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.

Aww, that's lovely.

That's my little corner of paradise.

It's not just our home...

Woooo!

..but our business.

That's a proper kiss!

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

Wow.

My God.

It's absolutely incredible.

..we're not the only Brits buying in to 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...

Ah!

Sweetheart! This is beautiful.

..and downs.

What are you going to do?

Not do it today? It's going to take all day!

Yeah, but there's no alternative.

But however hard the going gets...

Noooo!

..these plucky Brits

get to live the dream as custodians...

God bless France.

..of their very own castle.

Today...

Baguette baskets.

I mean, you can't get more French than this.

..the language barrier almost gets one couple into trouble.

Merci, madame. Monsieur.

Pardon. Merci.

OK.

These fledgling renovators...

Now run, run, run, run.

..start re-plumbing their whole chateau from top to bottom.

No leak here.

That's a high five.

Well done.

And at this chateau, a landscaping project ten years in the making...

All of these little circles here are trees.

Once it's finished, it's going to look really nice.

..becomes a reality.

Across France, chateaux with long and colourful histories

have been bought by Brits

who are working hard to create new stories for future generations.

Take the gorgeous Chateau de Lomenie.

Built in 1750, this former winery has 21 rooms...

..and sits in 15 acres of land.

18 months ago, it was snapped up for £412,000 by British artist

Johnny and his American partner, TV producer Ashley.

The chateau is my baby,

after Ashley, of course.

Ashley will always be my number-one babe.

Chateau, very close number two.

I think we knew that this was the place for us.

We saw, A, the original features, but B, all of the space.

We just said, "This is it".

Located an hour south of Bordeaux,

the intention is to make the chateau work for them as a business.

Future plans include an art gallery and studio for Johnny,

but for now, the focus is on creating an antiques emporium

in the orangery,

where they plan to sell upcycled brocante bargains.

They have set themselves a goal of opening for business in 12 weeks,

so the pressure is on.

I had to work a lot less before we bought the chateau, now,

bought the chateau, never here, because it has to be paid for.

I mean, right now, the chateau is a money pit,

and the goal is to have the chateau make some money.

So that I don't have to always be gone.

Hoping to keep Ashley's feet firmly in France,

Johnny has a plan to use his artistic skills

to win over future customers.

We always thought it would be lovely to have some images painted

straight on to the walls in the antique area.

Then, Ashley's business head kicked in, as it always does,

and she's like, why don't you do it on MDF panels,

mount them on the wall and it'll be something else for sale.

So, yeah, I've done that with a marker,

so, I'm going to take my jigsaw and just cut out.

Johnny's going all out to create a metre-and-a-half sign.

It's starting to come alive.

When cutting MDF, the dust is particularly fine,

you should wear a dust mask.

Booboo, you might have to go inside, darling,

don't want it dropping on your head.

Don't do hard hats for dachshunds, do they?

Cut the wrong piece out.

Can you imagine?

Ah, I've nearly done that before.

I find this little stool has been a life-saver.

Many times when I've been on my own.

Love it.

Simple things like that make a big difference.

The banner is beginning to take shape,

so, it's time for Ashley to take a look.

That looks like a very complex thing to cut,

I would never be able to do that.

This is it's weakest point here.

Be awful if it snapped on the very last leg.

Ah, that would be terrible, wouldn't it?

I love, it by the way, it looks amazing.

Do you love it?

I really love it, yeah.

It's nice, right? Yeah.

Give it a little dust off.

Oh, dust.

Bless you. A dust mask would have put a stop to that, Johnny.

If I saw that in a brocante, it would be sold in two seconds.

I look forward to seeing it finished.

With a huge empty orangery still to fill with antiques,

there's plenty to do before Ashley's emporium

will open its doors for business.

Over 300 miles north is the handsome Chateau Gonneville.

With 16 rooms and 15 acres of lush French countryside,

it was bought for £900,000 by fashion designer Anna,

and her film-maker husband Philipp,

who now live here with daughters Lily and Ella.

I remember just driving in through the driveway

and just thinking, "Wow, this is amazing."

And I fell in love with it.

We just knew this was the one.

Located in Normandy in northern France,

Anna and Philipp got the keys a couple of months ago.

OK, there's a lot to do.

