Original subtitles

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

Welcome aboard, matey!

..we're now five years... Woo!

..into restoring this once-abandoned chateau.

It's beautiful.

It's brought its challenges.

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.

Yeah!

We'll meet some old friends...

Smile! I am.

..and new faces...

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

..and reveal more about our own chateau life.

It is so much better in real life.

There'll be highs... Yeah!

..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 put in for us.

..as well as businesses...

Wahoo!

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

Cheers everybody!

Today, these new chateau owners splash out on insulation...

Looks like he over-ordered but, we'll see.

..just when they need, a spending freeze.

That explains the price.

It seemed expensive.

One couple 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, in southwest France...

Look at the bottom of that.

He has 40 big, huge pieces of art, to bring up here,

in the next two hours.

..a gallery opening, draws high emotions.

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

Stressed? I'm annoyed! You're annoyed?

Ah!

Take it from me, it's seriously hard work

making a new chateau business a success...

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

..But whatever your idea is, it pays to be creative.

Like here, at 18th century Chateau de Lomenie, a former winery

sat in 15 acres of land, it was bought for £412,000

in 2017 by London artist Johnny and his partner Ashley,

a TV producer from New York.

The best thing about owning a chateau, I think, is just,

every day, waking up

and just seeing the beauty.

It's living the dream, the French lifestyle dream.

Located near Bordeaux, so far these two have financed renovations,

by Ashley regularly working abroad.

I split my time between a hotel room,

because I have to work away all the time, and Lomenie.

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

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

So the chateau can start making that all-important income,

this summer they've transformed their orangery

into an antiques emporium.

Next, Johnny plans to create a gallery in an outbuilding,

where he can sell his art, run creative workshops,

and put on events.

The space, is the reason they fell for the chateau in the first place.

Oh, but wait till you see this room. Oh, wow! Oh, wow!

It's fabulous!

Woo! Yes, I mean this is just a dream for an artist.

Nearly two years on, Johnny is finally in a position to

make that dream a reality.

As supposed to just four walls to hang art piece, we want

to create these, themed rooms that people would actually walk through.

So we're going to have the abandoned chateau room.

We're going to have the abandoned opera house, an apothecary room.

We want clients to walk here and go "Oh, my God. I did not expect that."

The gallery launch, is in just six weeks.

But, with the space currently home to nothing

but decades of cobwebs, the amount of work ahead is daunting.

Do you want to do the beams and I'll do the windows? Yeah, sure.

Especially for arachnophobe Ashley.

I absolutely despise spiders.

And there are hundreds of them.

And they're prehistoric, they're massive.

Massive, massive spiders.

Must be all the French flies they eat!

Mm.

Woo! Those cobwebs are massive.

Oh, my God.

I love projects like this, because, it's really going to breathe some, life back into the old girl.

At the moment it's just got two people and the dog.

Oh, my God!

Oh, that was the biggest spider I've ever seen.

I'm so sorry. Oh, beat it.

Do you want a ladder, Ash?

Oh, God.

So it's all good fun so far,

well, for Johnny, at least,

but there's a serious side to this too.

The life of an artist, is usually quite a poor lifestyle.

You know, because you're...

..you spend three months and you build up to your exhibition,

so you're not earning all the money.

You finally showcase in some swanky commercial space.

And then when you do sell, the gallery takes 30 to 40%.

So, having this space means that that all the money that we sell,

art and antiques, goes straight back, into our pocket, onto the chateau.

For Ashley to stop working abroad, it's crucial the gallery is a success.

They've only just started, but it's looking good.

I'm very happy with it.

You can already see, I mean, granted, it's nowhere,

near close to finished,

but you can already see the difference.

To achieve Johnny's vision, they've got their work cut out

getting the gallery ready for opening, in six weeks' time.

Hi, baby dog!

Over 150,000 Brits call France home

and every year a lucky few start their own chateau stories.

Finding the right place, though, can be far from easy.

Meet Ian and his wife Kate, who, after years of running a

pharmacy business in Australia,

have decided to make the move to France.

For me, France reminds me very much of Scotland, my birthplace and home.

And, just better weather.

So I'm really looking forward to that.

