Original subtitles

[birds chirping]

That's me:

Dick Strawbridge, my darling wife Angel, and our two

beautiful children.

Angel: Potato!

Dick: Nearly three years ago, we up sticks for a whole new life

in France and bought this magnificent chateau.

Angel: Oh!

[laughs]

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

Baby, we--oh, you're so strong.

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

Angelina Baillie-Smith: Oh, yeah, yeah.

- [glass shatters] - Woman: Oops.

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

stunning buildings.

♪ ♪

[man grunts]

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 on how we're running

our chateau as a business--

Whoa, ah, 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: Muah.

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

- Man: Yes, cheers. - Angel: Cheers.

Dick:--as they face the highs--

- Absolutely terrifying. - Dick:--and lows--

♪ ♪

Woman: It's extremely expensive.

It's financial suicide.

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

B&Bs to beautiful wedding venues.

Owning a chateau isn't glamorous.

[man gags]

Anyone who thinks it is, is delusional.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: Today:

When two new parents face a mammoth task trying to get their

chateau ready for the holiday season--

I don't know if we can get everything done in time.

Dick:--they call in support.

I was up at the 4:00 in the morning.

I didn't know I was gonna be moving paving slabs all day.

[woman laughs]

Dick: Or at least they thought they had.

Don't actually know if he's ever really done a full day's work in

his life before.

Dick: One chateau couple gambles everything on a new menu for

their guests--

Colette: It's not going fantastically well.

Dick:--but things start to get heated.

- [Patrick winces] - Colette: It's really hot.

♪ ♪

Dick: And when I get the call to help one woman search for some

buried chateau booty--

Dick, come and find the treasure for me [laughs].

Dick:--we find ourselves a bit tangled up.

- You wanna go further in? - Donna: This way.

- Now I'm in the trees! - [both laugh]

Hold on.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

♪ ♪

Dick: This is the beautiful Chateau de Ribagnac.

It was built in 1560, and it's run as a B&B by Patrick--

Put all these down here.

Dick:--and his wife Colette.

Colette: So the place we call home is over 500 years old,

and we're the fifth family to live here, and it's been partly

destroyed by fire twice.

Dick: Located in the Limousin region of France, it has four

suites and a couple of cottages for rent within the massive

36-acre grounds.

♪ ♪

The grounds that we have here are about the same size at the

park I used to take the kids to when we lived in London.

[birds chirping]

♪ ♪

Dick: Colette loves everything about her chateau, except for

one thing:

Her kitchen.

We've been discussing a new kitchen for about 14 years.

When that will happen, I don't know.

Hopefully in--

You promised me this autumn.

Patrick: Hopefully the end of this year.

Colette: We don't ever make a fortune here, but what happens

is any money we make during the season gets put back into the

house.

If we have a good summer season, then it'll be the kitchen--is

hopefully how it will work.

Dick: And a new kitchen will make it easier to create the

dinners Colette makes for her guests.

♪ ♪

Colette: We didn't envisage that the food would be such a large

part of the way we run things and the way people enjoy the

place.

Patrick: Hmm.

People just would want dinner all the time, every night

whenever it was on offer.

Patrick: I think that the meals in the evening are what makes

the whole place jell.

♪ ♪

Dick: Today, Colette is shopping for the ingredients for a

five-course meal for the eight guests staying at the chateau

this evening.

♪ ♪

I bought three quails to do a quail sauce.

Dick: And she's decided to take a risk by serving a whole new

menu.

Colette: It's all Limousin beef.

You couldn't ask anyone what they serve other than Limousin.

They think you're insulting their mother.

♪ ♪

Dick: She's hoping the new dishes will help her to cater

for more people at the chateau.

That might pay for her much-longed-for new kitchen.

[both speaking in French]

Colette: And she's just making little flowers out of cheese,

and you have them for apéritif, and it's delicious, with a nice

glass of wine, obviously.

Dick: But if it doesn't go to plan, it could put her

reputation at risk.

- Bonne journée. - Au revoir.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: 275 miles north is a lovely old building called,

Le Vieux Chateau.

♪ ♪

Dick: It's owned by retired vet Donna McDougall from Norfolk.

♪ ♪

I just love every minute of living here.

Maybe I'm just getting older, but the slower pace of life is

lovely.

♪ ♪

Dick: It lies in the centre of Normandy and Northern France,

and Donna runs it as a B&B, renting out four bedrooms and

cooking the guests breakfast throughout the summer.

It works beautifully as a business because it's big enough

for guests to come and for me to live my own private life.

It's great meeting people who come to stay.

♪ ♪

Dick: Last year, Donna received a visit from an elderly

gentleman who had lived near the chateau when he was a young man

in the 1930s.

Donna: He told me that it had been used as a private museum

for a vast collection of medieval armour that the owner

had inherited from his ancestors.

I was pretty amazed about this.

♪ ♪

Dick: But that's not all he'd seen.

He claimed to have been here in the summer of 1940 during the

Second World War when the Nazis seized control of Normandy as

they swept across France.

But what happened to all that armour?

