Original subtitles

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

Hello.

..and our two children,

we've lived in this magnificent chateau for the past five years.

Ah, that's lovely.

It's my little corner of paradise.

ANGEL LAUGHS

It's not just our home...

Whoo. BOTH LAUGH

..but our business.

That's a proper kiss.

And with over 1,000 chateaux in France...

Wow. Oh, my God.

Absolutely incredible.

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

Do you like it? Wow. I mean, yes.

It is gorgeous.

We'll follow more daring owners...

It looks to be a massive undertaking.

..and familiar faces...

Why?

..as they battle to renovate their homes.

That is disgusting.

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

That is lovely.

There'll be ups...

Oh, sweetheart, this is beautiful.

..and downs.

What are you going to do? But it's going to take all day.

Yeah, but there's no alternative.

But however hard the going gets...

No-o-o-o-!

..these plucky Brits... Ah!

..get to live the dream as custodians...

God bless France.

..of their very own castle.

Today...

..we welcome back some familiar faces...

I really like that.

..who have a lot on their plate.

The panic is on. You're always panicking.

I've started stressing out about this a bit, though.

You panic all the time.

So, I don't know where to put this for now.

These chateau owners go big for a wedding.

Either side here, can't we?

I want it to look quite luxurious.

It's got to be a bit quirky, a bit special. It will.

I put Angel to work in the garden.

This is the sort of exercise I like...

..standing on this chungle.

And one couple take on their own garden project...

Which way round does this little bibble go?

..as they bid to attract more guests.

I have just squashed a flower.

Your list of things that you've broken is expanding rapidly.

Building up a chateau business takes time and money,

especially when you're starting out.

Like former fashion designer Mariam, husband Jonno and son Monty,

who moved into Chateau Domaine de la Salle

last year after buying it for £315,000.

It's been pretty hectic.

But overall, no, it's been fun. Yeah.

If chateau life means blisters on the ends of your fingers,

dirty fingernails, constantly exhausted...

MARIAM LAUGHS

..and everybody wanting to come and stay, then, yeah.

Located 70 miles from Bordeaux in South West France,

we first met them just after they moved in

when things were rather basic.

It's for our loo. MARIAM LAUGHS

If we want to go to the loo, we need to carry a bucket of water upstairs.

After months of work...

Don't think we're ready to host a Mad Hatter's tea party,

let alone a selection of guests. But anyway, there we are.

..they created four bedrooms and a workshop space for a sewing weekend...

So, this is the front entrance.

..just in time to welcome their first guests.

Oh, my goodness, how beautiful.

Fabulous.

Now, with the summer fast approaching,

Mariam and Jonno want to revamp the outside of the castle.

What's the bit you see first? It's the entrance.

It's really important to have a beautiful entrance

and nice garden that you walk through.

It looks smart and elegant and you walk up to the front door,

it should be a nice front door,

there should be some scented flowers on the sides or something.

It should be the best bit and ours isn't the best bit,

so we're making it the best bit.

Mariam isn't joking as she wants to lay a formal French parterre garden...

MARIAM SPEAKS IN FRENCH

..with help from local gardener Vincent.

I'd like a really formal French garden at the front, here.

And in it, you have pebbles and you have very formal little hedges

in little squares, here and there.

It tidies the whole thing up, makes it look a bit smart.

As Mariam wants the plants to survive the hot summers,

Vincent has picked out varieties that do well here.

Vincent's brought along a collection of things.

At the front, it's going to be red and purple,

so the little French lavender and the salvia

in the purple and the red.

I sound as if I know what I'm saying, talking about,

I have no idea.

It's the first time doing this sort of thing.

First time for everything.

To start with, Mariam and Vincent have to mark out

the design for the new garden.

They need to be precise

as formal French gardens are typically symmetrical.

MARIAM:

It's rather odd, when you look at the front door,

and you look at the front of the garden,

the gate posts don't line up with the front of the house.

I feel your pain, Mariam, these chateaux are often sent to try us.

All Vincent can do is get it as straight as possible,

to fool the eye.

MARIAM LAUGHS

He's not wrong.

Measuring done, they now need to dig out the beds.

This is going to be mini Versailles, of course.

It sounds impressive. I can't wait to see it when it's done.

270 miles away lies the beautiful Chateau de la Fare,

with parts dating back to the 12th century.

It has 35 rooms spread over four floors.