Having spent their life savings on the house,

the plan is to create a family apartment in the attic,

and open the chateau as a stylish B&B.

The couple have taken out a loan on the promise of opening as a B&B

in the next eight months.

To keep costs to a minimum,

Philipp is taking on the majority of the renovations himself.

We didn't get enough money from the bank

to have it done by professionals,

so, I decided to take a year off and dedicate that year

to do as much as I can myself.

Today, Philipp is cracking on

and starting work on the chateau's waterworks.

They plan to re-plumb the whole chateau

and upgrade from two toilets

to ten bathrooms.

It's a big job,

so, he's drafted in some extra help.

Hi, welcome, how are you doing?

What a car.

Come sit out here.

I can't sit anywhere.

Look, there's a seat there next to Grandad.

Oh.

Anna's Dad John is here to give a helping hand,

along with family friend and owner of a water treatment company Jolyon,

who they hope will bring his expertise to help them out.

And after an alfresco breakfast, it's time to get to work.

They want to get their own well up and running

to provide water for the chateau.

It's a great idea and could save them up to 3,000 euros a year,

which is about £2,600.

Here it is.

Right.

Careful.

We had a dream when we bought the property that this well

would provide us with a reasonable amount of water,

to make a substantial saving in our water bill.

I'm quite confident that in some way, this well will help us.

Shall we get some of this crap out?

I think we should, yeah.

Shall we drop this down there?

Yeah.

The first job is to find out how much water the well actually holds,

by calculating the depth.

Nearly there.

41 metres to the water level.

41 metres to the water level.

Is that good?

Let's see if we can find the bottom.

47 to the bottom.

If the water level is at 41, that's six metres of water.

If they want to use well water to flush the ten new toilets,

they need to find out how quickly the water returns

to the six-metre level after some of it has been pumped out.

We need to pull that out.

Grandad, what's that?

We're going to pump the water out of there cos it's coming in up there

and then down here.

There's a pipe and it goes right down to the bottom of the well.

Lily, look!

Oh, my gosh!

Look, Lily!

Let's time long it takes to fill a bucket.

Ready, steady, go.

OK. About ten seconds to fill 12 litres.

Is that good?

That's very good, yeah.

Great.

While the pump's making short work of getting the water out,

now they need to check

if the well can provide enough water for the chateau.

When we've been pumping for say, ten minutes,

we'll leave it and see how quickly the level comes back up again,

which is the all-important thing to see how quickly it's recovering.

Fingers crossed it's the big money-saver they're after.

Coming up...

1,362 divided by two...

..at this chateau,

garden design gets very technical.

..divided by pi, which is 3.14159.

And Johnny and Ashley add to their, um,

unique collection.

I kind of have a thing for mannequins.

Maybe a little bit too much information!

The magnificent 15th-century Chateau Lagorce

lies in 71 acres of woodland,

has its own chapel, private lake and swimming pool.

With 22 bedrooms, it's home to Edward, his Kosovan wife Anna,

four-year-old son Charles and recent arrival baby Emma.

Chateau life has changed a lot lately

with the arrival of baby Emma.

And also Charles needs more attention,

so it's at 100...

Yeah.

..miles per hour now.

It was busy, but now it's hectic.

Located a half hour's drive southeast of Bordeaux,

Edward's parents bought the chateau 16 years ago

and now Anna and Edward run it as a wedding venue.

They hosted two weddings a week over the summer season

and perfectionist wedding planner Anna worked right up to the minute

she went into labour.

OK, I'll grab my keys, grab my wallet and we'll go.

Now, two months later, with the wedding season over,

Edward has plans for the chateau's future.

My first project is going to be a formal garden on the third terrace.

Really, it's a palatial chateau, so it should have a formal garden.

I mean, how many years have I've been talking about doing it?

Ten years? Something like that? Yeah, ten years.

And I said, "This year I'm doing it, that's it."

The terrace is the perfect spot for wedding photos,

so Edward wants it to look pretty as a picture.

So, this is the wall that we're looking over,

fountain looking back at us,

and then all these little circles here are trees.

I didn't know what to expect,

but, once it's finished, it's going to look really nice.

You get the little girl her milk, I'm going to get on with it, OK?

Developed from Italian Renaissance gardens,

this formal style arrived in France in the 15th century.

For the design to work, geometry and symmetry are key.

