Original subtitles

♪ ♪

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

beautiful children.

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

France and bought this magnificent chateau.

Angel: Oh!

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

Oh baby, you're so strong.

♪ ♪

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

[banging]

Woman: Oh, yeah, yeah.

[clattering]

Woman: Oops.

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

stunning buildings.

[bang]

What amazing colours!

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--

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.

- Muah. - Muah.

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

- Yes, cheers. - Cheers.

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&B's to beautiful wedding venues.

♪ ♪

Owning a chateau isn't glamorous.

[coughing]

Woman: Anyone who thinks it is, is delusional.

[screams]

♪ ♪

Dick: Today, Angel helps one family with its chateau's

interior renovation.

Michael: See, that's already looking much better.

Angel [laughing]: I've only just started.

[laughter]

Dick: While outside--

It's quite daunting.

Dick:--there's plenty more to do.

Billy: Dad, there's nothing underneath that corner.

I would have sacked him by now if I was paying him.

Dick: A troublesome wall causes a bit of a pileup.

♪ ♪

Let's go back.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

That's his new lorry.

185,000 euros.

Dick: And there are little jobs--

Paul: Put that up so it stands up.

Like that?

Flat, you're--

Dick:--and big jobs to get done at another chateau.

I suppose there's no point in going back now, is there?

Karen: Oh my God!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: Chateau de la Basmaignée, built in the 18th century,

this beautiful building has 40 rooms over six floors and sits

in 60 acres of grounds, including woodland and a lake.

Billy and his fiancée Gwendoline live here with Billy's older

brother Michael.

They bought it for 1,000,050 euros with a loan and some

inheritance money left from Gwendoline's mum.

Billy: You get a lot more for your money over here.

You couldn't afford a property like this in England.

When we first bought the chateau, with everybody saying,

"No, you're too young, you're inexperienced, you're a bit

mad," we started questioning yourself and thinking,

"Am I mad?

Are we crazy?

Are we going to make it?"

But then, it's been about eight months and we've achieved so

much.

Dick: As well as living here, they want to run the place as a

wedding location and holiday lets.

It was nearly derelict when they first bought it.

Since then, they fixed everything from chimneys--

I'm absolutely terrified.

Dick:--to stained glass windows.

Billy: Are you supporting it?

Michael: Yeah, you just sort of edge it slightly.

Mainly from the top at first.

Dick: And have welcomed their first paying guests.

[screaming]

♪ ♪

Dick: They're on track for next year's holiday and wedding

season but there's plenty to keep them busy.

A long road ahead and we've got a lot more to do still.

I want to see this place you know, open for business.

Dick: Angel and I live 30 minutes away so today she's

popped around to help Michael with his latest renovation

project: A mural on the wall of their guests lounge.

On the way, she notices something familiar.

This is a really interesting room because the, um, paint is

exactly the same as our paint in the salon.

It's identical.

Well, the guy that painted this was the caretaker for the

chateau before we bought it, and before he worked here,

he worked at your chateau, the Chateau-de-la-Motte Husson.

He worked--is it the de Baglion family?

Yes.

- They were his employers. - Are you serious?

Yeah, painted the walls and everything so--

Angel: Oh my gosh.

- Maybe-- - That's--

Michael: It was a--well, he painted yours as well.

[laughter]

Well, I've got some paint if you need to touch this up.

[laughter]

Dick: The chateau world here in France is small indeed.

So this is the mural I've started.

Angel: Oh my gosh, I love this.

We're in the process of redecorating this room at the

moment.

Yeah, really, really good colour combination.

It's sort of my favourite actually, this off-white and the

sage green.

We imagine this place will be somewhere where you can sit and

have a cup of tea, admire the view, and then that inspired the

idea to sort of do a bit of chinoiserie style on the walls.

Yeah, yeah.

It's absolutely stunning.

Is this all the inspiration?

It's just a bit of inspiration that I've taken from, yeah.

Angel: It's just beautiful, isn't it?

Dick: It looks great to me but Michael isn't happy with his

copy.

I've outlined them.

It has made it look a bit more sort of like an illustration.

And there's something nice about this that has the--doesn't have

the black outlines.

It's more subtle.

--isn't it?

Let's take some of the lines out for you.

Michael: I think that would be a good idea, yeah.

What are you going to work on?

Should we do it together?

Michael: Yeah, let's do it together, yeah.

I'm just going to start doing the outlines.

I won't do the outside.

Michael: See, that's already looking much better then.

Angel [laughing]: I've only just started.