Donna: I asked what happened when the Germans arrived, and he

proceeded to tell me that rather than let the Germans use it or

take it, they put it into 20 wooden crates and hid it in the

lake.

Um...I wasn't expecting that [laughs].

♪ ♪

Donna: He said that he was here when they boxed everything up

into about 20 boxes, and they put it in the lake.

And I stupidly didn't ask where.

♪ ♪

Dick: Shortly after his visit to Donna, the man sadly passed

away.

So now all she's left with is the tantalizing possibility that

a huge and highly valuable hoard of medieval armour and weaponry

is lying at the bottom of her lake.

At first, I just thought, "My god, this is--this is

extraordinary, that we might still have a whole lot of

medieval armour in the lake."

And my next thought was, "I'm not sure how I'm ever gonna find

it or get it out."

[chuckles]

Dick: So she's confident that the treasure is still down there

somewhere, and she's turned to yours truly to give her a hand.

Donna: I can't think of anyone better placed to try and find

this.

I have no idea how he's going to do it, but I can't wait to see.

So good luck, Dick.

Come and find the treasure for me [laughs].

♪ ♪

Dick: Don't worry, Donna, I'm on my way.

Everyone we know with a chateau thinks there's treasure there

somewhere.

That includes us.

Sadly, most of it's just wishful thinking.

However, Donna, she's so excited; she's so absolutely

sure there's something there, that she's convinced me.

I'm very excited about today.

This should be fun.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

♪ ♪

Dick: This is the splendid Chateau Monteil.

Built in the mid-19th century, it has 20 rooms in total.

Set in 6.5 acres of land, it's the home of Englishman Tim and

his wife Chris who's from the Philippines.

Oh, and now newborn baby Owen too.

Chris: This is our forever home.

Tim: Yeah, it's beautiful.

We can't imagine ourselves living elsewhere.

Tim: No, it's perfect.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

♪ ♪

Dick: Located in the Dordogne in Southwest France, they bought

their undone pile for around £380,000 with the help of Tim's

parents who now live in an outbuilding on the property.

After two hard years of renovation, they opened as a

boutique B&B--two double rooms and two suites.

But they're not making any profit, and so this year, they

need to expand.

Tim: Our main tasks at the moment are completely renovating

the attic space to create a new family suite.

Dick: They've estimated the new suite could bring in about

£15,000 per season.

Well, now we've got an extra mouth to feed now.

[both laugh]

Tim: Hopefully this year is a really good year for us, and

then next year, that should be our first--our first profitable

year.

- Our first income, yeah. - Yeah.

♪ ♪

Dick: But the start of the new summer season is fast

approaching.

I've got seven weeks to go, and it's all gotta be finished.

- [Chris chuckles] - Tim: Bring it on.

Dick: So Tim needs to get a move on.

First job in the attic:

Replacing the old wiring.

So I pull this old ceiling down, get a little plaster off and all

the wood down, and we can run the electrics and drop over so

we can get some light switches in.

I think I'll make it look nice and new.

♪ ♪

Touch wood, it doesn't look like there's actually anything wrong

up here.

I was worried that I might find a few rotten beams and maybe a

few shifted slates.

Yeah, nice and clean and baby friendly [chuckles].

Dick: Yeah right.

Optimistic Tim might be pleased--

Done [chuckles].

Dick:--but this is only phase one.

With just seven weeks until the first guests arrive, Chris is

feeling the pressure.

Yeah, it's quite complicated at the moment because we've got

this little bundle of joy--[chuckles]--and got to get

it all done and ready.

♪ ♪

Dick: Tim is going to have to work pretty fast.

He needs to get the new suite finished by the beginning of the

season.

If he doesn't, and the place looks like a bomb site,

he'll not only lose the new bookings, it could affect the

existing bookings for the other suites in the chateau.

It's quite nerve-wracking for us because we might not get it

ready on time.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

Dick: Just over 100 miles north of Tim and Chris, at Chateau de

Ribagnac, Colette has started work on her ambitious new menu

for tonight's dinner.

Colette: We do five courses.

We include apéritifs and wine and coffee, and that's at 45

euros per head.

♪ ♪

Dick: Sounds like a bargain.

Five courses for around £40.

But tonight's meal is a risk; she's never cooked it before.

[food sizzling]

Colette: You know, what's the point of going everything being

the same and--yeah.

♪ ♪

Dick: Colette wants to expand Chateau de Ribagnac's menu to

attract more guests, earn more money, and buy herself a

brand-new kitchen.

- So the kitchen is-- - The kitchen is terrible.

It's tiny; it's poorly organized; and everything is

made in--of concrete.

So, we do have a project which has been around for quite some

time to redo the kitchen.

♪ ♪

Colette: And logistically, in that tiny kitchen,

it's extremely difficult.

I think even if it wasn't in a tiny kitchen, logistically, it's

quite challenging.

So, yes, I do feel a lot of pressure.

Come on, come on.

Dick: She's been cooking for about three hours.

There's just two hours until apéritifs are severed.

So the menus tonight is--for snacks, we're doing the giroux

that we got from the cheese lady.

Then I'll probably do a baked Camembert.

