad in my entire life!

With bookings and events confirmed for the summer season,

I have my fingers crossed that Belinda and Lee can heat up their pool.

Coming UP---

Stephanie's lost friend finally turns up...

Well, I have to say the other Chateau de Lalande is really nice!

Oh, what?!

...as she reveals the new art studio.

Whoa.

It's a total transformation.

Lift that up. No?

And at Chateau de Thuries, Steve takes things in hand...

I think it needs a good kicking. Shall I tell them that, then?

...just in time for their guests.

Did you do the wall? Yes.

Oh, wow. Very good.

At Chateau de Lalande, it's a big day for Stephanie,

it's her first Artists' Weekend.

She's hosting a cocktail party to launch the event

and new space in just three hours' time.

Oliver!

Friend Oliver, an artist who's running the weekend

and went to the wrong Chateau de Lalande, has finally rocked up.

Well, I have to say that the other Chateau de Lalande is really nice.

Oh, what?

Now to find out what Oliver thinks of the studio Stephanie's

created from the old stables.

What for decades was a dumping ground, is now a bright

and airy creative space, with re-installed stable dividers

and up-cycled troughs as sinks,

plus plenty of room for students to work at their art.

Ii

It's a total transformation.

I need to give you a hug, it's amazing.

I've got to put this painting down.

\ Love it. Wow! I

I'm literally gobsmacked, because this was just

a bit of a dumping ground, wasn't it? Yeah.

This is the start of any artist's dreams.

It makes me want to get my paint brushes out, which is

what we want this to do.

Welcome, guests.

A couple of hours later, and after a quick brush-up,

it's time to welcome guests and launch the retreat in style.

Are you finally liking it? Yes.

It's exactly what I wanted.

Glad to see mum Isabelle seems happy.

Stephanie, do you want to come up here?

Oliver has something rather special to unveil.

This is my gift to you and the chateau and I just hope it's

the start of hundreds of paintings that loads of people do here

that create something really, really special - that's my wish.

I'm actually going to do it so I can see everyone else's reaction before actually seeing it.

\ Oh, wow. I

Oh, I really love it, thank you.

Thank you.

Celebrations over, it's time to pick up a paintbrush for the first

class in life drawing, with help from live-in chateau helper, Marie.

So, my number one tip would be don't just start with

a little area and work outwards.

Map out the whole proportions first.

Marie, over to you.

If you use your charcoal to follow the curves of the legs,

like a tube, then you tend to get a sense of it feeling quite solid.

The head is good, but it's too big,

compared to the rest of the body.

It seems the room is awash with creativity

and the studio has really come into its own.

It's been such a lot of hard work, this project,

but it's really paid off.

I think my father would have loved everything about this space

and I'm just sorry that I didn't do this whilst he was still alive.

Well done, Stephanie, I'm sure your father would have been very

proud of what you've achieved.

It's been an epic winter at Lalande.

Not only did we have the huge Christmas parties...

Merry Christmas, everyone!

...but we also managed to renovate the greenhouse...

Oh, my goodness! Oh, it's wonderful!

...we finally finished the last bedroom

and we've got an art studio up and running.

Now, with other event bookings over the summer, and her mum's

wedding at the chateau to organise, there's no rest for Stephanie.

In southern France, Jayne and Steve are about to open the whole

chateau to their first fully paying guests.

The guests are flying in this morning,

but I think they're going to be arriving early afternoon,

we've got a heck of a lot to do before then.

I'm Mr Mop today, I think.

While Steve cleans, Jayne's putting the finishing touches to her

bespoke staircase mural.

Nice, wow! I'm hugely impressed, Jayne.

I mean, I wouldn't know where to start if I was doing this.

I'm just making it up as I go along, darling.

I think it's gone better than I thought it might do.

The guests are going to be the first people to see what I've done so far.

Now, just time for some finishing touches to the office...

Your end up, your end up.

Yeah, that's better.

Nature Suite.

Oh, for God's... What's going on with this door?

...and some last-minute snagging.

Maintenance, could you have a look, please?

Lift that up. No?

There you go. I think it needs a good kicking.

Shall I tell them that, then, the guests? No.

Gentle touch.

Time's up - the guests are here.

Hello. Hi, I'm Steve. I'm Lee, nice to meet you.

Very pleased to meet you, Lee. Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Carl.

I'm Jayne, how are you? Hi, Jayne.

So, come on in.

Wow. Wow. Lovely floor.

Thank you. This is the salon, you know, you can just chill and relax,

make yourself at home.

Lovely. The tapestry looks...

It's actually the original wallpaper. No!

It's still on the wall? Yeah. You've just framed it?

We just framed it. Really? Yeah. That's really cool.

It's a chance to have a look at the once dull and dingy staircase,

transformed into a mural masterpiece,

perfectly capturing their local surroundings.

Ah! Did you do the wall? Yes. Very good. Wow!

Wow! Very talented. Do you like it?

Yeah, I think it's amazing.

It works really well.

You're capturing the scene outside, aren't you? Yeah.

Bringing the garden and your lovely gardens inside.

Absolutely, well spotted.

You couldn't have asked for a better compliment, Jayne.

So, we can get your bags up in a minute. Lovely.

I love the fact that you've got the double windows in this room. Really nice.

What Jayne's done with the hallway with the stencil, I think

it's really effective. Yeah.

It kind of encourages you to make the journey all the way up to the

top, so you come into your wonderful suite where you'll be staying.

That's a thumbs-up!

Ah, just what we need, thank you.

Sante, guys. Cheers.

Cheers. Cheers.

The guests seem to be quite impressed with it all, which is great.

It's been a year of really hard graft

and I'm really pleased that we've nearly finished it all now.

I think the best bit is the fact that we can open.

It doesn't matter what's got to be done in the future,

it's the fact that we can open and start earning some money.

It's certainly been a busy year for Jayne and Steve...

That's lovely.

...they've transformed derelict downstairs rooms,

there's a beautiful dining room...

This is absolutely what we wanted.

...a bright and airy salon...

Wow, fantastic.

That is amazing.

...an updated hallway...

...orangery...

Lovely atmosphere.

...office...

...staircase and they're planning more.

If we have a successful year, then we can start to think about

putting a pool in, as well, cos we haven't got a pool at the moment.

So, I'd really love a pool. So would I!

And with the chateau taking bookings for forthcoming events,

it bodes well.

There were times when I never thought we'd finish, I have to say.

Not in the winter.

But, yeah, we've nearly done it now and it's a great feeling.

Next week...

Oh, my goodness, it's amazing!

...we'll follow more intrepid chateau-owning Brits.

Steve, that one's falling out. No!

Steve. Whoa! Steven!

At my place...

Oh, Richard!

...there's a slip-up...

Man in the water here, one down.

...and, at another chateau, one couple face their worst fears.

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

and it quite clearly will be in the rain.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media.