It's owned by Australian-born couple Janet and Philip,

who have lived in the UK for 19 years.

I just looked at it and said, "I have to have it."

So, the truth of the matter, once I'd had a look through

the whole property and stood back at the front,

there and just looked up at the building, it somehow spoke to me.

It felt right.

We have a great time here.

Love the environment, love the area, love the weather, love the people.

Located near Montpellier in the South of France,

they bought the chateau seven years ago for £318,000

and have been using it as a holiday home.

So, I don't know where to put this for now,

it's for the upstairs bedroom, isn't it?

But now they're moving in lock, stock and barrel

as Phillip has just retired after working 19 years

for a family who have an even grander place than this.

So, we lived at Buckingham Palace.

I was employed by Her Majesty in the royal household

and I was Senior Coachman to Her Majesty.

Then I retired end of last year to come and live the dream.

It is the next big adventure in our life.

And I believe we can make a good life here.

I agree. A really special life here.

For now, they'll be living on the ground floor

as it's the only area habitable.

The rest of the place is nothing more than a shell,

which is a bit of a worry

as they're hosting their daughter's wedding here in three months.

Our daughter Penny's wedding is at the end of May.

So, that gives us a very short period of time

to do an awful lot of work.

Actually, I'm just terrified.

But we'll get there.

That's the spirit.

First on the list, is creating a bridal suite on the first floor.

I know we've talked about it a little bit,

but we need to just chat some more.

But we both need to have input here. Yeah.

I know we've both got ideas about how...

..how things need to work.

Their plan is to turn three connecting rooms

into a lavish bridal suite,

with a salon at one end, a bedroom at the other,

and the middle room split into a kitchenette and bathroom.

And Philip is doing all the work himself.

Good luck, mate.

The main bit, to me, is actually to get this bathroom right because it's...

Because it's bridal-suite stuff, we want it to look,

I want it to look quite luxurious.

It's got to be a bit quirky, a bit special.

It will. So, the double doors would open inwards like that.

Once you enter the bathroom, on that side, there,

there's enough room for a nice feature bath.

I've measured it, so there's plenty of room, there. Mm-hm.

Um, on this side, I thought it was a good idea to have a shower here,

but that then leaves room,

according to my calculations,

on this side, here, for the toilet to sit right there.

OK, then of course you have a fabulous view

out of the window from the toilet.

I do love a loo with a view.

I was hoping the door would be directly in front of the window.

Ah, I always thought I'd plan it whereby the door

is in line from here as you walk in.

OK, this is where I think we need to think more.

Because to me, that door is not so relevant.

It's this space here, it's this window and this light,

that we need to have the glass doors opposite to maximise that light.

Yeah. I really think so.

That's a lovely idea,

except we'd have to make room for a toilet there.

It sounds like similar discussions Angel and I have.

In my imagination, when I was thinking about it,

even from the drawings, I actually thought the doors were opposite.

I want it to look nice.

I think it being centred isn't that important, really.

Sorry, I think it is.

OK.

Looks like you may have lost this battle, Phillip.

And looking at the state of the place,

there's lots of other jobs you need to sort out

in the next three months.

May the 25th, that's all I can say, buddy.

Yes, it's fine.

It's fine, we'll be there.

Yeah, OK. Tell your daughter.

It'll be done. OK.

All right.

No pressure, then.

Philip, you need to get your skates on.

Coming up...

Stop there.

..I set Angel a challenge in the garden...

This is kind of like the start of our actually working out, isn't it?

It's quite romantic, really.

..Mariam and Jonno tie themselves in knots...

Let's try and straighten it out.

Do you know, I feel like Laurel and Hardy.

I can pull it if you want to.

..and one couple start putting their theory...

This is what it's looking like. Oh, wow.

..into practice.

Let's hope that I can put this up on the ceiling

without dropping the darn thing.

In northern France lies the beautiful 19th-century

Chateau de Montvason.

It has 30 rooms,

an indoor pool,

and its own lake.

And it's run as a B&B and events space

by Emma and partner Paul.

Life's good and...

..yeah, there's so many positives out of doing something like this.

It's just incredible.

It's been fantastic for us,

it's realised dreams of both of ours really, hasn't it?

Yeah. And that's what makes it really special.

Located just five miles from the Normandy coast,

when we last met them,

they were creating a two bedroom guest suite

in the chateau's west wing.

Oh, my God.

Woo!