And then for the starter, we've got pasta with quail's egg

sauce.

For the small course, spinach and crème fraîche, and a quail's

egg.

For the main, there's beef daube, so it's a very country

beef casserole.

And then obviously cheese.

And then last but not least, the berry mousse cake.

♪ ♪

Dick: So far, everything has gone to plan.

Sometimes I get stressed when I get behind.

Dick: But when running a chateau business at the same time as

being head chef, there's always distractions, and today is no

different.

OK, well, thank you.

We'll look forward to meeting you on Monday.

Dick: And then there are Colette's two children to look

after:

Agnes--

Colette: Could you stop leaving tissues all over the place,

please?

Dick:--and Gilberto.

Colette: Ew, you got a tick under your armpit.

Dick: Colette needs to stay focused if she wants to finish

the dinner on time.

♪ ♪

Dick: Back in Normandy at Le Vieux Chateau, Donna's convinced

that there's a hoard of treasure lurking somewhere at the bottom

of her lake.

Hopefully somewhere along here are 20 boxes of pristine

medieval armour.

I hope.

Dick: She's been told that the armour was dumped in the lake in

1940 to prevent it being stolen by the Nazi invaders.

There's a lot of silt in this lake, probably more than there

was 70 years ago, so we could just find rusty bits of rubbish,

or we could find beautifully protected armour because it's

been covered in silt and hasn't had any oxygen so it's not gonna

rust.

I hope, anyway.

Can't wait [laughs].

♪ ♪

Dick: I've come to help her look for it, and I've brought my

little boat because I've got a sneaky feeling we're going to

need it.

Very, very peaceful.

And so, so much older than our chateau, so much older.

It's gorgeous.

- Hiya! - Donna: Hello, bonjour!

This place is absolutely gorgeous.

Donna: Thank you!

How lovely to meet you.

Just looks like there's so much history here.

Oh, I think there is, yeah.

There is a lot of history here.

It's an old, old chateau, this one.

Dick: Today, we were interested in more recent history.

So the Germans during the Second World War, what were they doing

here?

- They were living here. - Mm hmm.

They--they came pretty quickly across from Paris to Normandy.

And this was occupied.

Right, the Germans coming--

Donna: Yes.

--the locals will have known, and hiding your sort of--your

treasures, your secrets, that must have been--it must have

been done at a gallop.

And the walls were filled with a massive private collection of

medieval armour.

And I don't think they wanted the Germans to have any use of a

medieval sword or mace or anything else, so they decided

to put them in boxes, about 20 boxes, and hide them from the

Germans in the lake.

The lake is much bigger than I expected.

Have you any idea where it would be?

Donna: I don't know where it is at all.

Dick: OK.

Come with me and we'll have a look.

♪ ♪

Dick: I really hope Donna can narrow our search down, because

this lake's much bigger than a football pitch.

I'm looking at this place and thinking, "Where do we start?"

Donna: If I was living here, and I had a collection of medieval

armour, I'd put it at the deepest end of the lake.

Dick: Which is not here?

Donna: Which is--it's the opposite end.

That end's the deepest, and it's the most accessible, so I am

guessing--if I was in their position, that's where I'd put

it.

Dick: If I get the boat down here, yeah--

Donna: Yes.

--we're going to make our way to start down the far end?

I think so, yeah.

- Dick: Yeah? - Donna: Yeah.

Dick: That's the most likely place?

- Donna: Yeah. - Dick: Let's go and--

Donna: Let's do everything.

Dick: Do you know what, let's get started.

Donna: Yeah.

♪ ♪

Dick: As well as my boat, I've brought along a metal detector.

But there's about four feet of silt at the bottom of the lake.

So if the treasure's sunk beneath that, we've got a real

challenge on our hands detecting it.

I so hope we can actually detect it, see that it is there, 'cause

wow.

Treasure in your lake, hello!

Every boy's dream.

I want armour in my moat [laughs].

♪ ♪

Dick: Donna's told me the lake's actually pretty shallow.

Stand in the middle of the boat.

Even at its deepest, it's not much more than a metre deep.

Donna: It's not going to sink, is it, with me at this--

Dick: Well, that's why I put you on.

Donna: I'm quite heavy [laughs].

Dick: Yeah, hello.

Sorry.

- Do you think? - Yeah [chuckles]!

♪ ♪

Dick: We are launching at the shallow end, but I'm sure my

little boat can take it.

It's rocky.

It's not just silt.

So there's--getting out of this first bit's going to be

interesting.

- Donna: Yeah. - You ready for it?

- Donna: Yeah. - Go and find some treasure.

- Yeah. - Dick: Right, OK.

It's a bit like Swallows and Amazons, you know?

Dick: It is, which is every schoolboy's dream, isn't it,

right?

I'm coming on board.

- Donna: Yay! - Dick: We're off.

♪ ♪

Dick: Success at the first hurdle.

Now all we've got to do is find the buried treasure.

Is that seat all right?

Oops!

Dick: Yes, this is a perfect place to be.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: At Chateau de Ribagnac, it's now just two hours before

Colette needs to serve the first course of her brand-new,

five-course menu.