I know all about the pull of this country.

I also understand how difficult it is

to find your perfect property here.

We've been looking for a chateau for six years. Yes.

Yeah, a long time.

We've probably viewed about 25 chateaux.

I think now's the time though. Indeed.

The upside of having viewed so many, is that Ian and Kate

know exactly what they're looking for.

My must-haves in the chateau are probably grand rooms.

Character is very important to me.

For me, I do like a larger, property.

I look at the larger property as more opportunity for business.

I would look to, utilise events and weddings,

a gites business, chambre d'hotes, so that...

He's always thinking business. I want it to feel like home.

And if it had a moat, that would be great.

Having already sold their house and a stake in their business

in Australia, they've raised £1.3 million for the move.

Their hearts, are set on the Loire Valley,

where they've holidayed many times over the years.

The first chateau they're viewing

is around 30 miles from the town of Tours.

The beautiful 19th century Chateau de la Poterie

is set in an incredible 49 acres,

complete with its own river.

Adorned with ornate stonework, the chateau boasts nine bedrooms

across the main house and two large gites.

Wow! Just stop and have a little look at that, darling.

Have you seen the extra view of the gates down there? Beautiful.

There's an alleyway through those beautifully mature trees, as well. Oh, yeah.

See, I like that as an entrance. Yeah, coming in.

Maybe swinging round? Yeah, yeah.

This place is on the market for £1.4 million,

£100,000 over budget.

But, as an up and running events and holiday let business,

Kate and Ian could start making an income straight away.

Showing them around, is estate agent Bertrand.

Hello, Kate. Bonjour. How are you? Very well.

Thank you for bringing us to such a beautiful property.

It's a pleasure. It's stunning. It's, very classic.

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

Wow! Beautiful.

Yeah, love the staircase. Yeah, yeah.

I like it. It's good.

Good entrance.

Good first impressions, now on to the heart of the home.

And there we have the kitchen. Ah! OK.

Very impressive.

I love the size of this kitchen, but I would have to

strip it back and start again,

purely because it's too modern for me.

Are there any old images? Photo? Of ce chateau?

Part of the challenge for me with a chateau is to

appreciate the beautiful features from the centuries before.

Yeah. And bring back some of those.

Like, the old, I'm old, I like old.

Old is good. We definitely like old.

You could see how the other generations of our family could be in here. Exactly.

It's not just size of this room that's impressed them.

The view is amazing. It looks perfect.

Usually I'd say, "Look at the state of the windows, not the view."

but, as this chateau's been extensively modernised, I'll let you off, Kate.

You have a river? Yeah.

So this is this river that runs through the property?

Yeah. This river? Ah! Wow! Yeah.

Oh, that's great. Fantastic.

Next, on to the salon.

It's very lovely, again.

I love the trim. Yeah. The cornice.

Really nice. It's beautiful.

I have to say that the beige is possibly not me.

It's only decoration.

Yes, if you look at, just look at the detailing on here. Yeah.

And, you know, just all around, it's been protected

and not removed.

So, it's all just decoration.

Which excites me. That's good. Yeah.

Well, the ground floor seems to be on the right track,

but, after six years of searching,

will the rest of the chateau be able to deliver?

Coming up, this new chateau owner, hits the tiles...

I've done about 50 trips down to the stables.

..in a race against time, to be open for the spring.

He just needs to have a bit of a rest,

cos it's a marathon, it's not a sprint.

And at Chateau de Lomenie, Johnny's gallery vision starts to take shape.

Already I can see with paint on it, it's going to look great.

In northern France, is the stately Chateau Granville.

Boasting 16 rooms, and set in 15 acres of parkland,

its brand-new owners are Anna, a former fashion designer,

her Italian husband Philipp,

a film-maker, and their two young daughters, Lily and Ella.

It is quite crazy but it's also really exciting,

cos it's going to be an amazing opportunity to,

change our lives, and it's...it is a dream to do this.

Sometimes I think that this whole chateau project is a huge

excuse for...for all the things I love to do.

I love tools, I love renovating.

It's a huge place to have a lot of boy toys.

Close to the Normandy coast, the couple have sunk their life savings

and taken out a huge loan, to afford the £900,000 chateau,

with the aim of opening, as a B&B in the spring.

