Original subtitles

and along with my wife Angel and our two children...

Welcome aboard, mateys.

..we're now five years into restoring

this once abandoned chateau.

That is beautiful.

It's brought its challenges...

SHE SHOUTS

..and some amazing rewards.

Thank you for my flower garden, Mr Strawbridge.

And across France,

there are dozens of other Brits who are on their own chateau adventure.

Yay!

We'll meet some old friends...

Smile. I am.

..and new faces.

These rooms really haven't been touched in 60 years.

And we'll reveal more about our own chateau life.

It is SO much better in real life.

There will be highs...

Yay!

..and lows...

Oh, no.

God. What a disaster.

..as these plucky Brits...

Time is money.

..transform these once unloved buildings into incredible homes...

I just cannot believe how much work you've put in for us.

..as well as businesses...

..and get to live the dream as custodians of their very own castle.

Cheers, everybody.

Today...

Oh, Maman!

..a chateau owner hosts a very special wedding...

I think it will be there. OK. THEY LAUGH

..although the bride has fears over the flowers...

I just hope it doesn't tickle the horse's behind,

because then I could go at a frisk gallop.

One couple are in a shaky situation...

This looks really wobbly, Nige. Is it?

Why don't you go up and test it? I'll... No, I'll let you do that.

..but end up having a smashing time.

And it's a race against the clock for another couple...

It's quick, isn't it? Blimey.

..as they try not to put a foot wrong.

No. OK. OK, OK.

He's not happy with his team of English people, but...

SHE LAUGHS

Throughout France, numerous Brits are enjoying chateau life

and for many of us, that means running all kinds of events.

But there's nothing quite like hosting a wedding,

and making someone's special day extra-special.

Take the magnificent 16th-century Chateau de Lalande,

sitting in 60 acres of land and with its own chapel.

The 40-room chateau is run as a B&B and events venue,

and has been home to Stephanie for the last 13 years.

I forget how much we have done,

and the most important part is that every single year is more fun

than the last and it's the process that's the great thing.

Situated 53 miles from Limoges, in central France,

Stephanie has been gearing up to host

her first wedding at the chateau.

And it's going to be extra-special,

as it's for her mum Isabelle and fiance Percy,

so every detail has to be perfect.

Oh, gosh, I hope it stops.

She's managed to restore an old carriage,

which had been abandoned for decades.

She's also adorned a specially built pergola on the terrace

with over 80 metres of lace...

Lots of borders, that's fantastic.

We should use the borders as borders.

I hope it doesn't look like a washing line.

..and she arranged for the chapel to be decorated with foliage.

How lovely.

But I don't know if there is a bit of a pagan twinge?

Well, I like that. I see you as slightly pagan.

Yeah, but the priest is not.

The big day has finally arrived.

Although Isabelle and Percy legally tied the knot

a couple of months ago, they'll now share their nuptials

with 30 of their nearest and dearest.

Oh, Maman! Oh, tres magnifique.

You look beautiful. Tres magnifique.

I'm very proud. Thank you. But you need flowers. Yes, I do.

Oh, beautiful! Wow.

Live-in helper Marie has arranged all the flowers for the day,

including the bridal bouquet.

So I can leave it to dry, but whatever you like.

Marie, it's beautiful. I think it will be there.

THEY LAUGH

And then we have the flowers for the hair.

SHE LAUGHS

Do you have my hairpins? Oh, there they are.

Oh, it is beautiful, but am I not too old for it?

Absolutely NOT, Mummy. No. Oh, my God, you look amazing.

You look absolutely beautiful. Thank you. Absolutely beautiful.

There's no such thing as too old for lovely things.

No. Shall I take out my hearing aid, then?

No.

No, they're also extremely necessary.

Outside, the horse has arrived

to pull the beautifully restored carriage

for Isabelle's short journey to the chapel.

Marie has also worked her floral magic on that.

The carriage looks beautiful, did you see it?

I saw a little bit last night of what she'd done. Oh.

I just hope it doesn't tickle the horse's behind.

Nobody wants to tickle.

Haunches, because then I could go at a...frisk gallop.

I think it's very good. Yes.

I don't recognise me.

Don't you think a little bit of drama, like that?

Oh, darling, isn't that like, um, what's her name? Cruella de Vil?

Yes! Yes! No, Mummy, it looks superb.

Yeah, you need drama. Of course you do.