But it's going to be a little bit tricky

as the terrace is not symmetrical.

It looks square with the wall.

From here, it looks like it's the centre, so that's fine.

It's important that Edward and chateau worker Cyril

measure carefully to ensure

the walkways will be at right angles to each other.

13.62 divided by two,

divided by pi, which is 3.14159.

That'll do, I think.

Luckily, Edward has a degree in maths under his belt,

so this is right up his garden path.

It's probably not that important to be so precise and exact,

I'm just a bit of a maniac when it comes to things like this.

When people come to look over,

that needs to be straight and it's perfectly straight. I'm happy.

So, we're going to spray up and then I'll call Anna across.

Speaking as an engineer, with a shared love of maths,

Edward, I'm loving your work.

If she doesn't like it, I'm going to be in a bit of a mess.

Let's hope it gets Anna's seal of approval.

Just an hour southeast, at Chateau de Lomenie,

Johnny and Ashley are planning to open an antiques emporium

in their orangerie.

There's some glassware, babe.

Yeah, take a look.

Today, they're visiting a nearby vide-greniers,

it's like a car boot, to buy stock for the shop.

Um, combien du prix? Huit euro.

Huit?

Merci Madame.

They need to buy bargains that they can sell for more

so their business will be a success and, judging by Johnny's hat,

they've already started buying.

The whole idea today is really to try to find the best price

possible because, if you're going to sell on, you know,

you have to make a profit, right?

Oh, these are nice.

Pretty.

I like these.

History of France.

We're looking for a little bit of everything.

We're looking for books, frames, demijohn bottles, you know,

new treasures.

Bonjour.

I like this tatty one, too.

Yeah?

This is lovely, look at the side of this. Oh, yeah.

We have a rule that we always have to buy a book...

Yeah. ..any time we go to a market,

even if it's just one book.

OK, merci, voila.

Merci, madam, monsieur. Pardon, merci.

Well recovered, Johnny.

Just as well you'd already closed the deal.

Um, le prix, s'il vous plait.

Le prix, douze, 12.

C'est possible for dix, monsieur, s'il vous plait?

Yes? OK.

Merci.

Shall we shake on it?

Baguette baskets.

I mean, you can't get more French than this.

Ah, this is right up your alley.

Oh, a nice leg.

It's unusual. Uh-huh.

I kind of have a thing for mannequins.

Maybe a little bit too much information.

Each to their own.

You know, sometimes you go

and everything's really expensive,

or there's nothing you want.

This has been a great combination of finding stuff that

I really love for next to nothing,

so a very successful day.

Who doesn't love a bargain?

You've got some stock, now you need to get started on the shop.

Over 300 miles north, at Chateau Gonneville, it's time to find out

if Philip and Anna's plan

for the well to provide water for the chateau is going to work.

We've pumped about 150mm of water out of the well,

so we'll see what the depth is now...

..after that recovery time.

And we hope it has fully recovered.

Yeah.

If it refills quickly enough,

they will be able to use the water to flush their ten new toilets.

It's done. There we go.

So, in three hours, it's recovered about 75mm.

It's slow.

It's slow, OK. Slow recovery.

I mean, yes, there's water there,

but it's not viable for the house, but it would supplement the rain

water and maybe useful for the garden. OK.

But it's not enough to go into the house?

Not enough water. Not enough water there, OK.

So it's not, it's not perfect news, but it's still, you know,

worth doing it.

It's a useful water supply.

Pumping it into the water storage tank.

Unfortunately, it's not the big money saver they were after.

But at least, by pumping the water out and storing it,

they'll be able to use it on the garden

and still make a small dent in their water bill.

Maybe not what we hoped for, but also it could have been worse.

Excellent attitude, Philip.

When restoring a chateau,

it's always best to look on the bright side.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you so much. We'll pop on the train next time.

Thank you. Bye, thank you so much. Bye.

Knowing the well won't be the complete answer to his water

requirements, Philip must now move on to the next part of the project.

He has decided to fit the waste pipes for the plumbing himself.

They should be able to save some money, but it's no easy task.

It's a big saving and I want to do it myself.

I have to do it myself.

To do this, he plans to dig a seven-metre-long trench

under the tiled hallway so waste pipes from the house

can be connected to the septic tank outside.

To be honest, I have no idea what is underneath it.