But a recent inspection

revealed costly work they hadn't bargained for.

SPEAKS IN FRENCH

I am, not as much intimidated by the amount of work,

than by the fact that we don't have enough money, to do that renovation.

We have to run that business to have some money coming in.

Otherwise, the whole project doesn't work and we have to sell.

Before Philipp makes a start on the B&B rooms,

he wants to create an apartment for the family in the attic.

They're currently bunking in rooms

that have yet to be done on the first floor.

Today, he's tackling the floor

in what would be one of their daughter's bedrooms.

In many places of the chateau, we have this type of tiles

and they are terracotta tiles.

But unfortunately, many of them are in really bad condition.

The chateau was occupied during Second World War by German soldiers

that resulted in most of these tiles being broken.

I'm going to try to rescue as many tiles as possible

because I want to use them in another room maybe later.

There are 80 square metres of tiles up here,

and prising them up one by one is a time-consuming job.

Philipp's leaving the ones he can re-use immediately in the attic,

and storing the rest in their stables.

Which means a lot of stairs to negotiate.

I've done about 15 trips down to the stables.

Now it's the mortar underneath.

That's going to be another...

..I guess, 20-30 trips to the garden this time.

It's a huge job for one person.

But weeks later, all the tiles are up, and the attic cleared.

Philipp's doing an amazing job, so I'm really happy.

They are making progress.

but Anna's worried all the work might be taking its toll.

I think, like, last week, he seemed really tired.

And he wouldn't admit it, but I could see he was exhausted.

And it's really physical so, he just needs to

take maybe one day off a week, and have a bit of a rest,

cos it's a marathon, it's not a sprint.

Even so, Philip's efforts are medalworthy.

Yeah, here are... All these tiles, they are the healthy ones.

OK.

These ones here, they're all in good condition. In good condition?

Oh, and I absolutely want to use that one with a dark...

Oh, wow. You see this one?

Yeah. That's crazy.

That one's probably one of the builder's dogs, who left...

I love it. ..these marks.

It's great. It's also, you know...?

Yeah, we'll definitely have these up. Yeah.

So I think, keep the tiles where we can.

So for example, in the bathroom and maybe in the entrance hallway.

And then the back bedrooms, we'll just put nice wooden floor.

To keep some of the characteristic of the house, you know,

to keep some of the details.

That's one more job chalked off.

But if Anna and Philipp are to have any chance of hitting their

target of opening in the spring, they have to keep plugging away.

Over 300 miles south, at Chateau de Lomenie,

it's just four weeks into the launch of Johnny and Ashley's art gallery.

Before I paint it, I just need to put up a little bit of, like,

wallpaper here and there.

He's been working at dividing the gallery space

into what will eventually be his individually-themed areas.

I've gone ahead and put up stud walls

to create a pocket here, a room,

which is going to run all the way along here.

So this is going to be abandoned chateau room.

But I must say, doing it on your own is pretty tricky.

Johnny's currently flying solo, as Ashley,

who's work trips abroad fund the renovations, is away in the arctic.

When Ashley's here, she's really good.

She, like, pushes me.

That's what I need.

The tricky thing with this, is that, you know,

the invites have been sent out.

The chef of the catering's been booked.

The wine's been booked.

So it's too late to cancel anything now.

It's all on Johnny to transform the space

into something that meets his artistic vision.

So, before I actually put the base coat on,

what I've done previously with art is I've used just wallpaper randomly.

Just pockets here.

Torn, and tatty.

Laminate it here, but leave a little flap.

And it gives the impression of generations of wallpaper over years.

I must say, this is the first time I've heard of a chateau

getting a make-under.

I've never ever wanted, just, you know, white wall gallery space.

It's boring and we view this gallery space as a living,

breathing piece of art.

Paper glued, Johnny can start sticking it to the stud wall.

Already I can see with paint on it,

and with a nice distressed look, it's going to look great.

While the paper dries, he's moving next door.

This space here is going to be the apothecary shop.

So, I've spent the last couple of days

making and cutting this panelling.

It's had two coats of black, so today, I'm going to be

just using some gold paint to bring some accents into it.