Mummy, you're the bride.

Are you sure? Yes, I'm sure.

You look anything BUT Cruella de Vil.

And I look forward to the wedding itself.

37 miles south is the stately Chateau Gioux,

which sits in five acres of land on the edge of the Millevaches Park.

It has four bedrooms and two salons, and was bought recently for £280,000

by Yorkshire couple Debbie and Nigel, who've just opened as a B&B.

We've got lots of exciting times to come, I think.

I think the whole package will be exciting. Mm.

We've got the room and the space, and we've got our own business. Mm.

All the elements are there to make it something really special,

aren't they? Otherwise we wouldn't have done it.

Located 30 miles east of Limoges, Debbie, who used to run a farm shop,

and Nigel, a former bar manager, have done up three bedrooms...

Ah, wow. What do you think? Hey, that looks fantastic.

..and welcomed their first guests.

This is Vassiviere room.

Wow. God, that's amazing. You like it? Yeah.

Very happy here for the night. Yeah? Yep.

Now they have their sights set on a new project,

the run-down conservatory at the back of the chateau.

This is an extension that was built to the chateau,

I guess just after the war, really. Yeah.

When it was turned into a nursing home.

At the moment, it's just been an area where we've dumped things.

Yeah. But we want to try make it into a nice area,

a nice, comfortable sitting area. Mm.

And Debbie already has a clear vision for it.

I'd like it to be a very, very pale Mediterranean blue

and some paintings of flowers, wisteria on the walls,

lots of tropical plants, flowers.

Just a really green, lovely green space.

An oasis. An oasis. An oasis of calm.

Sounds idyllic, but looking at the state of the room,

you've certainly got a lot of hard graft on your hands.

Right, shall we get cracking, then?

The ceiling has to be prepared for decorating,

the walls and rusty window frames painted, and broken glass replaced.

Right, where do you want to start?

Where do YOU want to start? More to the point.

Start in this corner, here? Yeah.

This looks really wobbly, Nige. Is it?

Why don't you go up and test it?

I'll... No, I'll let you do that. I'm not good on heights.

If it's a wobbly surface like that, then I'll just be hopeless.

Right, here goes.

Ooh. Oh.

How about that?

SHE GASPS

Is it coming off quite well?

Yeah, not too bad, come and have a go. No.

I don't want to have a go.

As long as I get the loose, flaky stuff off,

that's all really I need off, isn't it? Yeah.

While Nigel gets on with the ceiling,

Debbie's keeping her feet on the ground

and scraping years of old paint off the window frames and sills.

If you asked me to do this at home in the UK, I'd think,

"Oh, no, what a boring job."

But when you start to see the impact you're having,

then it's...makes it all worthwhile.

Yeah, that'll do for now.

We've made some progress.

We've, uh, we've got a start in here, haven't we?

Good start on the ceiling.

There's quite a bit of work left to do yet.

Got to finish scraping the ceiling.

And then you've got to finish all this...

Thanks. ..metalwork.

Well, you've made a good start,

but the hardest part is still to come,

to get this extension up to scratch.

Coming up...

..one chateau owner gets into some DIY demolition.

Doesn't it look better without a false ceiling?

It really does make it look like a real kind of cathedral.

At Lalande...

I'm off.

..the wheels are in motion for the big arrival.

Mummy was made for a carriage, wasn't she?

And at Debbie and Nigel's...

Rub it hard, squeeze it, get all the air out.

..they learn the meaning of handiwork.

This is like going back to playschool, isn't it?

That's very good. In fact, I think you're doing a better snake than me.

The majestic 19th-century Chateau de Brives

sits in 30 acres of land...

..with five outbuildings and 25 rooms.

It's been home to antique dealers Sarah and George

and their children, Tatiana and Alexi, for nine years.

We definitely realised on the very first day

that this was the house we wanted. Yeah. That we would love, yeah.

That this was going to be our home. Certainly.

Located 58 miles from Bordeaux, to make the chateau pay its way,

Sarah and George are turning their home into a wedding venue...

So this will be the bride's dressing room, in here.

..and have worked hard promoting the business

to try and get a booking THIS year.

With these fantastic photos,

with the effort that everyone's put in,

I'm sure we will find a couple who would love to get married here.

Those efforts seem to have paid off, with their first ever wedding

booking for over 80 guests happening at the end of the summer.

