Original subtitles

That's me, Dick Strawbridge, my darling wife Angel and our two

beautiful children.

Nearly three years ago, we upped sticks for a whole new life in

France and bought this magnificent chateau.

Angel: Oh!

Dick: We've been doing it up ever since.

Angel: Oh baby--oh, you're so strong.

Dick: Turns out we're not the only ones.

Woman: Oh--yeah, yeah--

- [metal clanks] - Woman: Oops.

Dick: Dozens of Brits are taking the plunge to rescue these

stunning buildings.

- [burst of air] - Woman: Oh!

Woman: What amazing colours.

Jonathan Cooke: We need to get on top of it.

Get on top of the goats.

Dick: In this series, we'll reveal more of how we're running

our chateau as a business.

Ta-da, back on dry land!

I'm still finding things that I haven't seen.

Dick: And we'll help these daring families run theirs.

Angel: Here's to the meeting of two like-minded couples.

- Yes, cheers. - Cheers.

[glasses clink]

Dick: As they face the highs--

I'm absolutely terrified.

Dick:--and lows--

Woman: It's extremely expensive, it's financial suicide.

Dick:--of running these gorgeous buildings as everything from B

and Bs to beautiful wedding venues.

Owning a chateau isn't glamorous.

[Michael gags]

Woman: Anyone who thinks it is, is delusional.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Hello. - Hi!

Dick: Today.

Welcome to Chateau de Jalesnes.

Dick: Angel helps put on a tea service at one chateau.

Can we have a time check?

Angel: Does everyone know what they're doing?

Dick: Then gives lessons on furniture upcycling at another.

Angel: Hi [chuckling]!

- Angelina: Lovely to meet you. - How are you?

Muah--muah.

Dick: Major pool and wall problems--

Mandy: Oh my god, that is really not good.

Dick:--threaten to scupper a summer opening.

Mandy: If this wall fell down and we need to put it up before

the guests come.

Dick: And one chateau owner spies a potential business

partnership with a local farm.

Jonathan: I can feel her heart beating.

I'm close to tears myself [chuckles].

[goat bleats]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

I'm Dick Strawbridge, engineer and former lieutenant colonel in

the British Army.

With my wife Angela, we've been renovating our chateau into a

home and business.

This is my calling in life.

Dick: It's not been easy.

I think I'm a bit too old for this.

Dick: And my heart goes out to anyone else insane enough to

take on a chateau restoration.

Take the late 17th century Chateau Madame, for example.

Mandy: This is much better.

Dick: Brit Mandy and her best friend and business partner,

American Steve, have been lovingly restoring it.

It's got everything, it's an actual castle.

Steve: I absolutely love it.

Steve is a complete and utter perfectionist.

So everything has to be done just so.

It does take a lot of time and effort to get it to be perfect.

Dick: Steve blames his fastidiousness on Chateau

Madame.

Steve: The chateau is female, it turns out.

And the chateau is a stubborn, stone house.

It fights me at every angle.

And I keep trying to put a little bit of more feminine into

it.

♪ ♪

Dick: Built on a hillside in Mauzens-et-Miremont in the

Dordogne, Mandy and Steve have spent two years renovating this

place.

With a plan to rent it out as a holiday home for the first time

over the upcoming summer season.

Financial pressures are very great, it costs vastly more than

you'd think.

And it's critical to get renters in as soon as possible and have

a long a season as we possibly can.

Dick: To make the place even more enticing to holidaymakers,

they started to install a pool.

Mandy: So, are you going to show me the pool?

Steve: That's it.

Mandy: And this dreadful cement.

Dick: But the project's been a disaster.

Mandy: Oh my god, that is really not good.

So the situation is obviously that the concrete froze.

Mm.

The mason didn't put any antifreeze in it.

Right.

♪ ♪

Dick: If antifreeze isn't added, the water in the concrete

freezes making the concrete unsuitable for a pool.

When the cement froze the cement became soft.

- Yeah, it became soft--yeah. - It's not hard.

Steve: I don't think it's good for the purpose it was made.

But it does have all the support inside, you know the grills and

the things.

So maybe at the end of the day if you just put the cement over

the top, you know, having gotten rid of all the loose stuff, it

would work?

Steve: Nah, I don't think so.

You think it is completely like that or do you think it was just

the surface?

Steve: Stay right here.

Mandy: Oh, what are you going to do?

I know.

You're going to get the sledgehammer [chuckles].

Well.

I should not be able to just beat this out like this.

So, what I have done is I've contacted my insurance

company--

Mm.

Steve:--and they're going to send out an expert--

Mm hmm.

Steve:--in this subject, who will decide whether this cement

is good or not.

- Now-- - When's that gonna happen?

As soon as I finish the letter [chuckles].

- Mandy: Oh god. - No, I've got the letter--

- Mandy: Get on it-- - --it's just about done.

--because you've got to get this done.

Oh, believe me--

♪ ♪

Dick: There are only three months until the rental season

starts.