Colette: It's not going fantastically well.

♪ ♪

Dick: It's part of a plan to expand her culinary repertoire

and increase the reputation of Chateau de Ribagnac as a

location for fine dining.

But it comes with a risk.

Well, I think you're only as good as the meal that you've

just cooked, so you--that's a lot of pressure on me.

Dick: It's a difficult enough task, even without the

distractions.

Mommy, look.

- Ew, really? - Ugh, it's huge.

Colette: Is Daddy going to get rid of it for you now?

Dick: Son Gilberto has come in with a tick under his armpit.

They're outdoors all the time, so--

Dick: Ticks aren't very pleasant and can carry Lyme's disease.

They need to be removed carefully without leaving any

bits behind.

Luckily, Dad Patrick knows what to do.

Gilberto, come in here.

You'll need to sit at the end of the table where there's some

light, OK?

It's a country thing, but they are kind of disgusting

Gilberto: Oh, I can see its head move.

Patrick: Don't move.

Come on.

Ready?

♪ ♪

Patrick: OK, it's out, but it's fallen down your--can you take

off your T-shirt, please, super carefully.

That's the fella.

Press that under there.

- OK, just-- - Gilberto: Ow!

Patrick: Just hold it under there.

♪ ♪

Dick: Crisis over, Colette can focus on the dinner.

But it's June here, temperatures regularly hit the 30s, and as

service looms, temperatures are rising in the kitchen.

In the summer, it gets horrendously hot.

I spend most of my working--[alarm beeping]--my

breathing hours here, so it's horrible to be in when it's

really beautiful outside.

♪ ♪

Dick: At least Colette and Patrick have some help today

from Elliot--a friend of the family.

Patrick: So I guess we better get cracking then.

Dick: Patrick goes out to schmooze the guests.

♪ ♪

Dick: And after checking everything's on course--

Everything, unless I've forgotten anything, is more or

less ready.

Dick:--is joined by Colette.

Colette: Bonsoir.

Have we all said cheers by the way?

Everyone: Cheers!

Colette: Cheers, and welcome to the newcomers.

Cheers.

Patrick: Cheers, everybody.

Woman: We are in Loire Valley because my husband is from Loire

Valley.

I'm from Hungary; I'm from Budapest.

Do you want to just pass those around, darling?

♪ ♪

Dick: Little Gilberto serves the canapés.

[speaking in French]

Gilberto and Colette: Cheese.

They stick like a corkscrew in it, then they turn it, and it

just takes tiny shavings.

Dick: Then it's time for a baked Camembert.

Patrick: This is so hard, not touching.

Dick: But Patrick can't get it open.

Yeah, I think I gave it a bit of a hospital pass there, opening

it up.

Patrick: Sure.

Colette: Anyone who can open it gets a prize.

Man: Is it cheese, the prize?

- Colette: Yeah, it's cheese. - [laughter]

- Colette: Ah, well done. - Woman: Well done.

♪ ♪

Dick: Phew.

While the guests enjoy the Camembert, Colette and Patrick

set up for dinner.

Colette wants it to perfect.

Could you get the shell plates for me, please?

♪ ♪

Patrick: You mean this size?

No, not those ones, the--sorry, the--you know, the normal ones

that we use with the thing around the outside.

Patrick: You said "shell."

These are the shell ones.

Not those ones.

Patrick: I don't know which ones--

Colette: Yes, you do.

- Wave. - Colette: Yeah.

Not shell then.

Do you want to do this instead?

- Patrick: I'm buggin' ya. - OK, just checking.

Dick: The pressure is on.

There's just five minutes until the guests come in for their

five-course meal.

I hope Colette's going to be ready.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

♪ ♪

Dick: Back in the Dordogne, Chris is busy looking after

newborn Owen as Tim tries to turn their attic into a luxury

two-bedroom suite.

♪ ♪

Dick: The bedrooms need finishing off and a new bathroom

installing.

But they're used to the hard graft.

Well, we inherited a very, very, very rundown, tired, worn-out

building.

The central heating system needed to be replaced, plenty of

walls and ceilings needed to be ripped out.

- Chris: Plumbing. - Tim: Yeah, everything.

You name it--

We've spent about £100,000 to renovate the house.

Tim: Yeah.

But now, we've got to reinvest whatever we make to continue the

renovations.

The pot is empty, and we've got to make money to spend money.

♪ ♪

Dick: I know exactly how tough it is juggling children and

building work.

But throw a newborn into the mix, and the job's even more of

a challenge.

Chris is obviously frustrated that she can't help out with any

physical work while she's recovering from baby Owen's

early arrival.

We're really happy that he's here, but I'm also heartbroken

that I can't do anything in the house.

♪ ♪

[insects buzz]

Dick: This includes the gardening and vegetable patch

which are Chris' passions.

Chris: Hey, the rabbits got into that one.

Tim: Yeah, I don't know if it's the rabbits or the chickens.

Dick: But it's more than just a hobby.

The vegetable patch plays a crucial role in keeping down

some of the running costs of the B&B.