[laughter]

♪ ♪

Dick: Michael's design is in a style called chinoiserie,

which is a European take on traditional Far Eastern

decorative art.

Angel: Nice colour, good mix.

Dick: The style was usually popular in the grand stately

homes of 18th century Europe.

So it'll suit the chateau's salon to a T.

It looks better when it's more subtle like that.

Yeah, it's softer, isn't it?

Michael: Yeah, more softer.

You've done all the work.

I'm just dulling it.

No, no.

There's a lot here for me to paint so you helping out--

Save you time.

Michael: Saving me a bit of time, yeah.

Dick: Michael's got big plans for this mural.

I might have some branches almost sort of coming down from

the ceiling.

Angel: Oh, I love it, yeah.

'Cause if it's sort of like you're under the canopy of like

a tree or something.

You know, this is just my personal taste but maybe a

little bit of a texture.

You know, like a real thing or in fact, I've got something in

my car for you.

Oh, really?

I'm going to get it.

You can make me a cup of tea.

All right.

If you promise me.

[laughter]

Dick: This hardly seems fair.

When I visited, I hauled a 20-kilo chandelier 30 feet above

their staircase.

Angel and Michael do a little bit of painting and now they're

sitting down to tea.

♪ ♪

Angel: Good timing!

[laughter]

Oh, I'm very excited about this.

I have not had a cream tea in quite a while.

So this is my gift to you.

Oh, wow!

They're absolutely beautiful.

If you do decide to sort of, you know, put some around 'cause

they're great to have in all the odd places.

They can merely sort of, you know, add a different dimension

to your beautiful artwork.

And I mean, I don't know if we're going to put any up on the

wall today but I've--I'm going to leave you with some glue.

Ah, thank you so much.

Well, you're very welcome.

♪ ♪

Dick: Angel has used butterflies like these in the entrance hall

to our chateau and they're certainly a hit with the guests.

♪ ♪

Angel: Let's sit down and have a cup of tea.

Yes.

[laughter]

♪ ♪

Angel: Did you make these scones?

I made them, yes.

I made them last night, especially.

So we can have a nice cream tea.

We're going to be mates.

[laughter]

- Thanks for having me. - You're welcome.

Very inspiring.

It's been really lovely.

♪ ♪

Dick: 300 miles east, Abbaye de la Bussière is a 900-year-old

abbey, run as a high-end hotel by Brits, Clive and Tanith

Cummings.

Located in the heart of Burgundy's world-famous wine

region, this vast historic property was just the challenge

Clive and Tanith were looking for when they were working at

Clive's parents' hotel in Sussex.

♪ ♪

Tanith and I were the general managers of my parents' hotel.

It was their standards.

We had been looking in the U.K. for a business of our own.

And we had no thoughts about moving to France.

It was the property that brought us here.

And once we saw it, we're like, "Wow.

What a place this could make."

Dick: So far, the year has gone very well.

Guest numbers have risen and as the summer season comes to an

end, Clive's parents should be proud.

They are now retired and live here with their son.

But having worked in the hotel business his whole life,

Clive's dad, Martin, can't resist rolling up his sleeves

and getting stuck in whenever possible.

I love projects.

I love building.

I love seeing the end product when you've finished it and

that's how I keep myself occupied.

♪ ♪

Dick: Which is why Martin couldn't help himself when he

and a local farmer took on the task of dredging the hotel's

beautiful lake of silt once it started to become an eyesore.

We did it ourselves with two whopping great diggers and the

diggers vibrated so much that the poor old wall gave way.

[laughing]

And I couldn't believe it.

The whole wall had fallen in.

Dick: The lake is no longer quite as beautiful.

So dredging done, they now need to fix the bank and wall.

We then had a quotation from a local guy and he wanted 76,000

euros.

And I said, "On your bike."

Dick: Martin reckons he could do the job himself for about

£10,000 and is busy clearing the debris.

My father has spent the last week or two cleaning the area

up, trying to repair the base for the stones.

♪ ♪

Dick: Martin's plan is to use gabions, which are metal cages

packed with rocks, as the basis for his wall.

And the truck delivering them has just arrived but it has to

negotiate a bridge to get to the lake.

♪ ♪

Obviously, it's a 32-tonne truck and it's a very, very old bridge

so it's not actually that wide but...

Dick: The bridge is only seven feet wide.

[beeping]

Man: Reverse.

Dick: And it's proving a struggle.

The best option is--

Shift this?

Yes, shift this and we try again.

Dick: It seems the monks didn't have 32-tonne trucks in mind

when they built the abbey in the 12th century.