Steve needs to get this sorted if they're going to turn the

chateau into a viable business.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: This is Chateau de Jalesnes.

Its proud owners are couple Jonathan and Michael.

We have a fantastic building which has been beautifully

renovated and restored.

Jonathan: There's an extraordinary energy here,

an extraordinary opportunity.

Dick: Located in the Pay de la Loire, they've invested

everything they have into the place.

Converting it into 15 luxury holiday apartments and a wedding

venue.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: But the business is struggling.

We're now two years down the line, and it's still not making

a profit.

Jonathan: It's got to start to make money.

Dick: Money is so tight for Jonathan and Michael, they're

doing all they can to make or save even the smallest amount.

But there's no fall back, if this doesn't work we're

destitute, we've got nowhere to go.

Dick: So today they're both chasing up ideas of how to bring

in more business to the chateau.

Jonathan is off to a local farm to discuss a business proposal.

Dick: While Michael is exploring an idea of putting on an

afternoon tea service for the locals.

And who better to ask for guidance than my wife Angel,

she wrote the book on high teas.

Seriously, she wrote the book on it.

- Hello. - Hi!

Welcome to Chateau de Jalesnes.

Muah--muah.

Oh, it's amazing, just taking my breath away.

It's just so beautiful.

That's the oldest bit there, that's from 1535.

Angle: How romantic.

Angel: I'd love to see what you've got inside.

- All right, come on in. - I can't wait.

[birds chirp]

Dick: Michael has 15 guests arriving in just two hours, and

on top of that he has his mum looking over his shoulder.

- This is my mum Una. - Hi Una.

This is Angel who's been on that program we've been talking

about.

It's my mum's birthday today.

- Oh, happy birthday. - Thank you.

Just explain to me so I understand, when you do these

teas on a Sunday, what support have you got in the kitchen and

setting up and everything.

Me and Jonathan.

You and Jonathan, right, so--without being sort of

patronizing, you want to keep it easy, don't you?

- Yes. - Yeah?

- Easy and beautiful. - Yeah.

- OK. - That works for me [laughs].

♪ ♪

Angel: So, scones you must have--if you're having a British

tea you gotta have scones.

And I think sandwiches, because the French don't really have

that combination do they?

The sandwiches, the tea.

And I've got this old recipe that I've modernized a little

bit, and it's about eating rose petals.

- OK--[laughter]. - Are you up for it?

Yeah, rose petals, never eaten them before but I'll give it a

go.

Angel: You know we have got quite a bit to do.

Bottom line, have you got anyone that can come and help us?

Yeah, I'll give them a ring and see if I can get all hands on

deck.

Dick: Michael ropes in Jenny, one of the chateau's investors

who likes to stay here in the summer.

The cavalry's come.

- What do you want? - Everything.

[laughter]

Wanna bring over the rose petals?

Dick: Angel rehydrates the rose petals for half an hour.

Then adds a dash of rose essential oil.

They're put in the sandwiches with floral honey.

Angel: Right, who wants to taste one?

Let's see.

Michael: Go on.

You know what I can't taste in there?

Michael: I can't taste the petals.

Angel: I can't taste it.

♪ ♪

Dick: The rose petals sandwiches aren't quite right yet.

Can we have a time check--12:30, right, we've got just under two

hours.

Dick: So that's two hours to go and there's still lots to do.

Does everyone know what they're doing?

Angel: You've all got your stations?

It's 12:53 actually.

That clock's wrong.

Dick: Make that an hour and a half.

Oh [beep].

♪ ♪

Dick: While Michael works out if a tea room is a good

money-making idea, Jonathan has come to a local farm to discuss

a possible business arrangement.

Jonathan: Bonjour Sandra.

- Jonathan: Ça va? - Bonjour.

- Ça va? - Jonathan: Oui.

- Ça va? - Ça va bien.

Ça va.

♪ ♪

What we'd like to do is to learn how we can work together, the

chateau and the farm so that our guests can come and see how a

farm works, meets some goats, meet the farmers, and learn a

little bit about rural farming in France.

Let's go, lead on.

- [Sandra speaking in French] - Oui, oui, oui.

- [Sandra speaking in French] - Oui.

- OK. - Bon.

♪ ♪

Dick: Sandra, her husband Fabien, and his brother

François, are the latest generation to run this farm.

Jonathan: How long as the family been farming here?

[Sandra speaking in French].

- Jonathan: 1820? - 20, yes.

- Jonathan: Wow. - [Sandra speaking in French].

Jonathan: Great-great-great-grandmother.

Sandra: Yes.

Great-great-great-grandmother, wow.

Sandra: Yes--and it was only the women first.

- Women--? - Sandra: Yes.

Not the--what did the men do then?

- Sandra: Uh--the war. - Oh, of course.

- Sandra: Yes, because-- - Yes, yes, yes.

Sandra: They have the first World War--

Yes--yeah.

Sandra: And the second World War.

And the men were away fighting so the women had to run the

farm?

[goats bleat]

Jonathan [chuckling]: Oh wow.