We are absolutely thrilled to be having our first wedding. Yes.

I can't tell you. It's the icing on the cake, isn't it? It is.

But we're still nervous. Yeah. Well, I'm certainly nervous.

Yeah, and I think as we get nearer to the date,

we'll get even more nervous. We definitely are nervous.

Being our first one. Yeah.

I'm not surprised they're nervous. While they may have a booking,

they don't actually have a reception venue yet.

So they need to transform their 19th century coach house

into an event space, rather than the dumping ground it is now.

George ropes in daughter Tatiana to help.

I'm going to go up here, start banging on these.

Then, as they come down, you clear up, I'll stop.

I'll tell you when one's going to fall, OK?

To make a feature of the roof,

George is removing the joists which held a landing.

Right, this is going to swing.

It didn't swing as much as I thought it would.

Bit over-exaggerated.

Doesn't it look better without a false ceiling?

It really does make it look like a real kind of cathedral.

That's good. OK.

So you'll get the last bits of that, right? Well done.

Success!

Well, it just looks so much bigger.

Once these two beams here that are hanging under the big beam

are taken off, you look up, it's just, yeah.

Really, really pleased.

Next on the to-do list is to knock through a bricked-up doorway

to create an entrance into what will become

a special bar for the wedding.

So you, you, you get there.

And what I'm going to do, Tati, is to hack off this,

which is the old plaster, to reveal the stone underneath.

Are you all right? Yeah.

Oh, that's, that's come off nicely.

And that panel there is the door that's been blocked up.

There's the lintel over the top and a large piece of oak.

That goes down behind these two long planks of wood,

so that will go through to where we're going to have the bar.

A good afternoon's effort,

but you've got your work cut out as all the stone walls

need to be exposed and repointed, to be wedding ready.

115 miles away, at Chateau Gioux,

Debbie and Nigel have spent the last two weeks stripping the ceiling

and painting walls and window frames in their neglected sunroom.

Now they're faced with the job of replacing the broken windows.

It's challenging, because I've never put any glass in before,

and I don't have all the tools that I need to be able to do it.

I haven't got a putty knife,

I'm limited on the amount of putty I've got,

so it's going to be quite a challenging operation.

So in other words, you're not really prepared, are you, Nige?

HE TUTS No. No.

Oh, dear. This doesn't bode well.

Here we go.

Anybody outside? No. No.

Everything's clear? Everybody's clear.

There we go.

That was quite clean, wasn't it? Yep.

So far, so good.

But you still need to take out all the old putty

and put the new glass in.

When it comes out easily, it's satisfying.

When it doesn't, it's a... It's difficult.

Debbie has a project of her own too, also a first for her.

Because we want to have this as a garden room,

my idea was to have a meadow on the walls.

So try make it look a little bit more like

the garden is coming into the house.

I've never painted a mural in my life before,

so it could be really interesting.

It could be that we need to get the blue paint out

and paint over it again,

but we'll just give it a try and see what happens.

That's the spirit!

Angel used our garden as inspiration

when she created her tower of curiosities...

..with help from her artist friends.

There was a very basic brief.

The brief was it's a Botanical Suite Tower.

We want to incorporate something from the garden.

It certainly impressed my mum, who was staying with us.

Oh, my word.

Well, I say... Look at that too.

That's beautiful, Angela.

Now it's Debbie's turn.

I'm thinking first, I'm going for the brown, sort of grassy look.

But it's really difficult, because it's such a bobbly wall.

My idea is to try and get sort of halfway up the wall,

so the idea is it's more of a meadow, a meadow scene.

It's a bit abstract, isn't it? Abstract, yeah.

SHE LAUGHS

As Debbie cracks on, Nigel prepares the putty.

The window is fine, it's cleared,

this is the part that I'm not sure about.

Not sure how much putty to put in, how to put it in, how to glaze it.

So I'm going to make it up as I go along.

A thin bead of putty will hold the glass in place

and give an airtight finish.

So we need it in long strips.

Debbie downs her paintbrush to lend a hand with putty preparation.

OK. It says rub it hard, squeeze it, get all the air out.

That's it. And then roll it out as a snake. OK.

I bet mine is better than yours. I'm sure it will be.

I'll do this a bit like that. SHE LAUGHS

OK. This is like going back to playschool, isn't it?

Yours is very good. In fact, I think you're doing a better snake than me.