Oh, hang up.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

We'll have to move back.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

♪ ♪

Dick: But after clearing a few more stones, he finally manages

to squeeze it through.

♪ ♪

Well done.

Dick: But not without some damage.

Just stuffed his van.

Brand-new one.

That's his new lorry.

185,000 euros.

[laughing]

We've christened it.

[laughing]

Dick: Let's hope they manage to get the gabions in without any

further damage.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: This is the mid-19th century Chateau la Perrière.

Husband and wife Paul and Karen Horne, who live in England,

bought it for £500,000 back in 2005.

We came here and we both fell in love with it and we didn't need

to convince either of us.

Dick: The modest eight-bedroom chateau is now a luxury holiday

rental but located in the Loire Valley, competition between

holiday homes here is fierce.

So to widen its appeal, they're transforming their old water

tower into a luxury office.

It's nice to be able to offer to guests the ability to be able to

come on holiday with their family and still be able to

carry out their job.

Dick: Paul and handyman Neil have already removed the

3-tonne water tank.

[bang]

Karen: Oh!

Dick: And Paul repointed its walls in a sweltering 33

degrees.

Paul: The hottest day of the year so far.

Dick: Today, he's come out ahead of the rest of the family so he

and Neil can finish the office floor.

Neil: Want to measure them both again?

Paul: Yeah.

Paul: As you say, measure twice, cut once.

1-7-0-3.

Yeah?

[sawing]

It's going really well.

We're just trying to lay the wood floor today.

'Cause we've got--well Karen's coming in about three hours so I

really want to finish that because Karen's bringing the

desk and stuff.

And we just want to get this finished today.

♪ ♪

[banging]

♪ ♪

Dick: Karen and children Tom and Katie are nearing the end of

their eight-hour drive, bringing a trailer full of furniture for

the office all the way from their home in Berkshire.

So a couple of days ago, the emphasis was about making sure

that we had everything for the office.

Everything was bought, everything had arrived,

been delivered, packed in, hadn't left anything behind.

Dick: But there's an even bigger job waiting at the chateau:

Removing a damaged pine tree that overlooks it.

We've just received the news that we've managed to find

somebody to take down one of the really tall trees at the chateau

that got hit by lightning some time ago.

The tree's a 36-metre tree.

It's leaning towards the chateau at the moment so it's a little

stressful so I'm a little worried about it coming down.

If it falls, it's going to fall on the chateau and we have a

busy rental season, lots of guests in.

So we can't take that chance that that tree---being hit by

lightning again and falling.

[driving up]

Paul: Hey, guys.

Katie Jasmine.

Ah!

Good journey, good time.

How stressed are you, then?

Karen: Super stressed.

Feeling a little bit sick.

Paul: The big one's coming down.

Karen: I've got the butterflies in my tummy.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

Paul: No, you'll be fine.

Karen: Feeling a little bit stressed.

Driving up and seeing just how big it is.

You forget until you're here, how much it towers above the

chateau.

Paul: I know and it's leaning towards the chateau.

It's gotta come down.

It's a shame.

They've all said it.

You know, it's been hit by lightning at least once or twice

and that split's getting worse.

It's a shame but it's gotta come down.

We've got guests arriving on Saturday.

Dick: The office refit will have to take a back seat as a

priority now is to stop that 36-metre, 10-tonne tree

crashing down on their chateau.

If this falls the wrong way then, it could be a bit of a

catastrophe.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: 120 miles northwest at Chateau de la Basmaignée,

it's the next day and Angel has left.

Today, Gwendoline is going through the health and safety

regulations they still need to satisfy before they can open the

chateau to weddings.

This is the list that I got.

A lot of things to do.

Some of them are quite simple things like emergency exit signs

or fire extinguishers, things like that.

Other things are a bit more tricky.

So what I've got to do is get Billy and Michael and go around

the chateau with them and tell them what needs to be done.

I think Billy is not going to like it at all.

But we've got to do it so...

♪ ♪

Dick: Even though it's gone 10 a.m., Billy and Michael haven't

actually emerged yet.

- Billy! - Yeah.

- Are you up? - Yeah.

Oh good.

What about Michael?

[dog barking]

♪ ♪

They're not really morning people so...

It's not always easy but I mean, it's all right 'cause usually

they're working in the evening when I'm in bed so...

[banging]

Morning.

Gwendoline [laughing]: There he is.

He's alive.

- You're all right? - Yeah.

- Where's my coffee? - Downstairs.

Dick: He's going to need it.

He and Michael have got to be on the ball this morning because

Gwendoline means business.