Tim: We offer dinner two or three times a week.

Everything that we grow goes into that:

Tomatoes, melons, pumpkins, courgettes.

And it goes a huge way into keeping the costs down.

But also, it tastes so much better as well.

♪ ♪

Dick: Chris may have had to, very reluctantly, hand over the

gardening gloves to Tim, but she's still the boss.

Where are you gonna put the tomatoes?

Down there.

Chris: Well, you need to work it first.

Yeah, I've gotta get the weeds out, I know.

Get some compost in.

♪ ♪

Chris: Whenever he does something that is not on my

plan, it does irritate me a lot.

Tim: I thought instead of having three in each of these, we could

put four in each of these.

Chris: Why is that?

- Just bunch them up a bit. - Chris: No, I just put three.

[Chris chuckles]

Chris: He's not as thorough as I would have done it, but he's

doing OK.

He's on his knees [laughs].

One more--

Tim: One more and then I can have a beer.

--you'll be done.

Tim: Done.

Chris: Well, that's all our tomatoes planted.

Hopefully in the summer, we'll get a bumper crop, and our

guests will be happy.

♪ ♪

Dick: But if they want a successful summer, Tim better

finish the attic quickly.

And he's determined to do it himself.

It equates to--I mean, it's £200 a day to get someone out to do

stuff.

I'm proud that I can look after my family, you know?

And if anything crops up, I can--you know, Dad can get down

and deal with it.

And I can be an inspiration, you know?

[laughs]

Dick: Tim's a trained chef by trade.

He's not a natural builder.

Tim: The only thing being a chef has come in handy for is

plastering.

So you mix the plaster so it's the consistency of buttercream,

and then it's just like icing a cake, you know?

You just have to--you know, get it on, and then come back around

and smooth it out.

And when I came to France, I couldn't wire a plug,

essentially.

The Internet, online videos, have taught me everything,

really.

Dick: Whilst Tim's having a hard morning in the attic, Chris is

busy with her first home midwife appointment.

- Midwife: Bonjour. - Chris [laughing]: Bonjour.

- Midwife: Comment ça va? - Chris: Très bien.

Midwife: Très bien?

Chris: I'm excited to know if he's gained weight.

- Midwife: I think so. - [chuckles]

Dick: With money tight after the new arrival, Tim's always on the

lookout for savings.

Tim: It's getting bloody expensive over here.

I'm just using floor boarding, and I've bought some beading to

go on top, and I'm just gonna make me own imitation skirting.

Dick: But when it comes to wall plugs, it seems cutting corners

is a false economy.

Tim: These are dreadful.

Dick: Downstairs, it's all toilet talk.

[Owen cries]

Midwife: Have he--[French spoken]--you know?

- [Chris speaking in French] - [Owen cries]

- Oh, if he's poo-poo? - Midwife: Yeah.

Yeah, more or less, yes, every time.

Midwife: OK.

Dick: In the attic, Tim's decided to abandon the cheap

wall plugs.

When I'm screwing these in, this is just going around

inside--[drill]--and just chewing the thread, so

there's--there's no head anymore to screw into.

They're just dreadful.

So, never buy bargains, and we'll do it with glue.

♪ ♪

Dick: Working singlehandedly and having to teach himself as

he goes means even a simple task like skirting can take double

the time.

Time Tim hasn't got.

♪ ♪

Tim: This room, I reckon we've got another week, and then

that's this one done, which means I've got six weeks left to

do the bathroom, corridor, other bedroom.

Yeah, a lot of work.

♪ ♪

Dick: I think Tim's optimism is starting to waver.

And Chris is in no doubt about the challenge ahead.

It's really heartbreaking because I don't know if we can

get everything done in time.

We want to be able to earn enough income so that we can

support our little family.

Dick: Facing such a huge challenge and all the constant

demands of a newborn, Tim realizes he needs some help.

It kind of dawned on me with all the day-to-day jobs that there's

a lot of work still to do, and so to make life easier, I've

gave me little brother Ben a ring, and he's managed to get a

last-minute flight, and he's gonna pop over and come and give

me a hand with some of the more difficult stuff so that I'm not

trying to do it all on me own, just so I've got an extra pair

of hands and--and a bit of muscle.

Dick: I hope your brother's a hard grafter, Tim.

You have to be, or I can't see this place being ready on time.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

Dick: I've travelled 150 miles north to Le Vieux Chateau in the

heart of Normandy to help Brit-owner Donna hunt for some

buried treasurer.

- We're moving. - We are!

- Dick: We're at sea! - Donna: Woo hoo!

Dick: Treasure's here!

She's been told that during the Second World War, a hoard of

medieval armour was hidden from the Nazis in this lake.

How deep is it here?

- It's about a metre. - Dick: OK.

In fact, yeah just--I just about touched the top of the silt.

I think we should start here.

♪ ♪

I've never used one of these things before, so--

Dick: Why don't you put them on.

- Donna: OK. - Dick: Put on--yeah.

Good.

- We'll do sign language. - [laughs]

- Take control of the probe. - Donna: OK.

And your hand goes over the top.