- Can I touch one? - Yes.

- Hello. - [goats bleat]

Hello.

Bonjour.

Ça va?

[Jonathan chuckles].

When it's the period they can observe a birth.

Jonathan: Is it at nighttime or during the day?

Sandra: No, during the day--yes.

So they can actually come and watch them being born?

- Yes. - Jonathan: It's magic.

Jonathan: So how old is this little one?

[Sandra speaking in French]

- One day. - One day old?

Ah!

- Can I touch? - And it's a male or a female?

[Sandra speaking in French]

So it's a female, in French c'est une chavette.

[Jonathan chuckles]

Et François, keep all the females--

Jonathan: Yes.

Sandra:--to do [unclear] itself.

- Jonathan: The breeding. - Sandra: Yes.

Sandra: And, uh--

Jonathan: Dare I ask what happens to the males, then?

Dick: Don't ask Jonathan!

They are going to another farming--

Yes.

--for the meat--[speaking in French]--

- Meat, OK. - Yes.

OK.

♪ ♪

Dick: This visit could be an activity Jonathan can lay on for

guests at their chateau, and more importantly one he can

charge them for.

I think any guest is not going to be able to resist this.

I mean, look at her, she's a day old, they can come in, they can

watch her being born, they can stroke them.

It's lovely.

I can feel her heart beating in my left hand here--my right

hand.

I'm close to tears myself [chuckles].

- It's just lovely. - Yes.

I mean, what an experience.

So I'm very, very pleased--very pleased, I think this is a

goer.

I certainly think there's a great potential here for us to

be working together.

Dick: It's been a worthwhile trip for Jonathan.

♪ ♪

Jonathan: OK, let's send you back to Daddy.

[goat bleats]

♪ ♪

Dick: The 17th century Chateau Bailleul has 30 rooms and its

very own chapel.

Husband and wife Philip and Angelina Baillie-Smith have been

renting it as a wedding and events venue to try out chateau

life.

Angelina Baillie-Smith: Renting before we're buying was a

brilliant idea, it just gave us the opportunity to experience

without the heavy financial input if it didn't go well.

♪ ♪

Dick: And after hosting a 50th wedding anniversary, they've

decided that chateau life is indeed the life for them.

Now we're looking forward and there's no stopping--I hope?

♪ ♪

Dick: They'll soon start their search for their very own

chateau, but meanwhile they'll continue the business here at

Chateau Bailleul after securing another booking.

We've already got somebody who wants to book for a wedding.

Yeah.

Phil: Somebody here last night, somebody we know locally, said

"My son's getting married and they would love a chateau

wedding."

♪ ♪

Dick: So today they're going shopping for furniture so they

can accommodate more guests for the chateau.

All right, as per usual--[chuckles].

Get in and get out as quickly as possible.

Phil [chuckling]: In and out, get the bargains before anybody

else.

♪ ♪

Obviously the chateau is furnished, there is some stuff

there, but to make it your own, to really change and give it

your own style, you've really got to put your own spin on

things, so we need to find some furniture, decorate it in

our own style.

Ta-da!

Dick: Angelina's barely through the door when a bed catches her

eye.

- Perfect. - Phil: OK, like it.

It's in really, really good condition, the fabric, it's

clean--it's beautiful fabric actually.

Light chalk paint and recover this.

Angelina: Yeah.

- Bonjour. - Angelina: Bonjour.

[laughter]

Combien?

Trente.

Oui, yeah it's good?

Angelina: Fantastic.

We found a bed, which is awesome--I love it.

Phil: I'm not gonna whinge at 30 euros.

We generally buy a bed anytime we get a chance, if it's good.

A bed can change a bedroom dramatically by putting your

own--'cause it's the largest piece of furniture in there.

♪ ♪

Dick: One of the main things Angelina wants to get today is a

chair for the master bedroom.

Phil: No, no, no.

Angelina: Yeah, but you don't know.

Phil: I can tell you now, no.

Angelina: Oh, I see--I see two chairs I like--

Phil: OK.

Angelina:--the price, yeah.

Angelina: What do you think, do you like them?

Phil: I'm quite keen.

I quite like these chairs.

♪ ♪

Dick: In this market you need to book your purchase with a store

assistant.

OK.

Angelina: Merci beaucoup.

Dick: Otherwise someone else will grab it.

And it's easy to get distracted.

Angelina: I found a nice little table lamp made out of marble.

- All right. - Angelina: Five euros.

I don't like this shade, but that's mine, I really like

this--five euros.

It's big, it's marble, it's white, it's imposing--it's

perfect for the chateau.

It's heavy.

If you like it, have it.

♪ ♪

Angelina: Merci.

Oh, I like that--didn't see that.

Phil: I end up buying stuff, and I got all, "Where can I put it

'cause I like it."

And then you almost finding you're justifying buying it, you

see how it's a bargain--four euros.

It's another four euros which isn't something else that's more

useful to get the business going, and everything we're

doing is about doing it with a minimal budget we possibly can

because it's all a risk.