You're doing a great job, Em.

I did my best with tiling.

It's rock solid. Yep.

Come the next nuclear holocaust, this will be what's left.

You can imagine.

People are gonna open that door and just go, "Wow."

But a busy summer of events

means they're only now starting to complete the rest of the work.

I really love the period of Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

So we're throwing everything at it to make it look fabulous, aren't we?

Oh, absolutely.

First job, working on the bathroom and one-bedroom,

as Emma's brother is coming over for a special visit in two months.

We're going for a colour called Mackintosh Mauve

after Rennie Mackintosh,

who is very well known for his late 19th century Arts and Crafts,

then we're working the furniture around that.

So, I've put the colours together. OK.

This is what it's looking like.

Oh, wow, that's really good. Yeah?

That's exactly what I'm after. Excellent.

I think that bed works really well with those colours, doesn't it?

Yeah. Am I allowed to get in there then, am I? Yes, darling, you are.

Paul's also come up with some artistic designs for the ceiling.

They're almost like meringues, aren't they?

They're very nice, aren't they? Beautiful.

To save on costs, a mate in the UK

has created some period reproduction ceiling roses

out of plaster of Paris.

So it hasn't cost them a penny.

I'm having these in the corners of the ceiling,

so it's all going to be linked up. What, these?

Yeah, yeah, so we have one in each corner

and then it kind of goes round.

Excellent. Wow. Yeah. Oh, it's going to be amazing.

To start with, Paul wants to put up a traditional looking cornice,

which he also got his friend to make.

They're just literally put into a mould in plaster of Paris

and then they're scraped off.

After cutting it to size, and adding a bit of adhesive...

Right.

..it's ready to go up.

Let's hope that I can put this up on the ceiling

without dropping the darned thing.

Especially as I'm underneath it.

Well, don't be underneath it.

I would advise you not to be.

I have faith in you.

I wouldn't have, I've dropped one already.

That's not a good record.

THEY LAUGH

Let's hope it's second time lucky.

Bit of filling here and there.

It's only a small gap, so that's not too bad.

Seems good to me.

Fingers crossed the rest goes as smoothly.

260 miles away, at Chateau Domaine De la Salle,

Mariam and Jonno's new formal French garden is taking shape.

The area has been cleared and the flowerbeds laid.

Right.

But now they've realised they've forgotten something.

Well, we're just thinking that we should really think about

making things as low-maintenance as possible now.

And if we were to do that, we should have put watering pipes in.

Never mind, there's still time to put an irrigation system in

before the path is laid.

How does it actually irrigate in the end?

Is it going to be dripping, or? Dripping, he said.

It could be slow going, as they've never done it before.

No, no, no, no.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

THEY CHUCKLE

Let's try and straighten it out.

Do you know, I feel like Laurel and Hardy.

I can pull it, if you want to.

The plan is, basically, to put in this thicker ring main type pipe

around the whole of the beds.

The big pipe then feeds into smaller pipes,

which go directly into the beds.

Sounds simple, but the pipe's fighting back.

Just bring it on the inside of this bed. Why?

Because that's where it's going, isn't it? Oh, OK.

First task is to the lay the pipes around the flowerbeds.

Do you have any pegs to peg it to the ground? No.

It's not going to stay in place, that's the problem.

Stones, for the time being? As we're not short of stones.

Good thinking, Mariam.

Having laid the pipes around the perimeter of the garden,

Jonno is now having second thoughts.

I don't know whether it's best to run it in the middle

of the path or along the edge.

I think this is good.

And then we just run a thin one across.

Boing. Voila.

Now they need to connect all the pipes.

Am I going the wrong way round?

Which way round does this little bibble go?

I have to admit, I don't know how to do this!

Can you hold it in place, please?

It keeps twisting off.

It's just... Look. No, no, no, hold it.

It's like... You haven't got the pipe pushed in. Oh.

Oh, I see.

I told you this is Laurel and Hardy.

This could be a long old job, but with the weather closing in...

Here. No, it's ridiculous.

It looks as if they're going to give it a rain check.

I'm not working in this weather.

An Englishman, and he can't stand the rain.

Right, come on, let's go in and have a cup of tea.

Over at our place, we're spoilt as we have 12 acres of land,

some of which we've turned into a fitness trail.

Ooh, look at that, ha-ha. Woohoo!

We dug in a trampoline,

while in the back meadow, we created a giant playful spider.