I do have an affinity with gold.

Just a few finishing touches.

We want it to be like people stepping back in time.

And I must say, I really love this, I really do.

It's been a productive morning.

Time to give the boss a progress report.

Hey, babe.

Hi.

Have you got time?

Yeah, I do. Yeah, OK.

Do you want to see the apothecary shop?

Oh, wow. That's amazing.

Ashley's impressed.

But as she's not due back until four days before the gallery launch,

Johnny has a mountain to climb on his own

to get this space ready.

Bye, sweet.

I'll speak to you soon.

Bye. Bye, babe.

Back in the Loire Valley,

Ian and Kate are viewing the gorgeous 19th century

Chateau de la Poterie.

They've been impressed with what they've seen so far.

As they want to offer guest accommodation,

they're checking out the bedrooms, starting on the first floor.

This is a good size room.

It's got, original floors. Yeah.

I think the guests can stay here, they've got their own en suite.

You can rent all the chateau.

With a different gite around.

With the other buildings.

I didn't realise, that's really good.

And they have good occupancy?

They have a lot of people come here?

Yeah. Do you know the rental? And they get good money for it?

Yeah.

We are in the heart of Loire Valley, and the Loire chateaux,

so we've got a lot of tourists.

That's what we want. That's a tremendous asset.

That's a real big box tick, that one, yeah.

Yeah, so you can leave outbuildings and rent the chateau,

or live in the chateau and...

I want to live in the chateau.

I'd like to say the outbuildings, but no.

I'm with you, Kate.

It seems like the business stacks up here.

But what about their possible accommodation?

The master bedroom. Fantastic.

This would work very well as a main bedroom, it really would.

Yeah. I love it cos I love the view.

The whole property has got a good feel about it.

Yeah. I like it.

Well, Ian and Kate are making all the right noises about this place.

After six years of searching, could it be the one?

Thank you very much, Bertrand.

That was lovely. Thank you. A pleasure to meet you.

Thanks again, have a lovely evening. Thank you very much.

I absolutely loved it.

It's exactly the style that we've been looking for, for so long.

And it's very romantic, it's got a river running through it.

The chateau was at the higher end of our budget.

However, it really requires a minimal investment to actually

get to a stage we can actually trade as a business.

Yeah. I've just got a really good feel about it.

I can see myself living there, you know, for years to come.

And I can see my grandchildren running around.

Absolutely.

I love it.

Quite emotional. Yeah, it is.

This has set the bench pretty high.

Coming up.

The minimum distance in between these is written in the instructions.

Philipp's making it up as he goes along.

But I am too lazy to look into the instructions.

I don't have them, I would need to Google for them.

And in southwest France, Ashley's back.

It's probably a week's worth of work that we need to

get done in 15 hours.

It's a little scary.

But has Johnny painted himself into a corner?

I've not reached that stage where I look at the work that's been

done and feel, like, confident it's going to be ready for tomorrow.

In all honesty, yeah, I'm really worried and

still so much to do, isn't there, Ryan?

Yeah.

Yeah.

In Normandy, it's a big day for Anna and Philip.

The insulation for the apartment is being delivered.

And with autumn temperatures dropping

and the schedule slipping, it's not before time.

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

That explains the price we paid for that product.

It seemed expensive, though.

You can never have too much insulation.

With money tight, Philip and Anna

have employed two work away volunteers to help.

Given free board in return for labour,

it means their entire budget goes on renovations.

We're in a bit of a rush,

because we don't want it to get wet, and it's raining.

And then, Philip's gonna start putting the insulation up.

Until this came, we couldn't finish off the apartment,

so we were a bit delayed.

With the insulation unloaded,

Philip's keen to get it installed ASAP,

but he's learning as he goes.

So we are all doing this for the first time, besides,

it's a bit of a trial and error.

Took me, really, two or three months to figure out

what the best way of insulating would be.

I'm looking forward to do that now, and to see how it works out

and to see if it's a straightforward process

or if it needs an expert to be called in.

I hope not. I hope I will be able to do it myself.

He's already fired up his laser level

and fixed galvanises steel railings to the wall in preparation.