So, even four euros, that's my lunch isn't it, so should we

just forget about this?

- Leave it, yeah. - Phil: All right.

Dick: Phil suddenly remembers the chairs, and grabs a shop

assistant to ask the price.

Excusez moi, monsieur.

Yeah, we missed them, hon.

Phil: C'mon--well, it's decision made.

There's a reasons why I run around this place, you think

about something more than 30 seconds somebody else grabs it,

you know, it's first come, first served.

♪ ♪

Dick: Ah, well, they've come away with a real bargain--the

double bed and lamp for just 35 euros.

Phil: OK, next.

Dick: But Angelina will have to come up with another plan for

the master bedroom's chair.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: At Chateau Madame in the Dordogne, after two years of

renovating, business partners Mandy and Steve hope to finally

rent the place out as a holiday let in just 12-weeks' time.

We need to be taking renters in here at the absolute opening of

the season.

It's gotta be done as soon as possible.

Dick: But they're having problems with the pool.

The concrete surrounding it was laid down without antifreeze in

it, and so it started to crack in the cold months.

It'll be replaced when they get their insurance claim.

Let's look at the stone and hopefully the stone at least

will be done.

Dick: Today the pair are at a natural stone factory at St.

Henri to pick out the pool paving that'll go over the new

concrete.

Steve: Hopefully they'll have the kind of stone that we want

for the pool.

The whole idea is to get something that really fits in

with the chateau, and hard enough.

- Very important. - And that we can afford.

And that we can afford, I agree with that.

Steve: Good.

Dick: Mandy is hardly through the door--

Mandy: Wow, look at this.

Dick:--when some paving catches her eye.

- Pretty amazing. - Whoa.

- Pretty amazing. - It's slippery.

Mandy: Yeah, it is slippery.

Steve: But it's fabulous.

Mandy: This wouldn't work around the pool, would it then?

- Cédric: Hi. - Steve: Hi!

Steve.

How are you--Mandy.

- Bonjour. - Good afternoon.

Dick: Stone salesman Cédric cuts straight to the chase.

You see something you like?

Actually, unfortunately I like everything.

[laughter]

Do you make something like this that's a little bit less

slippery?

Cédric: Yes, look here.

Steve: I mean these larger sizes.

These are 30, 40 feet and random length.

Ah, yes, maybe we could go to the workshop.

♪ ♪

Steve: This is awfully nice of you.

- Steve: Here we go. - Cédric: Here we go.

Oh, it looks so weird [laughs].

Dick: There's a lot of stone to choose from, but at least they

have some strict criteria.

Steve: Pardon me?

It's almost that, as you might say, rough enough.

Right.

Rough enough and affordable, and we can get them in a reasonable

length of time.

♪ ♪

- Mandy: Don't like that. - The light colour.

No, I don't like the light colour.

Mandy: This is too brown.

Actually the chateau is a bit that colour.

Steve: I don't know.

I think Mandy and I drive each other mad, that's the way it is,

and if everything's perfect you're heading for a fall.

Something like this, you mean?

I think that's warm but it's too white.

Mandy: Too white.

Steve: Utterly grey--I like the stone though.

Mandy: No--these are all too grey.

Steve: Yup, check this out.

This is the browner stuff.

Mandy: That's funny.

Steve: But this one's even a little lighter, a little less

varied.

Mandy: But this really I like.

- Steve: Too slippery? - People won't slip.

Dick: Could they be about to agree on the paving?

Mandy: And they look very natural, and they would even

match the stone in the chateau.

Steve: This is it.

Mandy: We've made a decision, I can't believe it.

Now we'll have to go and make the deal.

And as you're the wheeler-dealer, make a good

deal, dealmaker.

Yes.

Dick: Over to you, Steve.

The stone's perfect, we absolutely love it, and we need

about 60 square metres.

We'd like to buy it.

Dick: The paving costs £3,000.

Steve: And I don't mean to press you, but we're gonna need it

very soon.

Maybe I could send you this paving in two weeks.

Steve: Perfect.

If you could arrange a truck that has a forklift on it,

because the driveway is narrow and the arch is narrower,

so we'll have to carry every stone from the road.

Cédric: OK, you explain this.

I can plan a truck with a forklift and the crew can lug

the order near to your swimming pool.

Steve: An absolute dream.

- All right. - Cédric: Very good.

- Lovely. - Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

♪ ♪

Steve: I think the stone's amazing.

I think it's really nice stuff.

- What do you think? - Well, I think so.

I love them, I think it's great.

I think they're very nice.

I don't think you possibly could do better.

Now I have to have everything ready for two weeks.

Dick: But with Steve and Mandy's luck so far, I wouldn't count on

it.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: About 250 miles north, at Chateau du Jalesnes, my wife

Angel is helping Michael, his mum Una, and one of the

investors Jenny, lay on an English tea for some of the

chateau's neighbours.

Gotta add a bit more essence.

We're working with fully new stuff today, under pressure.

I mean, it always adds for a little bit of excitement,

doesn't it?