Donna: Ahh.

- It's beeping--oh. - That's the battery check.

- Uh huh. - [Dick exhales]

Dick: For our best shot at finding the treasure, Donna

needs to keep the end of the metal detector resting on top of

the 4-foot thick layer of silt at the bottom of the lake.

Right, so you're resting on the silt?

Yes.

I'm going to start trawling now.

I'm gonna start moving.

We'll go over this way to begin with because this is the area

we're interested in.

I'm keen to check as wide an area of the lake as possible.

But Donna's convinced the treasure would have been dumped

over by the shoreline.

I mean, they wouldn't have got it out here.

Dick: True.

They wouldn't--I'm sure they wouldn't have put it on boats

and put it here.

Dick: Let's search.

We're gonna work our way in there, OK?

OK, all right.

So I just keep this in?

Dick: Yeah, keep it in the water.

Keep it in the water now, and you're listening for your beep.

♪ ♪

Dick: We're going into the trees, near the edge.

I just hope she doesn't want to go in too close or we're gonna

get a face full of tree branch.

Here we go!

- Right, anything at all? - No.

- Still nothing? - Donna: No.

Do you know--I think we need to go in here.

Dick: Sorry?

Donna: I think we need to go in here.

Dick: You want to go closer?

- Donna: Yeah, please. - Dick: OK, absolutely.

Whatever you say, Donna.

You're the boss.

- Are you swinging it around? - [Donna laughs]

Dick: What, what, what, what?

What, what?

Donna: No, no; it's nothing; it's just all the trees.

[laughs]

Dick: You got me all excited there.

Donna: I know.

No, nothing yet.

♪ ♪

Dick: Now we're really in a pickle.

Well, this is interesting.

Donna: We're very close to the edge here.

Dick: Yeah.

Donna: Maybe we need to just go down there further.

Dick: Just go sideways through the trees.

Donna: Please, sir!

Dick: Sideways through the trees, right.

I am in the trees [laughing]!

Dick: Never mind the trees, keep scanning!

We're finding treasure.

Donna: Dick, can you go this way a little bit?

Dick: Yes.

- Which way? - Donna: This way.

- You wanna go further in? - Donna: This way [laughs].

We're in.

[laughs]

- Hold on. - Donna: Oh!

Dick: What do you mean, "Oh"?

"Oh" is a bad noise.

Donna: No, no, no, it's the trees oh.

Dick: Oh, I thought it was you going in the water, "oh".

Donna: Yeah.

♪ ♪

Dick: I wonder if the people who dumped it here had as much

trouble as we're having.

I think this is the area they would have put it, because it's

the most convenient area.

It's the deepest part of the lake, and it's the most

convenient area from the house.

♪ ♪

Dick: Donna's logic makes perfect sense, but we're just

not getting any readings over here at all.

- Until suddenly-- - Donna: Just about here.

- Just go back a little bit. - [detector beeping]

♪ ♪

- Donna: There! - Dick: Where?

- I've got a noise here. - Dick: What?

I've got a noise here.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: At Chateau de Ribagnac, it's 8:00 p.m.--

[bell rings]

--and the diners are called to dinner.

♪ ♪

Patrick: There's a very strict seating pattern.

- Woman: Is there? - Yeah.

Man: Right.

- Just sit down. - [laughter]

Woman: Boy, girl, boy, girl.

I'd like to sit by you.

♪ ♪

Dick: It's going to be a long night.

Colette's already been cooking in the kitchen for the last five

hours, so after wishing each other good luck--

Everyone: Cheers!

Dick:--the starter is served.

♪ ♪

Patrick: So, ladies and gents, for your starter, you have a

quail ragu with--[speaking French]--spaghetti.

Dick: Colette waits for a report in the kitchen.

How they doing for their starter?

Patrick: They are enjoying it.

OK good, and--

They're consuming it, not especially quickly.

- Colette: OK. - Dick: So far so good.

Just time for a celebratory glass of wine.

It seems to be going well with the guests, and the Bergots

alike.

Have they got plates?

Dick: Colette's already moving on.

♪ ♪

Dick: An egg and spinach dish topped off with crème fraîche

and a quail's egg is served next.

Man: Fantastic.

Dick: Followed by the pièce de résistance:

Beef daube--a local casserole.

- [Patrick winces] - Dick: Careful, it's hot.

- Patrick: Pretty hot. - Colette: Forgot to tell you.

♪ ♪

[chatter]

Dick: The dinner is in its closing stages.

There are just two courses left.

It's that cheesy time of evening.

Dick: And when they look for the cheese--

Patrick: The cheese is in the cupboard, is it?

Uh--

Dick: No one can remember where it is.

Colette: I know nothing.

Dick: Will this dinner fall apart at the final hurdle?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: I'm at Le Vieux Chateau in the heart of Normandy, helping

Donna McDougall search for some buried armour at her lake with a

metal detector.

And after nearly an hour searching with no results--

- [detector beeps] - There!

- Dick: Where? - I've got a noise here.

- Dick: What? - I've got a noise here.

- Come back! - Dick: You've got noise?