This is a system that allows you to clip it into the wall,

and then you press the insulation on top of it.

But what Philip doesn't know is how far apart

the plastic pegs need to be.

The minimum distance in between these

is written in the instructions.

But I'm too lazy to look into the instructions.

I don't have to. I would need to Google for that,

so I'm just improvising.

Guessing probably isn't the best option.

To be effective, the insulation has to fit perfectly,

and you really need a dust mask for this.

We calculated, if we heat the whole chateau,

it will be about a £1,000 a month.

With the insulation, it could come down at least to half of it.

How's it going? All right.

It's not as fast as I hoped, but...

You're covered in insulation.

Wow, looks good. Yeah.

It's gonna be lovely and warm up here, so that's nice.

I'm really excited to, just, you know, get a liveable space again,

where we have a proper shower, a proper bath.

And so I can't wait to finish this space.

Let's hope you can get the family in before winter.

Back in southwest France, Chateau de Lomenie is a hive of activity.

SAW WHIRS

It's the day before Johnny's grand gallery opening.

And not only is Ashley back from her work trip,

but the cavalry have also arrived

in the shape of Johnny's sister, Emma, and her husband, Ryan.

SHE GIGGLES It was meant to be a holiday.

But you like your big brother, don't you, sis?

I do, Johnny. I love it.

The man himself, though, is feeling the strain.

You need any staples for that, darling?

The lead up to this point has been stressful

cos, you know, we're still a long ways to go.

And I must say, it's nice to have my brother-in-law and my sister here.

While Johnny has made progress with the gallery's themed areas,

Ashley's wondering if he's bitten off more than he can chew.

It definitely is going to be down to the wire.

We have people coming, obviously, tomorrow, at five o'clock.

And as you can see...

SHE CHUCKLES ..we're nowhere near ready.

The apothecary shop needs to be finished,

which means plasterboard on the inside.

The whole thing has to be painted, the windows have to be put in,

it has to be dressed.

The abandoned chateau room needs to be dressed.

The stage, we're still working on curtains and drapes.

What else? Everything. SHE LAUGHS

Everything still needs to happen.

So Johnny is really, really stressed right now

because this is his baby. He wants everything to be perfect,

perfect, perfect.

Screw it up to here.

It's probably a week's worth of work

that we need to get done in 15 hours.

It's a little scary.

With so much to do and so little time,

the only chance they have is to divide and conquer.

Smoother than a baby's bottom, aren't they?

As Ryan sets to work finishing off the apothecary walls

and Emma paints its windows, Ashley is making her stage debut.

So this is supposed to be an abandoned French opera house.

So, I want to have these beautiful silk red drapes,

starting at the very top and kind of billowing down.

The beam is in the way.

Luckily, Johnny is on hand to help.

See this one, sweet? Are you gonna pin it to that?

Cos when you pinched it, I could see through it.

Give me that gun.

If you can, can you pinch it again?

As if you're closing that gap to the beam.

That looks good, darling. Yeah? OK.

Tell her it looks lovely, Ryan.

It looks lovely, Ash.

Thank you, Ryan. HE LAUGHS

Ashley never stops astounding me.

It took her three days to get home, three days and six flights.

I picked her up from the airport,

and we went antique shopping to dress this.

And that's what I love about her, you know?

You know, she hits the floor running, smile, big eyes.

Straight away, energy level, straight back up.

I'm plugged in, I'm recharged.

Well, you need to be,

because in the apothecary, there's a problem with the windows.

Johnny, we need to trim these.

They're out. You're sure they're not for that mount? Positive.

You're sure? It's a bigger gap. All right, sorry, sis.

Who measured that?

The stud's slightly out. Yeah.

So we just need to trim a little bit off of this bit. All right.

Tell you, I'm getting nervous now.

With the day getting on,

every little delay is ramping up the pressure on Johnny.

It's scary thinking about the volume of work.

I've not reached that stage

where I look at the work that's been done, and feel, like,

confident that it's gonna be ready for tomorrow.

In all honesty, yeah, I-I'm really worried.

And there's still so much to do, isn't there, Ryan? Yeah.

Yeah.

Nearly 300 miles north,

Ian and Kate have come to the east end of the Loire Valley

to view their next chateau.