Dick: Today's a trial run to see if it's a money-making service

Michael and Jonathan can lay on regularly.

♪ ♪

Angel: Right, we're gonna go for it, I've put a good dose of

that on it now.

Whatever we've got, make as many as you can with that not, don't

go too crazy with the honey.

Dick: Michael plans on just him and Jonathan running it.

- Angel, it's 25 to 2:00. - OK.

How do you think we're doing in terms of time?

I'm not gonna lie, we're a little bit under on time.

♪ ♪

Dick: But even with everyone's help it's not easy.

Angel: Are you planning to have this open like three times a

week?

We're planning to do this once a week on Sunday for local

people.

Right.

Angel: And what are you thinking of charging for something like

this?

I thought we'd charge in the region of 20 euros for

a--without alcohol.

We could speak about this after, but is all of these costs are

associated sometimes get a bit overlooked, and--

Michael: What we're learning is we do overlook a lot the cost

of labour--

Angel: Yeah.

--we tend to give me and Jonathan free.

That is the absolute biggest, biggest overlook on someone

setting up the business because you guys are not free,

and Jenny's not free either, and nor is Mummy.

[laughter]

Everyone who works here has gotta be on a fee.

Dick: Once Michael and Jonathan factor in the cost of their own

labour in creating and serving these teas, they may find this

venture just isn't profitable.

Personally, having done a hell of a lot of tea rooms,

it's--it's hard.

You really work for your money.

Dick: Angel has an idea about another way to make this

profitable.

I think it's kind of nice to potentially offer this as part

of a package for a wedding, because then you know your

numbers, you can be totally prepared for it.

I think that's what he's got to do really.

♪ ♪

Angel: Can I have a time check?

- Ten to 2:00. - Angel: Ten to 2:00.

Dick: The guests will be here in just over half an hour.

I don't see any cream in here.

Dick: And Michael looks far from ready.

Argh!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: While Angel and Michael struggle with the business of

serving tea, Jonathan is on a mission to serve a higher order.

We've lost Jesus.

We've got a crucifix here that some vandals knocked off.

We've got our own shrine in the garden, the village used to come

out to once a year.

They don't come out now, and don't know whether we'll

resurrect that--pardon the pun.

Dick: But a more important reason for finding Jesus is the

huge wedding here in a few-weeks' time.

The bride wants it outside, so it's important everything look

shipshape for her.

Jonathan: So that's the point of the exercise this morning.

[chuckles]

I need to find a Jesus, and there are lots of Jesuses out

there that have lost their wooden crosses, so you've just

got the man standing like this.

And this is a first, measuring Jesus is a real first.

I feel a little bit sacrilegious about it.

32--32 by--

♪ ♪

Jonathan: So we've come to a place called Montsoreau and

every month they have what they call a Marché aux Puces.

Puces is French for flea.

I'm particularly keen that we find today my Jesus.

So I've got the dimensions still in my head.

♪ ♪

Jesus is too small unfortunately; it's the one

there--it's a shame.

♪ ♪

Hmm.

♪ ♪

He's 40 wide, and I want 32 wide--it's a shame, because he

looks good from a distance.

♪ ♪

Blow me down, I've found another Jesus [chuckles].

♪ ♪

Still a little bit big, and I'm concerned that because it's wood

that it will rot.

Dick: Looks like Jonathan's not been successful here.

Let's hope he finds what he needs in time for the big

wedding.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: My wife Angel is at Chateau de Jalesnes, where 15

visitors are due to arrive for an afternoon tea service in

just--

Jenny: 15 minutes.

Dick: It's a trial service to see if it's something Michael

and his partner Jonathan can lay on regularly--and Angel's

helping them.

The tactic is today is to woo these ladies.

We've been a bit rushed, so to smooth that along alcohol's

gonna be served.

I'm making a speedy, speedy jasmine syrup.

It's really tasty, it's very sweet.

We're gonna serve it with the local sparkly in a tea cup, it's

sort of been my signature for a while.

I'm gonna serve a tiny little bit in the bottom of a glass

like you know as you do like a Bellini or something.

So literally, that much at the bottom of the cup and then top

up with sparkly?

Yeah.

You are hosting, let me do service, OK?

- OK, great. - Angel: Right.

- Thank you. - Angel: Let's do it.

I'm gonna focus on get everyone pickled [laughs]!

♪ ♪

Dick: The guests are here.

What will the French think of Jonathan and Angel's English

tea?

Bonjour.

Hello, how's it going out there?

They all seem to be loving it, having a great time.

Dick: They do.

But is this a service worth providing regularly at the

chateau?

Angel: I just think it's a lot of work if you actually charge

your time, you'll make hundreds but that's not enough to keep

the place going.

Not worth all the hours, it's not worth it.

Angel: It's not, it's not, but you get that now you've seen.

Mm.

Angel: Your market isn't the locals.

No.

Angel: Your market is overseas people coming here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

People that want big events that don't have a chateau there.

Yeah, yeah.