Argh, look at strong lady.

Let's keeping walking.

And amongst the trees, there's also an elephant's trunk.

One, two, three. Yay! Well done, Daddy!

As we were thinking it's time for us to get fitter,

we decided to make the course more challenging...

You need to get some of the signs up, saying, "Not below six foot."

..so Angel and I headed around the moat to the perfect spot.

Stop there.

Lift that up.

Lift this up that way? Yep.

Put that into neutral, yeah. OK.

Now, thinking of abdominal work,

we're going to lie doing sit-ups here.

We're going to have an inclining bench,

that's the sort of going to be here.

To create the frame for the bench,

we needed to dig a hole to put in wooden posts.

I see why I couldn't do this in sandals.

This is kind of like the start of our actually working out, isn't it?

For the amount of digging I've done, I actually should be slim.

It's quite romantic, really.

I mean...

Quite romantic, are you joking?

THEY LAUGH

We're so busy at the moment, we haven't actually got...

We're not giving ourselves a lot of time to exercise and get fit,

although we know we have to.

So, if we put the effort into doing this, number one,

that does kind of start us getting fit, cos it is quite physical.

And number two, I think we'll feel guilty if we don't use it.

It's all about motivation.

Happy? Yes, good.

I nearly can feel Dick going, "You call that digging?"

I said not a word.

The sort of exercise I like - standing on this.

To help Angel break a sweat,

I decided to slip back into my time in the army.

You don't sit down on the job, come on.

Come on, I'm your trainer, get up here.

Come on, dig it up, let's feel these arms burn a bit more.

That's three, seven more to go.

Where's number four? Come on, give me number four.

Get it scraped out, there. Get it up there. Come on, keep it working.

Mrs Strawbridge, more work, please. Thank you very much.

That's three. Well done.

That's five. Keep going.

No complaints from you, I've added another one on,

now we're going to 12. That's four.

Now, come on. Well done, four. Come on, let's get it all scraped out.

Let's get it to four. Six.

That seemed to do the trick.

It was a really big six inches.

THEY CHUCKLE

But it's probably best I don't push my luck.

All in all, a good start.

Let's do one a day.

I hate you.

That was a good shout.

And as always, with a list of jobs building up in the chateau,

we're never short of exercise.

In the south of France at Chateau De La Fare...

..Phillip is home alone,

working on the luxury bridal suite for his daughter's wedding.

If I open some windows, it might help get rid of some dust.

He's managed to install the electrics

and plumbing for the bathroom.

But the other two rooms are yet to be touched,

and there's just two months until the wedding.

I would like to have been a bit further on than what I am,

but it's not panic stations yet.

Well, daughter Penny and fiancee Mark might be the judge of that.

They've just arrived from the UK, along with Janet.

We're here. Hello, darling, how are you? Hi. Hi, Dad.

Hey, Mark, how are you? I'm good.

How was your flight?

Yeah, it was good, actually. All right. Nice and easy.

So we were here in August last year,

so it feels like forever since we've been back,

so I cannot wait to see what's been going on.

Come inside and have a look.

I can't wait to see. OK.

So. Let's see.

There's a little bit of dust here.

I thought you were going to sweep before we got here, darling.

No, no, there's quite a lot of dust, really.

As Phillip's been working flat out,

he hasn't had chance to finish the unpacking.

There's a lot to do, Philip.

I'm just a little bit scared.

The main area is upstairs.

Yeah, I think, actually, this is going to dress up quite easily.

It's upstairs I'm really keen to see what's happened,

and how far we are away upstairs. All right?

You'll soon see.

Oh, dear. OK.

The good news is, this can only go one of two ways.

Ready? OK.

Here we go, guys.

Oh. Um...

Not quite... Where's the bath?

I thought that was going to be in.

But, look, all the wiring's in.

I have run light wires to the light switches down there,

and I did actually plaster a little bit.

All the waste pipe here, I've put all that in.

It doesn't look like a lot, actually I've covered most of it up, I have.

I'm afraid it's still a bit terrifying, Phil.

I know you've been working really hard,

it's just hard to see at the moment.

Let's just put this into context.

The wedding is in eight or nine weeks.

It's more than that. Phil, it is in nine weeks.

OK, so I've done all the hard work.

No, it's true, actually, it's true.

Will it be ready?

Even if we're painting the night before, it will be ready.

I'll be painting my nails and you can be painting the room, OK? OK.