Oh, wow.

How nice is this? I love a courtyard.

SHE GASPS

Today, they're visiting the beautiful Chateau de la Motte,

a 30-minute drive from Orleans.

This time, they've brought along daughter Jade, husband Ryan,

and their children, as well as Ryan's parents, Roy and Linda,

for a second opinion.

Hi. Bonjour, Freddie.

Meeting them all is estate agent Frederic.

This is all of our family. Yes. Bonjour.

Bonjour. My daughter, Jade. Bonjour. Bonjour. Hi.

Bonjour. Ryan. Bonjour.

I reckon this place might just have the mix

of homeliness and business potential,

these two are looking for.

With 19 rooms, several outbuildings ripe for conversion,

and even a moat for Ian, all set in a whopping 37 acres of parkland,

it's on the market for £1.2 million,

£100,000 under their budget.

Wow. This is beautiful. Beautiful.

La periode de construction,

du classicisme francais.

Yes, very excited to see.

It's looks very well-kept, but needs a little bit of work,

which we're very keen to be involved to do, yeah.

We're not scared for the renovation.

Can we go inside and have a little look? Yes, yes, yes.

First impressions are good.

Now to see the inside.

My word. Oh, wow.

Oh, this is the floor I love. It's a beautiful floor.

Wow! And the fireplace.

Yeah. How pretty.

This is a lovely room. Yes.

Oh, beautiful.

Typical 17th century. Yes.

And just the authentic... Yes.

It's...everything's as it should be.

It just needs to be refreshed.

Fantastic. The panelling, this is exactly what we're looking for.

Yeah. I can decorate the way I like. It's really just, decoration, yeah.

The character is still here.

It's like a good size too.

It's grand, but it's not over the top. Yes. Exactly.

It seems the whole family is impressed,

and the good news continues next door.

Another beautiful room. You have the dining room. Yes.

I'm really keen to bring back the integrity of how it was.

Because it is such a classic, you know, and you want to respect that.

Yeah, you don't want to ruin it.

We've very much about the soul of the property,

the spirit of the property.

And as much as we want to have a business, we still want it to...

Has to be a family home.

There is a lot of place to make chambre d'hotes.

That's exciting. Yes. Perfect. It's good.

Ian and Kate are impressed with the original features.

So what do they think of the modern kitchen?

Oh, dear...the floor.

SHE LAUGHS

That's OK, it's some people's taste.

Not mine.

Ah, well, that's an easy fix.

I've always wanted to have a really big kitchen, though. Yeah.

With a nice big sort of farmhouse table in the middle,

which we've already got at home.

And I love these. Yeah. These look...

So authentic.

Yeah!

And you can get under it, just.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

OK, as long as my hair's flattened. THEY LAUGH

I'm good, I'm good. Or you're not wearing your high heels.

I'm not wearing my heels, no. That's only weekends.

With the downstairs winning them over,

it's time for a look at the bedrooms.

OK, yeah.

Original floors...

It's just all original. ..fireplaces.

Good size too. It is.

And there's an en-suite as well, which is good.

Yeah, no, that's great.

And good size rooms,

so if we want to do chambre d'hotes... Yeah. ..it'd be perfect.

Crucially, it seems Ian and Kate can see potential,

both as a home and a business.

So now to do some digging.

How long has the chateau been on the market?

Since, two months, three months.

Three months, OK. Yes.

Now we begin to have some propositions. Yes. Yes.

So probably have to act fairly fast.

Yeah. I would imagine, when it's so beautiful. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Bon journee. Thank you. A tres bientot. Thank you.

Au revoir.

We're really impressed with the chateau and the gardens.

Probably exceeded my expectations.

Definitely exceeded my expectations.

It's very nice. Yeah.

Very excited. I don't want to look too excited,

because I want to be able to negotiate. Yeah. Then, you know...

There's just such a variety of things we could do.

I think tonight we need to go home

and have a chat about the chateau. Yes, yeah.

Definitely, because obviously, there's other people interested.

Yeah. And I don't want to miss out.

It's been a promising couple of days for Ian and Kate.

After six long years,

they could be on the verge of a new life in France.