It's a bit fat in the middle. It is, yeah.

Sausages made, it's time to put it in place.

Right, so if you can get a thin bead all the way along there.

Along this bottom edge? Yes.

Perfect, yeah, that's exactly what we needed.

SHE LAUGHS I can't stop it falling off.

Don't get it dirty, we haven't got much putty.

If it was up to me glazing windows,

then we wouldn't be getting very far,

so I'm leaving that to Nigel. I'll do the snakes.

It's not an easy job, isn't this.

Especially when it's your first time.

I think we're just about ready for the glass.

With glass costing 80 quid a sheet, Nigel can't afford to make mistakes.

Does it fit? God knows. Yes.

Can you see how, when you push the glass...? Yeah.

You squeeze it so there's a good airtight finish.

That looks so much better already, doesn't it? Yeah.

Then just finish around the outside and after a lick of paint,

it'll be waterproof.

It's not one of my favourite jobs, isn't this.

Something I'm not very good at and it takes a lot of patience,

and I've not got a lot of patience.

I'm happy with that. It looks good, Nige. Thank you.

Not bad, Nigel, especially for a first time.

Now, Debbie can get back to her own job.

I think it's, OK, yeah. I think it's not bad.

I think proper artists might have something to say about it, but...

Right, how are we doing?

What do you think, Nige? I think that looks fantastic.

The sun room, as we used to call it,

is looking now quite summery and garden-y,

so I think we should maybe call it the garden room. Do you think so?

Yeah, it's got plants in it. Henceforth to be known as

the garden room. Henceforth the garden room.

So it's now the garden room.

All it needs are a few finishing touches and I'm sure it'll bloom.

37 miles north, at Chateau de Lalande,

it's half an hour until the wedding ceremony is due to start.

Stephanie's mother Isabelle will make her way to the chapel

in the newly restored carriage.

It looks lovely.

And look at Gerry, where are you?

Oh, yes, look at this. Look at that. Well, I was thinking...

Gerry arrives to see Isabelle off.

..if they need somebody to ride the horse.

You look lovely. Thank you. You look lovely.

And so do you, darling, you look lovely. Thanks.

Now for the bride to be escorted to the chapel,

but careful not to mistake the horse's groom

for YOUR groom, Isabelle.

Congratulations! THEY LAUGH

Goodbye, goodbye!

I'll tell Percy! Goodbye! THEY LAUGH

I'm off.

To make the most of the short journey,

they go the long way round down a local lane,

while Stephanie nips across the lawn to greet the priest,

who'll be doing the blessing.

Mummy was made for a carriage, wasn't she?

SHE LAUGHS

She seems to have got quite close to the man doing the carriage.

Yes, she does, doesn't she? Have to watch that.

APPLAUSE

We made it safely.

If you and Percy wait together whilst we all go in.

The big moment has finally arrived,

Isabelle and Percy's vows in front of family and friends

from all over the world.

ALL: # Amazing Grace

# How sweet the sound

# That saved a wretch

# Like me.

La force de l'amour.

Chaque jour.

Je crois en l'energie creatrice.

Thank you very much.

A good day to all of us, the priest wishes us.

Woo-hoo! Yeah!

Bring them on! Keep walking along! SHE LAUGHS

Congratulations to the happy bride and groom.

Let the festivities back at the chateau begin.

Coming up...

Got my new comb. Oh, you've got your new comb, yeah.

..Debbie and Nigel's garden room is about to blossom.

I think that might look nice mounted on the wall.

I think that might detract from the paintings, I don't know.

What do you think? We don't want to detract from your paintings.

At Chateau de Brives...

I'm really nervous.

Here it comes. Oh, my gosh.

..it's all hands on deck.

Got quite a lot of lumps in my side.

I think I've got a bit more work to do.

And at Stephanie's...

We need a knife, we need a spatula.

Stephanie. Where is my daughter? Where is the organiser?

..there's a hitch cutting the cake.

Oh, my goodness, not this one.

We took the blood off it first.

Over in south-west France,

after two months of hard graft,

the walls in Sarah and George's coach house

have been exposed and re-pointed.

However, there's no rest for the chateau owners,

as, today, they have to create a new floor.

Well, we're off to lay the concrete.

Cement lorry coming in half an hour.

Get things ready and then all go, all afternoon.

Bonjour.

Local builder Frederic, his wife Isabelle,

and Sarah and George have laid the reinforcing steel mesh.