I wasn't really sure what to expect coming to see it this time,

but there's so much work to be done and I'll be happy if we can...

It just needs to look pretty on the day.

I think the best plan is to have lunch.

OK. And a cup of coffee.

Yes, but don't spend too long,

as you need all the time you can get to meet the deadline.

Coming up...

Pencil and pencil sharpener.

..Emma calls on Mum to keep Paul on his toes.

Come on, Paul.

I'll get the glue, I'll get the glue.

Hop, hop, hop, hop, hop.

We work very well wallpapering together.

Phillip also gets a hand.

Have you ever used one before? No. Neither have I.

And Mariam and Jonno's pipe problems go from bad to worse.

There's nothing coming out of the hose.

THEY LAUGH

You stand there and look inside, and I'll go and turn it on.

At Chateau Domaine De La Salle, it's taken two days,

but Mariam and Jono have finally installed the irrigation system

for their formal French garden.

Are you sure you connected it to the right pipe...

HE LAUGHS ..Mr Smart whatsit?

Look, you can see I've got it...

Look, Mariam, there's nothing coming out of the hose.

THEY LAUGH

You... You stand there and look inside, and I'll go and turn it on.

Ah, you go and turn it on,

and then you'll see that I have it on. I want you to see that.

Ah, so bossy. Go on.

There's not much sign of it working.

Did I connect the two hosepipes?

Cos we've got two, cos it's too long.

Are both hosepipes connected? Yes, they are.

HE LAUGHS

So you saw it was on, didn't you? Yeah. Good.

It's not just me, then.

Ah! Now there there's water.

Ah, it's working! Ah. Voila.

And hey presto.

What happened is that as the water was coming along the system,

it was coming out of the first pipe. And because it was coming out there,

there was no pressure to push it all the way along to the other pipes.

Now, with the help of local gardener Vincent,

they can start work covering the pipes with the new pathway.

First job is to line it.

They're putting down the geotextile, and I'm just here as ballast.

SHE LAUGHS

The geotextile should stop any weeds growing through it,

but they need to ensure it's cut to size.

Watch out for the flowers.

The slabs are supposed to stop the flowers from getting squashed,

and, of course, I have just squashed a flower.

Sh. Don't tell Mariam.

I won't if you won't.

With most of the lining in place,

Jono now wants to fill it in with tonnes of crushed limestone.

We put this crushed limestone on top,

which is stone from round here,

it's the same stone that the house is built of, in fact.

It forms a fairly solid base

that you can put very expensive gravel on the top of.

Because you don't want to fill the whole thing up with gravel,

because that would cost an absolute fortune,

but it's basically just an underlay, so to speak.

It makes sense to use cheaper stones in the bottom,

especially if no-one will ever see it.

Hopefully, it will be a transformation,

and that it'll be up to what the, uh, chatelaine is expecting.

Minus a few broken plants, whoops.

I'll tell you what,

your list of things that you've broken is expanding rapidly.

HE LAUGHS

Let's hope he's back in the good books when the garden's finished.

260 miles away, in Northern France...

Now that's it, right.

..Paul and Emma's Mackintosh suite is slowly coming together.

I really like that. I'm so pleased with that.

Gives that sort of feeling of luxury.

Paul's put up a ceiling rose and finished the cornices.

With Emma's brother coming to stay in seven weeks,

they still need to decorate the bedroom and finish the bathroom.

The panic is on, I'm, I'm...stressing out about this.

You panic all the time. It's fine.

Emma's going to concentrate on the bathroom,

and has big plans for an old cast-iron, roll-top bath

she was given by a friend in the UK.

I'm going to paint it copper, and I've got some paint

that actually has copper in it,

and then I'm going to apply a product

which will react with the copper and make it go a lovely verdigris,

which is what copper does naturally, you know, when it, sort of, ages.

So hopefully, that verdigris colour will match

the tiling in the Art Deco bathroom. That's the plan.

Sounds great.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom...

Pencil and pencil sharpener.

..Emma's French mum Chantal has popped over to help

with the wallpapering, and keep this job on schedule.

Come on, Paul.

Glue, glue, glue, glue. Yeah, I'll get the glue.

I'll get the glue.

There you go. Hop. Hop, hop, hop, hop.

We work very well wallpapering together.

Although it's not always necessary to agree on the method.

Chantal has a special way of pasting.

Which is different from Paul, obviously.