I think it's probably soil because we're on the ground floor here.

It might be a concrete slab,

that would be the worst case scenario

because then I would have to go, break through that

and that's heavy machinery.

I think I need another tool.

OK, that's doing absolutely nothing.

It's really, really hard, the soil.

It's not good news.

Absolutely nothing.

Whatever it is, it has to go.

That doesn't look nice.

Not surprisingly, he's hit concrete.

Who knows how deep this layer is.

This is a really big job.

When we bought the chateau,

I didn't expect to spend so much time on my knees.

Philip, get yourself a decent set of kneepads -

it's where you'll be spending a lot of your time.

With no idea how thick the concrete is, he just needs to battle on.

As a plumber is coming in ten days' time to start work

on the chateau's water pipes, the pressure is on.

There's soil underneath.

That's good news because it means that, once I've taken off that,

I can start digging.

Look at this.

Good one.

That's success.

That's interesting.

A seashell.

The reason for that certainly being, when they build a house,

the cheapest source of sand was to just to go

and get a bit of sea sand.

Somebody came in with this sand from the beach

and filled it up two, 300 years ago for a wealthy customer...

..who wanted a...a nice hunting chateau for his weekends.

Now that the trench is fully exposed,

Philip can crack on with digging a hole for the sewage pipes.

You've got your work cut out for you.

There's just ten days to get the job done

in time for the plumber to start work.

Coming up,

at Anna and Edward's, the gravel is signed, sealed, delivered...

..to the wrong place.

This isn't where it was going to be

cos this is completely the opposite side of the chateau.

Hey, Ashley, special delivery.

And Johnny and Ashley get themselves into a bit of a pickle.

I think these are your jam jars.

Ah, just in time.

But, before you open it, it's not sounding very good.

In south-west France near Bordeaux,

Edward's design for the new formal garden is complete.

Come and have a look, see what you think.

Let's see what...

It's time to see if chief wedding planner Anna

thinks it'll be picture perfect.

Yeah, I mean, I can imagine like, for a photo, like, the bride

with the dress, that's, that's perfect.

That is a good size.

What about the path round the fountain?

Is it wide enough?

Maybe that one bigger.

OK.

What, like, 20 centimetres, 30 centimetres, 40?

40.

40 bigger. Yeah.

And then we're good to go?

I hope so.

Me too.

To increase the width of the path to accommodate the bride's dress,

all that's needed is a bigger stick.

And now for the fun bit.

With a terrace just over four times the size of an average

British garden, this is a decent-sized job.

The first thing to do is remove the top layer of turf to make way

for the base of the path.

Just levelling things off, maybe an hour and a half, two hours,

all four done.

But digging the paths isn't the only challenge for Edward and Cyril.

30 tonnes of gravel have been delivered to the chateau,

to the wrong place.

This isn't where it was going to be,

cos this is completely the opposite side of the chateau.

As the delivery driver decided he couldn't get further

than the driveway, Edward and Cyril

will have to take loads down to the garden over 200 metres away.

I don't even want to calculate how many loads it's going to be,

but it's going to be a lot.

They'll be laying the gravel onto a membrane

which will stop weeds coming through.

With all the gravel down,

the next step is to flatten it with a compactor

to create a solid surface to the path.

Try giving this path a bit of a whack if the dogs will get off it.

Well done, guys.

It's coming together and I look forward to seeing it all finished.

Around 30 miles south-east, after a successful shopping trip,

Johnny is making progress on his sign for Ashley's antiques emporium.

I love artwork done straight onto walls,

particularly on old buildings.

And as you drive through the villages in France,

you see the old sign writing, mechanics or patisserie

and it's always chippy and faded.

You know, it's amazing, a little bit of white paint

just brings the thing alive.

By using paint effects, he's trying to create a shabby chic

vintage look.

Just got to add a little bit of water to that and oil.

It's great being at that point now where we are creating art

for the sole purpose of being able to sell it on.

Spending time at the chateau and exploring life here

has given Ashley an idea.

She wants to sell something special in the antiques emporium -

her own home-made jam.

We have an orchard and we have plums, figs, apricots,

almonds, apples, pears, you name it, we have so much fruit.

So it's nice to make preserves from it.

This one I'm doing plums with rosemary,

I might add a little vanilla as well.