Now, they'll have to work as a team

to spread the 10,000 litres of concrete.

Now, we're just waiting for the cement lorry,

which should be here in ten minutes,

and then it's all hands to the deck.

Oh!

He said it's going to be "physique".

Physique. Oh, gosh, I'm quite scared.

Yeah!

It comes in a big chute, and then we have to spade it

into the wheelbarrows. Into the wheelbarrows. Yeah.

It doesn't get into the wheelbarrows? Oh, my God, no.

I'm going to be dead at the end.

It's going to be really quick.

Right, OK, so we're ready?

We're ready.

Just in time for lorry number one.

As well as working against the clock to lay the concrete before it sets,

lorry number two is due in 90 minutes.

Sarah and George really will need to get stuck in.

How exciting.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

C'est pas mal.

Have you seen my grass?

I'm really nervous.

I'm just worried I'm not going to be quick enough.

Here it comes. Oh, my gosh.

Ugh.

Looks like someone being sick.

I've only got this, Georgie.

What? Like a baby's rake. No, darling, that won't work.

Oh, God, I thought that might not go down very well.

What can I do?

Should I do it with a shovel?

OK.

Each cubic metre of concrete weighs over two tonnes.

I can tell you, it's back-breaking work,

especially under time pressure.

Ugh.

It's quick, isn't it? Blimey.

OK, OK.

Right.

Mine doesn't look quite as good as everybody else's.

After 30 minutes of raking, the concrete is starting to stiffen,

making it harder to level...

I think they're doing really well,

I've got quite a lot of lumps in mine, on my side.

I think I've got a bit more work to do.

How are you doing, Georgie?

..and it's vital that the patches,

which are now even, aren't disturbed.

No.

OK. OK, OK.

He's not happy with his team of English people, but...

He's all right.

To be fair, he is responsible for getting it all even

before the concrete starts to set.

Keep going now.

No.

Oh, la-la.

Frederic's working against the clock,

with the help of his automatic laser level,

but there's a problem.

Oh.

Quoi?

Oui. Oui, oui. OK.

I think the machine is really important,

cos that's what gives you the height the concrete has to be at,

and without that, you'd be on your hands and knees,

measuring every ten seconds.

Disaster averted.

But there's no excuse for a break, you two.

That second lorry load of concrete is on its way.

115 miles away, in Central France,

Debbie and Nigel are close to finishing their garden room.

Having ploughed all their money into buying the property,

they need to count the pennies when renovating.

We've got financial constraints,

in terms of we can't do everything immediately.

Chateau on a shoestring.

Chateau on a shoestring, yeah.

Now it just needs a few finishing touches,

and a good way to save money, as Angel and I know, is to up-cycle.

This is a day bed that we had...was left, actually,

by the previous people.

It was in one of the bedrooms.

Where do you want it, in that corner?

So we thought the perfect place. I think in that corner, Nige.

Righty-ho.

Right.

Right, those need to go on the...

On the day bed.

Very nice.

Got me new comb. Oh, you've got your new comb, yeah.

I think... Where, in the window? I think, just...yeah.

All manner of things can be used to add some rustic charm to a room.

I think that might look nice mounted on the wall.

I think that might detract from the paintings, I don't know.

What do you think? Oh, I don't want it to detract from your paintings.

I think we'll just leave it there for now.

Leave it there for now until we decide. Yeah.

That...

OK.

Great, as long as there's enough room for people to sit.

Yeah, that looks good like that.

What are we going to do about this rust? It's part of it.

I know you like everything pristine and glossed white,

but I don't, I think it's fine.

Looks perfect. Just adds to the character?

Adds to the character, yeah, it does.

I'd like to paint it. No.

OK, dear.

Not a problem.

I just do as I'm told.

And this little thing, which you said was a fly. It isn't a fly.

It's definitely a fly.

Fly don't have antennae like that at the front.

That's not a bee, it's a fly. It's a bee.

The fly-bee.

As a beekeeper, I don't recognise it.

I think it's a really, really nice room. Nice sitting area.

It is, yes. Time for a cup of tea.

Shall we sit in here, with a cup of tea?

I think that's a good plan. I'll go and put the kettle on.

All right.

From being a redundant room full of rubbish,

it's turned into a nice little extension to our garden, I think.

Couldn't have put it better myself, Debbie.