Yeah.

Dick: Now, this is promising.

- [detector beeps] - Donna: There.

Dick, can you just come a little bit forward?

- Dick: Of course I can. - Donna: There!

A definite noise, just here!

Dick: You've got a definite noise?

Just here, yeah.

Come a little bit--there!

- Def--oh! - [both laugh]

Come forward, come forward!

Dick: I'm in a middle of a tree!

What do you mean--

Donna: So what [laughs]!

♪ ♪

Donna: Don't lose this position right here.

[detector beeps]

That's it!

That's it, right there!

Dick: Hold on, I'm coming in.

Donna: I don't want to lose this position.

Quick, Dick, put that on.

Dick: I'm--hold on--[inaudible]--

[Donna laughs]

- [Donna screams] - Dick: Turn it up.

No, you need to put things these on.

- OK, move it around. - [detector beeps]

Yup, yup, yup, hold on!

Donna: I'm--

Don't--stick a stick in, girl!

- Stick a stick in. - [Donna laughs]

- It's just here! - Dick: That's very strong.

[detector beeping]

That's definitely something, isn't it?

Donna: Oh yeah.

Well, stick--make sure that stick doesn't move.

It's exciting for sure, but that's just one small spot.

There's supposed to be 20 crates of treasure in here.

Just go as far as the left and right as you can there.

So we're trying moving a little bit further up along the

tree line.

[detector beeps]

Donna: Oh, another one--another one here!

Dick: Just got another deep.

That's all we got.

We don't know yet, do we?

Big beep, another big beep here.

- Dick: A big beep, really? - Yes!

- [Dick laughs] - Deafening!

Dick: And a little further again:

- [detector beeps] - Oh my god.

- Oh my god! - Dick: I can hear it.

I can hear it through your earphones.

- Listen. - [detector beeping]

Right.

♪ ♪

Dick: Just a few inches beneath us, there could lurk a vast

hoard of buried medieval treasure.

- Listen--listen to that! - [detector beeping]

Dick: That's worth another explore, isn't it?

- Donna: Look. - [detector beeping]

♪ ♪

Dick: The detector's pinging all around this part of the lake,

but how are we actually gonna dig down through several metres

of silt to find out what's there?

We've got some thinking to do.

That's for sure.

And some hard work ahead, no doubt.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

Dick: Down in the Dordogne, chef Tim and wife Chris are preparing

to open their B&B for the summer season in just over a month's

time.

But the early arrival of baby Owen has thrown things into

chaos.

Sleep or milk?

What do you think he's ready for next?

- Cry. - Tim: Cry.

- [laughs] - Tim: Diaper change.

♪ ♪

Dick: With two guest suites, they desperately want to convert

their attic into a third suite so their business can start

making a profit.

But they're behind schedule.

Tim: Now that baby Owen's starting to grow, he's getting a

lot crankier at night and wants a lot more milk and a lot less

sleep, so we're starting to feel the strain.

Dick: It's not just the attic; there's a whole load of work

that needs doing around the chateau before they open.

Tim's been working singlehandedly, but with the

first guests arriving just over four-weeks' time, he needs help.

Called in the cavalry.

Uncle Ben's arriving from England to come and do some of

the heavy lifting for me and meet his baby nephew for the

first time, which we're all excited about.

♪ ♪

Dick: Tim's mom, who lives on the chateau grounds, has picked

him up from the airport.

- Chris: Hi. - Hello.

- Chris: How you doing? - Yeah, great, thank you.

- Chris: He's sleeping. - Ben: Hello.

- Chris: How was your trip? - Yeah, great, thanks.

- Hello, How are you doing? - Tim: Hello Ben.

Dick: Tim hopes his little brother's help will get him back

on track with the renovations.

But I think his new nephew might be a bit of a distraction.

Ben: Aww.

Tim: Your first little nephew, eh?

Aww, look at him.

- Tim: With all his hair. - Yeah, wow.

Chris: He's got loads of hair.

He has, hasn't he?

Tim: He's going to avoid the family curse.

Chris, he's wriggling too much.

You might need to take him.

Do you mind if you take him back?

[Mom laughs]

Tim: Would you all like to come inside?

- [Chris chuckles] - Tim: Come on.

- [Owen cries] - Tim: Come on, Mom.

Come and seat yourself down.

[Mom laughs]

Tim: Do you want a cup of tea?

Mom: Yes, I would love one.

♪ ♪

So what jobs do you want me to do [chuckling]?

We've gotta move all the paving slabs in front of the barn and

lay a terrace.

I was up at 4:00 in the morning.

I didn't know I was gonna be moving paving slabs all day.

[Mom laughs]

Ben: I was planning on going canoeing and seeing my nephew

whilst I was here.

Well, you've seen your nephew, now can make--start paving,

after you've had your cup of tea.

♪ ♪

Dick: The paving is for an all-new patio that will replace

the existing tired terrace.

A big job, so Dad Rob's been roped in too.

Tim: I've decided that I'm more suited to the skilled part of

the work, so I'm gonna be laying the pavers, and they're going to

be doing the donkey's work for me--[chuckles]--and bringing it

around.