♪ ♪

As Angel pointed out, is that there's four of us in the

kitchen at some stage for like three or four hours--that's a

lot of work.

Michael: Let's see how it is.

- Ooh, they've all gone. - All gone?

[chuckles]

Angel: I've had an absolutely lovely day.

It was a bit bonkers to start with, but I don't think anyone

knew.

Give me a hug?

Hug to say goodbye and then tidy up.

- Let's tidy up--right. - Angel: Right.

Dick: It's been a constructive day for Michael, and he's come

to a conclusion.

To try and do this every Sunday, as we plan to do, is a lot of

work for not a lot of reward, and the people we'd be doing it

for wouldn't be coming back to stay, which is the main aim for

us.

I like her point that we take it as part of a package so we can

say that you can have an afternoon tea after the wedding.

We could say, well, actually that experience is worth

thousands.

Dick: If they can incorporate this experience into a bigger

wedding package they can make more at each event.

♪ ♪

Dick: 370 miles south at Chateau Madame in the Dordogne, Mandy

and Steve have enough on their plates with a pool area made of

cracked and damaged cement.

Steve: Would should have poured it ourselves, the bottom line.

Mandy: Yup.

Dick: But to make matters worse, part of a 17th century wall that

surrounds the pool area has collapsed.

♪ ♪

This wall fell down in a wind storm--it's a pain.

And we need to put it up and make it safe and make it back to

being what it is before the guests come.

♪ ♪

Dick: Mandy and Steve have paying guests coming to stay in

the chateau in just 12 weeks.

They'll be expecting a working pool, and not to be killed by

falling masonry.

We don't wanna have no local paper: "Guests injured in

landslide at Chateau Madame", would not be a good way to

start.

It's dangerous, it's a worksite situation, and we need to get it

done, it's a priority job.

Dick: This traditional stone wall is made from rocks

originally used to build a castle that once stood on the

site.

Obviously stone walls don't blow down in a storm, but this one

did.

I think it might have had a tilt of its own going.

So I'm going to dig this up over to here.

We'll probably have to pull down some of these stones and set

something in here that will at least support the wall properly

so that it doesn't start doing this again.

One thing that's a challenge is there's nothing to stand on

here, it's really just kind of vertical.

Maybe the fact that this lacks a footing--at least here--is one

of the reasons why this thing fell over.

Somebody took a shortcut I guess.

Putting this back together wasn't something I'd planned on,

but what the heck.

This wall looks like it was run into by a truck; everything's

knocked out of whack, very odd.

I need to be careful to not let these roll down this steep hill

here, because at the bottom is a newly placed stone pathway to

the shower, and we don't wanna break that in addition to

everything else.

So I'm going to take it down a more mature way, piece by piece.

This whole wall is falling apart inside.

I don't think I'm going to finish this tonight, I think

there's more to do.

And so it'll take a little bit longer, but anything that

doesn't take a little bit longer around here there's gotta be

something wrong.

♪ ♪

Dick: We know exactly what you mean Steve, every job at a

chateau is a big one.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: At Chateau Bailleul, after failing to find a chair for

the master bedroom, Angelina has called on the services of my

beautiful wife Angel to help her refurbish an old one.

- Angelina: Hi! - - Angel: Hi [chuckles]!

- Angelina: Lovely to meet you. - How are you?

Muah--muah.

[Angelina chuckles]

Oh wow.

Angelina: Welcome to my chateau.

Angel: It's gorgeous.

Lady of the manor, I adore that.

I mean, it's beautiful.

The windows, I mean, the light must be phenomenal inside.

I can't wait to see what's what.

- I love stairs. - [Angelina chuckles].

Angel: Have you not got a lift?

Some lovely exposed brick work.

I love that, absolutely.

- [Angelina chuckles] - That's gorgeous.

Angelina: So I have this room that I'm working on.

Oh, it's beautiful in here.

I am sort of halfway done here.

I've painted the bed, I've painted those gorgeous drawers.

And the last thing I need to do is this lovely chair.

Angel: It's lovely.

Angelina: I found this beautiful fabric I'd love to upholster it

in.

Angel: Love it.

- Beautiful detail. - Angel: Yeah.

Angel: So is this the project that you'd want to have a go

today at doing?

Angelina: I would love to.

Angel: So I've done a lot of easy chairs, they're tricky,

and being crafty is just having a go at things.

Angelina: Yeah.

And you'll be really surprised.

So are we gonna spray the wood, because it does need a bit of

attention, a bit of TLC.

Yeah, definitely.

Let's get this off and then we can do colour choices.

- Perfect. - But you take them.

- Excellent. - I'll take this.

- Thank you. - Angel: Let's do it.

♪ ♪

Dick: Fixing up this old chair instead of buying one fully

restored could save Angelina a decent amount of cash.

Angel: Some are easier than others, that one just popped

out.

It depends how they've gone in.

Dick: Angel's a veteran of many refurbishing adventures.

You put the buttons in before?

Put them into walls?

- OK. - Yeah, yeah.