Everything that we do in the chateau, we enjoy.

Everything we do makes the place better.

It makes it better and it seems to bring it back to life.

Tea, there you go. Lovely.

And it's lovely just looking out, isn't it?

Looking out over the estate.

The paddock. The paddock.

There's nothing quite like a well-earned cup of tea

when you've ticked off another job on the list.

37 miles north at Stephanie's,

after the ceremony in the private chapel,

it's time to start celebrating her mother Isabelle's marriage to Percy

with a champagne reception.

Ah, cheers, all. Cheers. Cheers.

It was my most anxious moment, the chapel moment,

because it does mean something to me.

Did you finally feel like a bride?

Yes, I did. I did.

Yeah, but the point is... Job done, then.

Did you feel like a groom? I'm not sure.

I had tears in my eyes. Did you? But you didn't notice.

No, I didn't see that.

Today's idyllic.

I can't believe how perfect it is, after all this stress.

My mother always, always says, "I don't want a fuss,

"I do not want a fuss, I am very humble, very simple."

And then the minute there's a party, she's just the star of the show.

Look at her, she's reclining on a carpet, in the courtyard,

under a parasol, with Percy feeding her titbits.

SHE LAUGHS

A bride's prerogative, I suppose.

And no wedding reception is complete without one age-old tradition.

We've decided to cut the cake.

My incredibly dodgy, floppy,

first-ever-attempt-at-a-wedding-cake cake.

And we thought that we should do it in front of the carriage,

because it's been a big part of the day.

It's lovely. Isn't it pretty?

It's looking great, but Stephanie seems to have overlooked something.

We need a knife, we need a spatula.

Stephanie, where is my daughter?

Where is the organiser? Where are the plates?

Oh, my goodness, not this one.

We took the blood off...

Are you sure you did? OK.

Darling, you'd better come here. Look.

Don't you dare.

Ladies and gentlemen...

The cutting of the cake.

CHEERING

Done.

You have to feed each other.

Do we? Open your mouth, darling.

THEY LAUGH

It's all yours.

Make the most of it.

What a beautiful day,

but it's not over yet.

With a six-course dinner to prepare for 30 guests,

Stephanie's still got her work cut out.

Coming up...

..Sarah and George make a fatal error.

He wants a wheelbarrow full of concrete and we've used it.

And at Stephanie's, there's one more surprise for the bride.

Oh, how wonderful.

Stephanie!

Thank you very much. This is lovely.

I love you, darling.

In South West France...

..Sarah and George have been working against the clock

to lay the floor in their coach house.

It's far harder work than I thought. Really hard work.

But we've done six metres cubed, we've got four to go.

The second lorry load of concrete has now arrived

and there's no let-up in the pressure to spread it evenly.

SPEAKS IN FRENCH

Oui, oui, merci.

I'll leave it for a sec.

Trop?

SARAH LAUGHS

Yeah.

Oui? OK.

There's more concrete than the height of this door,

so we've got to shovel this out.

Because otherwise the doors won't close.

Luckily, the excess concrete can be put to good use

as there are a few gaping potholes in the chateau's driveway.

Oh, God. I've left a blob. Look, that's no good. I'll get told off.

Whoops.

Tell him we've got to get lots more out. Really? Yeah.

We could get rid of the... But we need lots, darling.

Yeah, the big one, down there.

Yeah, but he can't continue until we get rid of it.

OK. That's what we're saying.

Now, it's a race against drying concrete to remove the excess.

Oh, no. SARAH LAUGHS

That's one way to get rid of it, Sarah.

In an effort to get the concrete out as fast as possible,

everyone grabs a wheelbarrow and runs.

Wey-hey.

I've just dropped that big wheelbarrow up there.

So, you've got one great big pizza in the drive now.

Oh, lovely. Yeah.

As Frederic's been so busy smoothing the floor,

he's not noticed something's missing.

FREDERIC:

SARAH:

Oui.

He wants a wheelbarrow full of concrete.

What shall I do?

He thought there was too much,

but he left it there just in case and now he needs it.

And we've used it.

Do you want me to...? I can go and get...

I can go and scoop my lovely new drive off, if you want.

You ask him, darling.

Judging by the expression on Frederic's face,

I think you know the answer, Sarah.

Ooh!

What are you doing, darling?

Taking coal to Newcastle?

I need to scoop it all off.