The overall plan is to create an immersive shopping experience

where visitors can enjoy refreshments and art as they browse.

I once, years ago, went to a similar concept in San Francisco,

where it was an antiques shop, but it was also a cafe,

and every single thing

from the spoon

that you used to stir the coffee,

to the coffee cup,

to the table you were sitting at,

everything was for sale and I always just loved that idea.

Almonds and... I think I'm going to add some almonds as well.

It feels really good to be so close to opening up, you know,

to be able to sell antiques, it's just such a passion of mine.

I do have a bit of a antique addiction.

SHE CHUCKLES

Hey, Ashley, special delivery.

Ooh. I think these are your jam jars.

Ah, just in time.

Just in time.

But, before you open it, it's not sounding very good.

Oh, you're kidding me.

The sound of that.

Ah, yeah.

Look at that. Well, one or two's all right, isn't it?

Well.

Well... OK.

..one's broken.

Oh, one, that's not bad.

So, one jam jar, down, out of 20, it's not bad going, is it?

It could be worse.

Keep going, guys.

The deadline for opening your multifaceted shop

is fast approaching.

OK? Yep.

Shall we go sideways?

Nah.

Please.

It's good to see more things going into the emporium.

You need to rest, babe.

Johnny may be the artist, but today, Ashley is in charge of the visuals.

Watch out for the sausage.

So where shall we put this for now?

Let's just put it here for now.

Yeah? And then what I want to do is,

I want to separate these and put that in the middle.

So I tend to make Johnny move furniture,

and then I decide I don't like it where it is

and then he has to move it back again.

Let's see what it looks like.

OK, ready?

Oh, yeah, it is.

Just keep...

Just a fraction.

Yeah, this is about centre.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Exactly.

It's really important to, for me anyway, to get it exactly centre.

Yeah, I want them touching it.

Touching? Touching.

This one's leaning.

It just needs to come up this way, just a tiny bit.

That's better.

Can we now move this table next to that?

Oh, I love these tables.

Definitely not that configuration.

I'm so sorry.

Let's move the armoires out to the side.

Little bit more.

My face is squished up. Down, down.

Are these getting heavier and heavier or is it just me?

Yeah, they are.

I forgot how beautiful it is.

With the furniture finally in place

and Ashley happy,

it's time for Johnny's piece de resistance.

The idea is that it follows the sequence of the banner.

The dream is that we both are resident here all year round

and working.

And by working, I mean, selling wonderful things

like art and antiques,

which is not really work, is it, when you're doing something

that you're passionate about, that you both enjoy and love.

Drum roll please.

So, voila.

There she goes. All done.

I think it should go right here.

Smack in the middle.

It's the first thing you see.

Is that OK? Look at that.

All right?

It's perfection.

The new sign has received Ashley's seal of approval.

Time now to get the emporium fitted out and open for business.

Over 300 miles away in Normandy,

restoration novice Philipp has managed to lay the waste pipes

for the sewage system under the entrance hall.

Now he faces the task of taking the pipes up into the bathroom

he's creating directly above.

All that is left to do is to connect,

connect this.

The holes that I'm going to make in that ceiling,

the plumber will use it for hot water, for heating, so we...

Because these buildings never were meant to have any kind of

plumbing installed, you need to find ways to get all these pipes through,

without destroying the look of it.

To hide the pipes, Philipp intends to install them in the walls

and under the floorboards, as close to the wall as he can.

I will go completely as far as possible in to,

to keep the pipework as close as possible to the wall.

Here it is.

It's this way.

I think it's not bad.

I'm pleased.

I think it's a good start.

Philipp now decides to make a hole through to the hallway below

so he can connect it all together.

I am rather convinced that this is the exact area

where I want to break through.

I'd say that's all right.

Now, I'm going to open that up even further

and I will put in place the pipes.

There will be a lot of pipes here.

We will box it in and it will just look like as if the wall

was a bit thicker.

Yeah.

One thing done.

A couple of weeks later, Philipp's pipe dreams are becoming a reality.

Here it is.

The beautiful toilet.

You'll have to turn it round.

Yep.

Now to connect the first of the ten new toilets

to see if the plumbing works.

If it's not on straight then we might have a leak.

And you don't want a leak from a toilet.

I've never put on one of these, to be honest, but I think...