Anything that's needed, and a finish, I've just used

upholstery bead that I pick up in charity shops.

It's glue gun job, and it's beautiful finish.

Might let you have a go in a minute, because this is

really therapeutic.

I love instant gratification [chuckles].

- Right, you have a go. - Oh, OK.

Dick: As I know all too well, Angel knows how to delegate.

Is it me or are they rusted?

These have just got very, very dirty.

So when you buy the tacks you buy them in different finishes

like brass and the gold and silver, and different sizes and

what have you.

Angel: Upholstery is cover some in [unclear], and put a bit of

beading on, which to be honest is what a lot of people, you

know, do.

This is slightly more trickier.

Go on, sweetheart, go for it.

It's got the outer beading.

You just needed a bit of confidence to do it, so you

know, that's sometimes what it is, it's just having the guts to

say, "Well, what could be the worst thing that goes wrong?"

♪ ♪

Dick: With the original beading fully removed, it's time for the

next step.

Whenever possible, spray painting is best done outdoors.

Angel: At the end of the day, for the time it's gonna take me

to mask everything off, it's just not worth it.

Dick: By spraying the chair frame before adding the fabric,

Angel is guarding against any mishaps.

Angel: If you can hold that for me my darling.

- Angelina: Yup. - Thank you.

Angel: Really nice colour, isn't it?

Angelina: Yeah.

Really, really lovely actually.

Angel: C'mon, swap places.

This bit.

That would have taken you longer to do with a paintbrush.

Angelina: Longer, to paint, yeah.

And this is, you know, my world, five-minute job--bish, bash,

bosh.

- Exactly. - [laughter]

And if you get a run, you can just give it a little sand,

'cause we're living in chateaux because we like old things,

right?

Angelina: Yeah.

Now, I think I'm done, what do you think?

- Have I converted you? - Angelina: You have.

♪ ♪

Dick: That paint job looks pretty good.

But the really tricky bit is still to come: covering it with

fabric.

Angelina: Fab!

Dick: As the freshly spray-painted chair dries in the

sun, Angel gets an impromptu tour around the chateau.

- This is fabric on the wall. - Great, love it.

- It's padded behind. - Angel: That's nice.

Angelina: Padding, it's like soundproofing.

Angelina:--to the bedroom.

Angel: OK--[Angel sings a note]--OK, just needed to do

that.

♪ ♪

Angelina: This side isn't done, it's quite echoey.

You notice the difference, it's quite soulless.

Yeah.

But let's face it, you've got a beautiful view--it's amazing.

One of the bedrooms is done with the material how it's supposed

to be, and it hides all the imperfections on the walls.

You know what would freak me out there, 'cause it really feels

like hollow-- [Angelina laughs].

--I just expect someone's gonna come out from the other side and

go, "Ooh!"

[laughing]

- So we have this-- - Angel: Oh wow.

- --bridal suite through here. - Oh, it's beautiful.

It's a big room, plenty of space to get ready.

Angel: There's certain things, personally, that I think are

nearly acceptable, for instance, slight dilapidation--

Angelina: Yeah.

--on some of the walls, I've always found possibly OK.

- Angelina: Character. - A bit of character.

Yeah.

Angel: You know what's gonna make this room?

- Angelina: Yeah. - Proper, proper, proper--

- Angelina: Yeah. - --power tab curtains.

- Something really "umptuous". - Angelina: Like that chair.

Angelina: So I'll show you the pièce de résistance--the tiny

little bath through here.

Oh!

[Angel chuckles]

Angel: I've been in one of these before.

Oh my god.

I can't remember getting out of it.

Angel: Oh, isn't it cute?

Dick: Back outside with the chair now dry--

Angel: All right, great--here we go.

Dick:--it's time to cover it.

I mean, this is very nice.

Angelina: That's a nice print, yeah.

Angel: Yeah, let's get it straight.

So, is there a particular place that you usually

would start stapling the fabric onto the furniture?

Whenever I've done them before, sort of start front, back,

sides.

- OK, uh huh. - Then corners.

- Yeah. - Angel: Hold it into place--

Into--

Angel:--and work your way back in.

I was just wondering.

There we go.

- Right, let's go over the back. - Angelina: At the back.

- Wanna have a go at the back? - Yeah, sure.

Just make sure that it's really, you know, it's got that

voluptuousness, because you can manipulate fabric.

Angelina: Yeah.

So can you see it's already looking like--

Angelina: Yeah.

Angel:--like you wanna put your bum on it.

Angelina: Yeah.

Angel: Do it, what's the worst that can happen--yay!

- Angelina: Yay! - Angel: Next side.

OK, lovely.

Do the same over here.

There we go.

- Angel: Put the corners down. - Angelina: Mm hmm.

Angel: Like so.

Angelina: Bam!

[chuckles]

- Angel: Now you do. - Angelina: Upholstery, oh god.

Angel: It's looking quite nice already.

Always good when you do new things, and you're forever

learning, every day we learn something new.

Do you think that's OK on the fold, is that what you meant or

is that too high?