Coming up...

What is this here for?

This is nothing. Nothing?

..Anna reaches breaking the end of her tether...

I don't feel frustrated.

I'm just a bit impatient, let's say. Yeah.

..and on the day of the grand gallery opening...

Some people like to work right up to the wire,

and then some people like to be organised

and have it all done ahead of time.

..Ashley gives Johnny the brush off...

You still love me, though, don't you darling?

I'm wavering. SHE LAUGHS

In Normandy, it's now one month past the date

Philip hoped to have the family apartment finished.

And Anna is getting increasingly desperate.

It's getting a lot colder.

All of a sudden, autumn's come,

and the chateau is not being heated right now.

So it's kind of getting more and more urgent

that we get this finished

and that we can move up here and be warm.

Because we've got two little ones and, you know, at night,

I'm, like, putting them in, like, ten layers of clothes

to keep them warm, and socks, and me too,

I mean, I'm wearing socks, jumper.

I went to bed with a jumper on the other night, cos it was so cold.

Jumpers do tend to be a part of chateau life.

Up in the apartment, it's slow going.

With the insulation now in, Philip's boarded out,

ready for plastering.

But he's hit a snag.

I have to do a repair today because

by putting on the plasterboard, I made a slight mistake.

The problem we have is

if I press here and then the whole... You can see it's wonky.

And to finish plasterboards, you put the tape on all the gaps,

and the tape is strong, and it keeps the... It closes the gap,

and then you can paint over it and plaster over it.

If the board moves, the tape will crease, cracking the plaster.

So, it is a bit annoying to have to do it again and to take it off,

because I was very happy once I put it on.

When you're doing everything yourself and learning as you go,

little setbacks like this build up your experience.

Now, that should solve the problem.

As much as I would love to say these are all beginner's mistakes,

I think it's in my nature to make that kind of mistake.

I think I'm just not really good with these things,

with plasterboards, everything that needs precise measurement

and a lot of patience.

And it's just not me.

Well, then, it's a good job you've got Anna

to keep you on the straight and narrow.

Hey. Hey. What are you doing?

Oh, nothing.

What's going on?

Well, I made a little mistake. Oh. Yeah.

What did you do?

Um, nothing, nothing really bad.

It's just, I... One of the plasterboards wasn't properly

fixed here. Yeah.

So I had to take it off and reinforce it. OK.

But it's good that you're here. OK.

Cos you can help me with putting back the plasterboard.

Anna, the perfectionist designer,

is just the steady hand that Philip needs.

OK. You really have to be... Precise. Yeah.

Good. Ah, this is so much fun.

It is.

It is the fun part, though. Yeah. You did all the hard work.

I did the hard work, you did the fun screwing part.

Yep. That's...not fair.

DRILL WHIRS

HE YAWNS

Plasterboard sorted,

sharp-eyed Anna's site visit isn't over yet.

What is this here, Philip?

This is nothing. Nothing? OK.

SHE LAUGHS Don't laugh, don't laugh.

No, I'm not laughing. You've done a great job.

I think so.

I mean, I don't feel frustrated. Yeah.

I'm just a bit impatient, let's say.

Because I just really want to get this finished,

and be able to move up here and have our own space.

But there's still quite a lot to do, isn't there, in here?

So now, how many weeks do you reckon? A month.

Another month. Yeah.

WHISPERS: That's really optimistic.

Yeah, I think that's optimistic too. I'm not sure.

It's a month. Yeah.

Keep smiling, you two,

you're another step closer to having your own space.

And it really will be worth it in the end.

At Johnny and Ashley's, it's the day of their grand gallery opening.

It should be a joyous day, right?

But still so much to do.

So it just takes the edge off, you start feeling that pinch.

Johnny's idea of dividing the gallery into themed areas

has proved a massive challenge.

So, last night, we painted walls, we hung chandeliers.

I think I carried, I don't know,

100 pieces of plasterboard, up and down the stairs.

I can barely move right now.

But after working into the wee hours,

with the help of Johnny's sister, Emma, and husband, Ryan,

it's almost ready.

If I think of my deadline, I get really anxious.

And that's when the panic stations set in.

Sound the alarm, then!