So you don't know what you're doing?

I don't know what I'm doing but I think it looks, it looks,

it looks all right to me.

With a waste pipe attached,

it's time to see if the water flushes away.

It would just be, it would be super annoying if it leaked.

Cos it would just mean that we've wasted our time

and probably we can't do it ourselves,

so it would mean getting a plumber in to do it

and it would cost us a lot of money.

OK, where do I put it, in here?

Yep, pour a little bit and see if the toilet leaks.

OK.

So, OK...

That looks like a reasonable amount of flushing.

So, after checking for leaks...

Now, run, run, run, run.

..it's time to check there are no surprises popping up elsewhere.

OK.

OK.

There's no leak here.

I can't see any leak there.

I think that was a success.

I think so, but we'll have to check upstairs there. OK.

That pipe.

That's good. It's good.

I think that's a...

That's a high five...

Well done.

..for our first flush in our new home.

So, you see,

you're pretty good at plumbing.

I don't think the bathroom is quite finished.

But you are one step closer to making the building function

as a home.

Philipp is always surprising me with his talents and his DIY skills,

and saving us money and,

yeah, I'm proud of you.

Yeah.

Just a bit more plumbing to go.

Coming up...

Edward has a spot of trouble with his trees.

Just looking at how it's all lining up

and I don't like where that middle one is.

And in south-west France, Johnny spots something familiar

in the new emporium.

This I bought for you, for a valentine's present.

Please tell me it's for display.

It's just for display, I promise, I won't sell it.

In the countryside near Bordeaux,

Anna and Edward's formal garden is beginning to take shape.

With all the paths now laid,

today Edward's challenge is to plant 20 pyramid trees

in perfect alignment.

So, the distances, we're doing 60cm distance.

So if the tree grows to, say, an 80cm diameter,

it's going to have a 40cm radius.

Leaves us 20cm between the edge of the bottom of the tree and the path,

which still should look good.

I so love listening to sums.

Come on, out the way.

Every stage of this renovation,

the dogs have been making it harder for us.

But the worst was when they started digging up the path.

And we were just like, "Are we going to keep coming down here in the

"middle of summer, having to rake out a path that the dogs have dug up?"

But once the path got a bit harder, they stopped digging it up, so...

You know, it's been years wanting to make this into a formal garden,

so to actually see it all, finally,

all coming together is just brilliant.

Especially on my birthday, so it's a good little birthday treat.

Happy birthday, Edward.

And what better way to celebrate than by adding the finishing

touches to your long-awaited garden.

However, with five trees planted, Edward soon spots a problem.

Just looking at how it's all lining up

and I don't like where that middle one is there -

that Cyril put in, of course, it's not mine that's wrong.

Of course not, Edward.

Better get that tape measure out again.

It'll look a mess if you come down here and they weren't lined up.

With all the trees in, the best place to view

their handiwork is from above.

Yeah, it looks like I wanted it to look.

I just love it all, I think the paths look good, I think

the trees look good.

A baby French garden,

it's going to grow into a beautiful garden.

Don't even think about it.

Now that the garden is finished, it's time for Anna's verdict.

What do you think then?

I was a bit scared and sceptical, but...

..the end result is really beautiful.

That's going to be an even nicer spot now for ceremonies.

It's really nice. Proud of you.

This rectangle of grass has been transformed,

with its symmetrical paths and manicured trees,

into something the Renaissance Italians would be proud of...

..a garden that will grow and develop as the years pass.

Not only does it look fantastic,

but it's a great addition to the wedding business.

When people come to look round, you know, they expect

certain things from a chateau, they expect a turret.

They probably expect formal gardens.

Well, now we have formal gardens, as well, so...

It's another, it's another tick on the list, really.

It's been a good year at Chateau Lagorce.

Edward and Anna hosted 32 weddings...

..and welcomed a new arrival.

So Emma is doing really well.

She's had her milk now, so she's currently snoozing,

but it's... She's growing day by day, isn't she? Yeah.

I miss a few days here and there,

but at least I get to see her growing up, yeah, it's great.

And their chateau improvements will roll on into next year.

One of the key things is the gates... Yeah.

..then there is the pool shed. Yeah.

We need to have a chat about things

and make sure that I've got the time and the energy and...

The money. ..the money, yeah.