Which is different from mine.

I have a, a tendency to go for the slap-it-all-over method

and Chantal is more precise with her

strokes of the wallpaper paste.

Well, whichever way, they're going to have to use lots of it,

as Paul has plastered the walls in traditional lime plaster,

which can be tricky to wallpaper.

Lime plaster is more...

Absorbent? Absorbent and open than standard gypsum plaster.

So, depending on how much paste you put on the wall,

uh, depends on how many bubbles you're going to get.

So the aim of this is just to paste the wallpaper, let it soak

and then try and throw it to the wall and see what happens.

They want to apply more paste than usual to make it stick,

let's hope there's enough to seal the plaster.

Go into it, Paul. It's not dropping properly.

No, I'm trying to get this... It's not the right level.

Yep. OK.

First, they have to get it straight.

That's going to be...

Getting that into the wall there is going to be the, the...

That's why you should go down and you go up with it.

..the challenge. Hold on, we're all right, we're all right,

we've got it.

Good teamwork, guys.

Now it's just a matter of cutting it to size.

HE HUMS

I'm not left-handed, so this is really awkward.

You could always use a razor blade towards the wall.

Yeah, I could do if I had one.

You don't shave with old razor blades?

THEY LAUGH

I don't think anybody does any more, Chantal.

I don't shave at all.

That's it. Lovely.

One piece done...

OK, sorted.

..only two dozen more to go.

I don't want it... I...

My way of doing is less lumpy than yours.

SHE LAUGHS

455 miles away, in the South of France,

Janet and bride-to-be, daughter Penny,

are busy planning for the wedding in two months.

So marquee for eating will be up here.

This section here, looking out over the valley?

Looking out over the valley. Yeah.

Meanwhile, inside the chateau,

Phillip has roped in future son-in-law Mark

to help speed up the work in the bridal suite.

You all right, Mark? Actually, it's quite awkward, isn't it?

He's bringing in a mixer to concrete the base

where the luxury shower will go.

Have you ever used one before? No. Neither have I.

Just read the instructions, boys.

You know what, it's got the wrong plug.

Although the right plug does help.

I'm just changing the plug on the end of this cable here,

because the plug that was supplied is not the right one,

so we'll have to change the end.

Don't think it was too difficult, but, anyway.

Nothing is straightforward, is it?

Let's push a button, shall we? And the button is...

MACHINE RUMBLES

HE LAUGHS

That's what I call a result.

Let's hope the cement mixing goes more smoothly.

They're taking no chances as they're working with ready-to-use concrete.

All they have to do is add water and mix thoroughly.

No.

We're having a few teething problems,

but this is, this is how you learn, by trial and error, isn't it?

It's nothing a bit of water and some more mixing won't cure.

About half.

More? No, that's cool.

The plan is to create a base with the concrete,

then fix in the shower tray.

Shower tray coming in.

Now they're just making sure it's level.

That looks pretty good there.

Straight there, looks good.

Job well done.

Oh, wow! Look at that.

It's a concrete mixer, welcome to the family.

You can actually start seeing it take shape.

Even from this morning,

you can actually start to see the vision of where it's going.

And, you know, when that's all done there

and there's one entire floor here, it'll look so much better again.

Yeah. It will look more real. Yep.

It's a step forward, but Phillip has his work cut out

if this bridal suite's going to be ready for his daughter's wedding.

The bridal suite is coming along really well.

It's almost finished, which is great.

Just a few minor touches left.

I love your optimism. "It's almost finished."

That's just not quite the way I see it.

But that's my Phil.

Coming up...

Paul starts to have second thoughts...

I'm going to have to rip that paper off the wall,

because that isn't acceptable.

..and Mariam and Jono have one last mountain to climb.

Give it a bit of welly! Yay.

In northern France, Paul and Emma have hit problems...

..with the first wave of wallpaper on the bedroom walls.

This morning, when we came in, there's...

..some of the wallpaper has bubbled up, and we're not going to be

able to repair it, so we're going to have to change it.

It's a case of living and learning, really, on this lime mortar.

The porous lime is soaking up the paste,

which means there's none left to hold the paper to the wall.

I'm going to have to rip that paper off the wall

and reinstall some new paper...

These two? ..over there,

because that isn't acceptable.

Paul has decided to replace the sections that are bubbling.

And this time around, he's taking no chances.

The way of doing it is really use a lot of wallpaper paste.