- You finished your tea? - Yeah.

- You ready to go? - Not really.

Do you want to borrow my hat?

- Definitely not. - Let's go [chuckles].

Before, it was just gravel, but the furniture we've got, the

legs just sort of sink into it, and it's a bit rough.

Luckily, I managed to find a guy locally that had decided to get

rid of his pool and had taken up all his paving, and offer,

I don't know, £300 or whatever.

Who knows.

♪ ♪

Dick: He got himself a real bargain there.

Brand new, these paving slabs could have cost £1,500 to cover

a patio this size.

How did you learn to do this?

On the Internet.

Yeah, I was gonna say it doesn't actually look like you know what

you're doing, to be honest.

[birds chirping]

Ben: And don't people have to eat their dinners off of it

though?

No, we give them tables and plates [laughing].

Ben: Oh, very funny.

My point is if it's not level, like, peas are gonna go rolling

everywhere, aren't they?

Tim: Yeah, but it can't be perfectly level because the

water's gotta be able to run away from the house.

And because we got such heavy rain, it's got to be a 25-mil

drop every 1.5 metres, apparently.

Dick: One of the last jobs is to sweep loose sand between the

slabs.

This is essential to help secure the paving and stop it moving

sideways.

Ben: Well, that's one more skill you've learned.

It's not really a skill, sweeping.

Wow, I think that's me done.

[saw slicing]

I don't actually know if he's ever really done a full day's

work in his life before this, so this could well be taking it out

on him.

Bless him [laughing].

[saw slicing]

[groans] With any luck, the last one.

♪ ♪

Tim: Perfect.

♪ ♪

It looks really nice.

Daddy's done a really good job, look.

And Uncle Ben too.

Aren't you proud?

Hey.

Tim: I'm actually really happy with it.

Yeah.

And another skill half-mastered.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: Well done, Tim.

But you've still got a lot more to do before the chateau's ready

for any guests, and it's starting to look like there's

not enough hours in the day for you.

Working 24 hours a day now.

If we're not changing nappies, we're plastering walls.

Or if we're not plastering walls, we're laying terraces.

I'm running out of days now.

♪ ♪

[insects buzz]

Dick: At Chateau de Ribagnac, Patrick and Colette are about to

serve the final course of their new experimental menu.

[laughter]

Dick: They found the cheese, and the guests have been enjoying

it.

[chatter]

♪ ♪

Dick: The night has been building to the climax:

Colette's famous, frozen-berry mousse cake.

Everything could go wrong [laughing].

I might drop it; it might look terrible.

Dick: After freezing it this morning, she's taken it out to

thaw a little.

But if it warms too much, it'll ruin.

Patrick needs to serve it now.

Colette: It's gonna start to melt if it doesn't get severed

soon.

Dick: But he's too busy schmoozing.

To be honest, all I really do is--is what you see me do here.

Man: You do it rather well.

Patrick: It makes me very, very motivated with a glass of wine

in my hand.

Colette: So frustrating!

Everything's ready to go!

I'm really dying to serve dessert now, so--before it

starts to melt.

♪ ♪

Elliot: He's still having a fun chat.

OK.

OK, I'm just going with it then.

Dick: Colette decides it's now or never for the frozen berry

mousse cake.

I might require your assistance here.

Dick: Patrick finally arrives to help--

- Is it a three-man job? - Yes, possibly.

Dick:--hopefully in time before the cake defrosts too much.

Patrick: You pull.

It'll be a bit squishy.

Colette: OK, there's just that bit there that's not quite

separated from the base.

It's just a little bit--I can't move, that's why.

Patrick: What, you can't take your hand out?

Colette: I'm not taking my hand out.

Go, go, go, go, go!

No?

Yeah, that's good.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Woman: That's lovely.

♪ ♪

Dick: After eight hours of cooking, it's all over.

What did the guests think?

This is fantastic.

Woman: Yeah, we're bringing all our friends back.

I mean all.

The food's great.

I've just really enjoyed it.

I could do this more often.

Dick: Keep this up, and she'll get that new kitchen after all.

It's done.

It's just great when an evening goes well and people are happy,

and they've eaten well, and they get on together, and all that

stuff, so that's great.

Even though you gotta get up for breakfast the next morning.

That's not so great, but, you know?

- [chatter] - [insects buzz]

♪ ♪

Dick: Next time:

Donna and I battle to get access to the lakeside and start

looking for that hidden armour.

Donna: That's one way to get a tree down.

Dick: And when we start digging, there's plenty to get us

excited.

What is that?

What is that?

While Tim and Chris rush to get their attic completed, they need

furniture.

Tim: Would you let me have a rug as well and round it to £200?

I've only got £200 with me, that's why.

Dick: And they need help.

Tim: Hopefully Ben's gonna fly back in and give us a hand a

couple of days before we open.

I've never agreed to that.

I've never agreed to come back and do--do more work.

Dick: And my mother-in-law and I have our hands full making

salamis.

[both laugh]

Sausages always make me laugh.

There's not a thing about making sausage that I don't find

humorous.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