With less than two hours until their art-loving guests arrive,

Johnny's only now turning his attention to getting his artwork in.

I'm taking off the art from the chateau,

which we knew was a temporary thing,

you know, it's going into the galleries.

Ashley's not too happy.

There's a few of her favourites getting pinched.

But it needs to all go up.

It all needs to be for sale, of course.

Oh, look at the bottom of that.

She won't like that, but...

..I'll take that off.

Ugh, spiders.

But it seems this time, spiders are the least of Ashley's worries.

You know he has, probably, I don't know, 40 pieces,

big, huge pieces of art, to bring up here...

..in the next two hours.

And place them. And he's doing it one at a time.

It's...it's unbelievable.

Can we just go up to this step next?

So I just...

..I can't watch him. It makes me crazy.

I'll move it this way, bruv.

SHE SIGHS

Now, how relevant is that?

"Time devours all things."

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

That's great, mate. Thank you.

Some people like to work right up to the wire,

that's just kind of what makes them tick.

And then some people like to be organised

and have it done ahead of time.

She'll never get stressed, Ashley.

She's so calm and level-headed,

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

I not stressed, I'm annoyed. SHE CHUCKLES

You're annoyed.

You still love me, though, don't you, darling?

I'm wavering. SHE LAUGHS

Come on, you two, no time to argue,

your guests are due any minute!

Just one final push.

Oh, it looks good there. Does it? Yeah.

I'm not sure against the gold. Yeah. But it needs to go up.

Let's bring the rest up, and then you can hang stuff. OK?

Someone has to say no.

Oh, my goodness.

I think I'm about to just go take a shower,

and get ready.

And it is what it is at this point.

And...it's too much.

Too much.

It's been six hard weeks of toil,

but by the skin of their teeth,

Johnny and Ashley have just about done it.

The run-down space they fell in love with two years ago,

has finally and gloriously been transformed into a gallery,

complete with opera stage, abandoned chateau, and apothecary.

It's a work of art in itself.

Hey, mate. How are you? You all right?

Aw! Nice to see you.

HE LAUGHS Nice to meet you.

It's very romantic in here.

I love all the natural stone and the gold. Mm-hm.

It's just really beautiful.

It's not just Johnny and Ashley who can take the credit.

I'm just gonna have a good drink. Yeah!

That's about it, and enjoy the evening.

Knackered, but a nice cold beer is well-deserved.

Now for the formal stuff.

Thank you so much for coming. This is a big night for us.

You know, we bought this place exactly two years ago, today.

So it's our two year anniversary.

Basically, what made us fall in love with this place was this space,

and this is sort of our vision for it.

And so, you know, tonight's the night that it's here.

SHE CHUCKLES

Johnny would love to say a few words, but he has disappeared.

THEY LAUGH Where is he?

Mr Darko?

Oh, oh!

THEY CHEER

That's playing to the gallery.

Come and join us. SHE LAUGHS

On behalf of myself and Ashley,

we'd like to officially welcome you to the grand opening

of the Alchimie Art Gallery here at Chateau de Lomenie.

That's when you clap.

THEY CHEER

Vive la France. God bless France!

Thank you so much. THEY CHEER

It's the moment that we've been working towards.

So that means more future events to bring people through.

And if we can function as an art gallery, and sell art and antiques,

that's why we bought into this lifestyle.

You know, for so many years, it's just been cobwebs and silence.

And so now, all of a sudden, you know, there's music and people,

and I love it. Yeah. Big, big day today.

Very happy.

A celebration on so many levels.

Excellent work, you two.

It's taken two years, but with both your gallery,

and antiques emporium now open for business,

a bright future for the chateau is in the frame.

Next time, Anna and Philip's marathon restoration project

keeps on running...

You reckon that's OK, Philip? Yeah.

Feels like this bit is really out.

Yeah, it happened to me in my early years as well.

..Ian and Kate continue their six year search...

It has the look of a room, Francois, that would have a secret door.

We do have one. That's awesome!

..and three generations of new chateau owners...

Mummy! Bonjour.

..attempt to win over the local community.

It seems to be going all right.

Get them all a little bit tipsy.

It's nice.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media