That is scrap.

It would have been far easier for me

to just put some plasterboard on the wall,

but I didn't want to do it that way,

because I wanted it to breathe.

But when we get to the end of it,

it's going to be worth it.

In the next room, there's more encouraging news,

as Emma has almost finished updating the old bath for the en suite.

So this is a solution

that gives you a copper patina effect,

and apparently, it starts working as soon as you put it on.

Very impressive.

The solution contains a chemical that reacts with the copper

particles in the special paint,

helping it turn green.

That is so amazing!

Just transforms it under your eyes, doesn't it?

It certainly does.

Paul, do you want to come and have a look, hon? Ooh, yeah.

Look how it's gone. Wow!

It's going mad, isn't it?

Wow!

That's mental, isn't it? I know.

It's changing colour all over, look at that.

You know, we're actually watching paint dry right now.

We are actually watching paint dry.

Right, so I'll leave you to the paint drying,

but that's fantastic, very pleased with that. Are you happy? Yeah.

Yeah, I'm amazed. Very, very pleased with it.

At least one thing's going to plan.

But with Emma's brother due in less than two months,

they're going to be hard pushed to get everything finished in time.

Obviously the clock's ticking, but I've just got to, you know,

not be stressed,

got fingers crossed and just keep going with it.

Hopefully it will turn out OK.

Best of luck, guys!

In south-west France,

Mariam and Jonno's formal French garden is almost complete.

Oh, wow, you guys have actually done quite a lot while I wasn't looking.

We're always doing quite a lot while you're not looking.

With the help of local gardener Vincent,

they've finished laying the limestone foundations for the path.

Now they're making it compact and level,

using Vincent's tamping machine.

Can I have a go?

Even Mariam wants to get in on the act.

But not for long, as passing locals have come for a sneaky peek.

It's certainly got the seal of approval.

So they are one of our neighbours, but they're very friendly.

Yeah, but Sophie's the daughter of the sister who sold us the house.

It was a sister and a brother who sold us the house,

so for them, it's quite important. There's a lot of history.

They're so nice. It would have been horrible to have people

who were looking and saying, "Oh, I don't like what you've done."

But they're very sweet, and so it's great.

Now, it's back to work.

They need to top off the path with the gravel.

So we've pressed all the limestone into position,

so that it doesn't come up into the gravel we're going to

lay on top, and hopefully, that should do the trick.

The gravel's been delivered at the back of the chateau.

The problem is, son Monty has taken the tractor keys back to England.

As we don't have the tractor keys, we can't use the tractor.

Which means Jonno will have to transport it all by wheelbarrow.

Oh, I know this bit is uphill...

..from previous efforts.

So it could take some time.

Look at that.

There must be at least another 20 or 30 to go, I should think.

Do you want a hand?

No, no, it's fine.

Go on, Jonno, give it a bit of welly!

Yay!

Bit of a workout, this.

I'll rake it if you want to get another wheelbarrow.

Not particularly!

LAUGHTER

Right, that's about it, I should think.

That's a lot of wheelbarrows, but anyway...

Good effort, Jonno.

Just one month ago,

Mariam and Jonno's grassy entrance was all overgrown,

shabby and run down.

Now, it's been transformed into an elegant,

colourful and stylish French formal garden.

The bright and pretty flowerbeds have been arranged

in symmetrical patterns,

while the pristine pathway wraps around them.

It's in keeping with the grandeur of this beautiful chateau.

The garden sets the house off, really.

It's a formal house, and now you've got the formal garden in front.

But from my point of view,

it's that nice grand entrance that they're looking for,

I think, when they come and stay in a place like this.

It's much nicer now.

My favourite thing about the garden is that it's finished.

I knew you'd say that! What?

He had to do the hard work.

Fingers crossed, the guests start flocking in soon.

Next time...

Out, out, out, out, out.

..Mariam and Jonno get stuck into a new project...

Nothing is straight in this place.

..as they prepare to host a large group of guests.

Out of all of the 11 rooms that we have,

none have curtains yet

and I'm stressed about it.

Emma and Paul struggle to get a room ready...

I think there's going to be a bit of messing about here.

..for a guest of their own.

Ooh!

Yeah, not so brilliant.

And Phillip's problems continue to mount...

I realise the doors here are quite tall.

..as the race is on to be ready for the wedding.

I can't even spell stress any more, I'm so stressed.

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