BOTH LAUGH

Back in the barn, Frederic still doesn't have enough concrete.

I think I'm going to go and get my pizza.

Well done, Georgio.

Right, there's my big pizza.

SARAH:

Et bravo, George.

Finally, Frederic is smiling.

So, did you smooth it back down again, or not?

Where you dug out?

Excuse me? Yeah, you obviously have.

We've got too much now.

With the last bits smooth and levelled,

Sarah and George's coach house transformation

has come on leaps and bounds.

It's a great space.

It was much quicker than I thought, actually. Yes.

I don't know what the time...I've no idea what the time is.

No, you worked very hard, darling.

There was a time earlier on that I was thinking

I was going to have to sit down.

It was very physical. It was hard work.

Your wedding barn is well on the way,

and once that floor is dry and polished,

I reckon it will look incredible for the wedding in three months' time.

125 miles away, in Central France,

Stephanie's busy preparing a six-course dinner

for Isabelle and Percy's evening banquet.

We're actually doing really well

and the first three courses are nearly done.

And now, we're just starting to put the fourth,

the main course, together,

which will be in the oven whilst we're eating the rest.

Outside on the terrace, some of the wedding guests are helping

to add the final touches to Stephanie's lace-covered pergola.

We'd better work out how many we've got

so we have an equal number on each strand.

Right, I'll make the couscous last minute.

So, I'm not going to do that just yet.

Um.

OK, got it, go. You sure?

Yeah, yeah, go.

Right.

OK.

I'm going to go then and check on my mother and...

..I'm going to go and show her the table.

In just three days, Stephanie's turned the 30-metre terrace

into a setting for a wondrous wedding banquet.

The specially-built pergola has been draped in over 80 metres of lace

and decorated with foliage from the grounds,

flowers, chandeliers and fairy lights.

Isabelle and Percy have a surprise in store

as they haven't seen the fully-adorned terrace.

Oh, how wonderful.

Stephanie.

Oh, it is so beautiful.

Smart. Very nice. It is lovely.

I love it, darling.

Good.

I think Stephanie has achieved the impossible.

I think it's quite amazing.

A real transformation.

Now time for everyone to dine in true chateau style.

CORK POPS

Do sit down.

Cheers, everybody.

ALL: Cheers! GUEST: To Isabelle and Percy.

Thank you all.

And to all of you, thank you for being here.

Cheers and bon appetit.

As dusk descends, the chateau takes on a magical look.

Oh. "Isabelle et Percy".

Yes.

In chateau style,

a wedding tradition started in the 19th century...

And it's down in one piece.

Oh, wow!

..a croquembouche, made by a local bakery.

Thank you.

Well done, darling, well done.

I'll just taste this one, just to make sure it's OK, Percy.

I'd like to thank everybody who's here tonight.

To Stephanie,

I originally thought I would do this in French,

but I'll just say, merci beaucoup.

GUESTS LAUGH

And you really made this a very special day for me and for Isabelle.

Thank you so very much. Thank you.

GUESTS CLAP

Thank you very much for saying yes.

Thank you for being a good friend

and a very special person for the last six years to me.

Thank you very much.

And... Thank you, darling. ...I will try to make you very happy.

Thank you. ALL: Aw!

GUEST ROLLS TONGUE IN CELEBRATION

A more beautiful bride there has never been. Ah.

It's been brilliant, much more than what I anticipated

and very ecstatically happy.

And...oh...

Yes, and my day has been absolutely wonderful too.

Highlights of today -

seeing my mother in the carriage,

seeing the chapel being used,

seeing the terrace like this and hearing Percy's beautiful speech.

I loved today. I think it was a great success.

It was so beautiful.

I would love to see more happy people getting married here.

Well, what a glorious day.

Stephanie has done Isabelle and Percy proud

and all her hard work has paid off.

Cheers. GUESTS: Cheers.

Next time...

This is probably, yeah, my worst nightmare.

It's panic stations at Debbie and Nigel's...

I'll leave you to do this.

Yeah, I was going to say, you just get out the way.

..Sarah and George try to woo a wedding couple...

And then there's a little courtyard outside,

I know you wanted a gin bar.

SARAH LAUGHS

..and Stephanie plans a Renaissance revival.

I would like a four-poster in here, but I don't think I can afford one.

But standards start to slip.

This is disastrous.

It's only disastrous because you've got a defeatist attitude.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media