Let me see.

Yeah, this one comes down a little bit lower actually, so

try and sort of make them symmetrical.

Angel: Yup, that's better, that's good.

Angelina: Yeah.

See there's no right or wrong--

OK.

--it's just sort of like making it look neat.

♪ ♪

Dick: Refurbishing is a vital part of chateau life.

With Angel's help, Angelina is saving their pennies,

and learning a great new skill in the process.

Angelina's got a bit of confidence today.

I've not really given her much more than, you know, a couple of

tips: don't be afraid, just give it a go, what's the worst that

could happen, you know.

Angel: We are nearly done.

You've got a few more bits to do.

Yeah.

So you're gonna trim tight around here.

Angelina: Looks beautiful.

Angel: Find the beading that you want, and make all the little

edges neat.

Angelina: Hide all the staples, yeah.

Angel: You can just put this on--you'd take this off,

won't you?

Angelina: Yeah.

I was really super scared of it, but I love it--I absolutely love

it.

I might have steal it into my bedroom to be honest.

[laughter]

♪ ♪

Dick: Success!

That newly upholstered chair looks the business.

It's been a lovely day.

We stripped the chair, put this lovely fabric that Angelina's

got on it, and give it a little spray paint.

I love it, I'm so pleased with this chair--look at it!

It's stunning, I'm definitely doing a lot more upholstering.

I'll be inviting her over to our chateau, "Can you do this chair

Angelina?"

It's all about confidence.

Angelina: Maybe we can go and celebrate, have a bit of wine?

Angel: You're not finished yet.

[laughter]

♪ ♪

Dick: In the Dordogne, business partners Mandy and Steve are

trying to get Chateau Madame as a holiday home for the busy

summer rental season.

We've gotta get it going because basically time's running out,

we've got to get it all set up and ready to go.

Dick: Today Mandy is unavailable to help.

Mandy unfortunately isn't here because Mandy's mother had to go

to the hospital.

She's OK, she had something--an irregular heartbeat--but she

seemed to be OK, and she's there for a test--she's 98-and-a-half

years old.

♪ ♪

Dick: The chateau has been beset by problems.

A wall has blown over in a storm, and their swimming pool

has been nothing but trouble.

It started when a local contractor was hired to lay a

cement base for the patio.

He does it December 19th, he doesn't put any antifreeze in,

he doesn't use enough cement.

The stuff ruptures and splits.

Dick: Steve got another team in to fix the problems of the

first, and they got it wrong too.

So we hire other guys who are touted to be very good, and

these guys did everything the opposite of the way it should be

done.

Dick: The workers didn't make the concrete base big enough,

and now the patio stone Steve and Mandy ordered to sit on the

top won't fit.

Steve: The stones are 60 centimetres, this is supposed to

be 62--this is hardly 60.

Now the stones don't even fit in.

Dick: Steve is going to have to cut a couple of centimetres off

the stones that will sit around the edge, so they're the correct

size for this concrete base.

But now he has more pressing problems, he and John--a

volunteer worker from New Zealand--think the pool may have

a leak.

- John: But if it stops here-- - Steve: Yeah.

John:--then it's definitely this point.

Yesterday it never went lower than that.

Steve: Why don't we mark the spot with a pencil.

- I've marked the spot here. - Yeah.

You see it go down.

Mark it on the plastic stuff here.

Steve: Those pieces that go around the stairs, the water

could be leaking out--that's a weak point in the chain

is right there.

I can't imagine anything else.

Why don't we turn the pump on, and then--

John: Just wait for a couple of hours, I wanna see if it drops.

Steve: That's fine with me too.

John: You know, you've got the pencil mark, it goes down.

Steve: Right.

♪ ♪

Dick: The guys get some time working on the wall that was

blown down in the storm.

And then they come back to check the water level again.

John: It's going down about 10 mils every hour.

So that's a lot of water which is somewhere.

Steve: Yeah.

But the water is dropping like a rock.

Steve: What do you think?

I think we're just gonna have to let it go for the moment.

John: Yup.

Steve: Let the water drop a bit more and see what happens.

John: So, I've got no answers.

Dick: This is terrible news for Steve.

The pool's been a nightmare, and with the first ever booking

confirmed in just 12-weeks' time, it needs to be sorted.

The pressure's on big time.

That pool needs to be finished--it just needs to be

dealt with one way or another.

♪ ♪

Dick: Next time: Steve's pool problems multiply.

Mamma mia!

Steve: It's the curse of the accursed pool.

Dick: Phil and Angelina go in search of their dream chateau.

Angelina: It's a nice drive, it's just got magical appeal and

it's got like really cool outbuildings there's turrets

as well.

Dick: Angel and I go treasure hunting in our attic.

I love this bath.

Angel: I can fit in there.

- Darling-- - I know [chuckling].

Dick: And as Michael and Jonathan prepare their chateau

for a big event, it throws up a problem.

[Michael gags]

That's yet another thing on the list of things to do, and we

could well do without.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