Because it, we don't want to things by halves.

Down at the pool, if we want to redo the pool shed,

it's going to be in stone, so, you know, it's fairly expensive.

We want to do the gates, it has to be in keeping with the chateau,

it has to be, kind of, palatial.

But, for now, top of their to-do list

is spending time together as a family.

We're not committing to any particular jobs we're going

to do over the winter because I think, this winter,

family has to come first, doesn't it? For a start.

Enjoy your family time, Edward and Anna.

After the busy year you've had, you certainly deserve it.

Not by the arms, sweet,

under here, like that.

An hour southeast, Johnny and Ashley continue with

preparations for the launch of their antiques emporium.

This is the fun part.

I'm certainly going to be working hard - for the lady.

I'm going to say, "Move this here, move that there, move this here".

Everything's going to get moved a thousand times.

So where's this one going, darling?

I want to create a little vignette... Yep.

..so let's just turn it around this way.

Yeah, something like that.

Today's the day they want to finish the project

and be open for business.

With Ashley hoping to work away less,

she is determined to make it a success.

Just hold it.

Oh, spiders in there. It's all right.

Spiders are long gone, trust me.

Is this little table going out? Yeah. Yeah?

We're just scratching the surface at the moment.

The interesting thing is that we have been collecting

stuff for a shop for years. Yeah. And so...

..it's really fun to see it all come together.

Just stand him up.

I don't want to tread on it.

Oh, yeah.

The leg. OK? Yep.

Oh. Right...

After years of collecting antiques

and upcycling pieces of furniture, today is an important day.

So you really do forget what we've collected.

It's nice, it's given me a visual idea

of what Ashley's going to do with the space.

Every antique shop needs a French flag...

..or three.

We have to get it right

cos it's going to be representing what we do at the chateau,

but also it's important that things are finished

so the doors can be thrown open and we can start selling.

I love the chair up on the table, that's cute.

Am I allowed just to centre that?

Yes, you may.

Beautiful.

So sweet.

Ah, really, I love it, darling.

You've done a great job.

I think Abernathy likes it, too.

Where is he?

He's like part of the furniture now, isn't he? I know.

With their antiques emporium now fully stocked,

Ashley's prized home-made jam

can take it's spot alongside her French market finds.

It's cute.

All right, so where do you want Madam put?

There's a shelf screaming out there.

Now, what's her name? Have we got a name for her yet? Hortense.

She kind of... Hortense.

She does actually, sometimes give me nightmares, this one. Yes.

Yeah, this can be the lady that made the jams,

like your great, great grandmother passed down the family recipe.

Grandmamma Hortense. You can tell people when they come.

Hortense.

That's probably her leg over there.

One thing I do have a bone of contention with is this

I bought for you for a Valentine's present.

Number one, my number one girl.

Please tell me it's for display.

It's just for display, I promise.

I won't sell it.

Nice save, Ashley.

OK. Could be a bad omen if you sell it. Yes.

You're going to lose your donkey and who's going to,

who's going to cart your furniture around for you?

Oh, OK.

So this is more or less the last thing, right?

That's it. And we're done.

Before, the orangery was a dumping ground -

an unloved outbuilding used for storing bicycles,

garden machinery and dust.

Now, it's a bright, welcoming, antiques emporium,

filled with beautiful vintage French objects, each with its own

story to tell and ready to sell to the next loving owner.

And with plans to protect the large open windows with shutters,

Ashley's emporium will be able to welcome guests all year round.

I feel like I'm in a good quality French antiques shop.

Yeah. And guess what?

That's the idea. We own it.

How great does that feel? It's ours.

Well done, guys.

All you need now is to draw in the customers to ensure Ashley

doesn't have to work away

and the chateau can become the business you need it to be.

Next time, Philip and Anna splash out on insulation...

It looks like we over ordered, but we'll see.

That explains the price.

It seemed expensive.

..one couple's search for their dream chateau...

I'm blown away with just how impressive it is from the outside.

I just want to get inside, I'm excited now.

..and at Johnny and Ashley's...

Ah, look at the bottom of that.

He has 40 huge pieces art to bring up here in the next two hours.

..their gallery opening draws out high emotions.

If she's stressed, it means we're up against the clock.

I'm not stressed, I'm annoyed.

SHE SIGHS

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