♪ ♪

In this room, we've got a lot to do.

First, the alarm--fire alarm.

We need to make sure it's working and--

Yeah.

--in order.

So we've got to have emergency exit signs above the doors.

That door has to open outwards and just with basically, just

pushing it.

So people can just push it, get out, and be safe.

♪ ♪

Any kind of furniture that comes in here, has to be fireproof or

not easy to catch fire.

Okay.

Dick: I'm not sure Billy's actually woken up yet.

We have to keep as well, a registre de sécurité in French,

basically safety register.

♪ ♪

Ideally, that door would have to open outwards as well.

It's ever going to happen.

[Gwendoline sighing]

The door will have to stay exactly as it is 'cause it's

original.

Yeah, I mean, I do understand what you say.

We can't really lose the chateau spirit.

It can stay open when there's an event.

Yeah.

Or we can find another emergency exit.

Billy: Yeah.

We just need to have two.

Billy: Sounds better.

Dick: Out on the terrace, the news doesn't get much better for

Billy.

Here, to avoid any kind of tripping hazards or so people in

wheelchairs can actually use that terrace, it has to be

levelled.

It has to be flat.

Yeah, it's a really big job.

Yeah.

You think you can do it or do you think you can get someone

else to do it?

I think it would be too expensive to pay someone to come

and do it.

♪ ♪

Dick: Fire extinguishers and safety doors are one thing but

levelling off this terrace is a serious bit of construction

work.

The list is getting bigger and bigger.

This terrace job here is monumental, it is.

I mean, the chateau is not too bad but now that we've got all

these regulations to go--follow by, it makes everything twice as

much work so it's quite daunting.

♪ ♪

Lovely day, ain't it?

Dick: Luckily for Billy, his mum and dad retired to France a few

years ago and live less than an hour away.

And Dad Mick knows a thing or two about construction.

I got my dad in to help me.

He's an old contractor.

So he knows how it's all done properly.

[banging]

So we're going to start from here, Billy.

Billy: Yeah.

Mick: Take them out.

The same there.

They all gotta come out, the corner.

The whole lot of them.

Billy: Uh hmm.

♪ ♪

Dick: When they start hosting weddings here, this terrace will

make the perfect spot for a champagne reception but only if

they get it fixed.

What we're going to do is get all the slabs up, sort out

what's underneath them, make it all level again, because people

will be tripping over them.

Even before they've had a drink, they'll be falling over.

Dick: But this is no simple task.

These slabs are made of solid granite.

The biggest will weigh about 50 kilos.

In fact, even the small ones seem to be a bit of a strain.

Billy [grunting]: That's heavy.

Mick: just slide that back, like this.

So it's soil in there, provisionally

Billy: Yeah.

That's why it's sunk.

Billy: Oh!

Dick: This job's going to take a while.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: Back in Burgundy at Abbaye de la Bussière, Clive and his

dad Martin are trying to repair the lake's retaining wall by

using steel cages packed with rocks called gabions.

We've got this overhanging lip with a drain on it.

And what my father was just saying to me is with the first

gabion, when we put it in, can we try and push it under so it

can support that lump of concrete that overhangs.

♪ ♪

Dick: Each gabion weighs 1.7 tonnes, so manoeuvering them

with pinpoint accuracy is no easy task.

Clive: Comme ça.

Oui.

Sous là.

♪ ♪

This is the trickiest one, this one.

♪ ♪

Dick: Fortunately, the crane operator Mattius, looks like

he's done this kind of thing before.

♪ ♪

Ça va.

♪ ♪

Clive: Descende un peu.

Down.

Clive: Oui.

♪ ♪

Perfect.

[Martin laughing]

Number one.

Dick: Only another nine to go.

Okay, that's as good as it can get.

1.7 tonnes, hey?

Woo hoo!

Dick: These 10 gabions Martin's ordered cost just £2,500.

The quote they had for a contractor to do the job was

more than £70,000 so they're on their way to a significant

saving.

It's nice having my dad here.

Might be, he's not tight, but he's cost-conscious.

You know, it's our money we're spending.

Well, sometimes the bank's money.

But it's our money we're spending so we're spending it

sensibly.

♪ ♪

Dick: Even so, rebuilding this entire wall is by no means

simple.

Once the gabions are installed, they'll need to be sprayed with

waterproof cement before the old stones are laid back on top and

the lake can finally be refilled and returned to its former

glory.

So how long this is going to take, I don't know, because I

wanted--I didn't want to be committed to a date, um, just in

case we had a problem with this.

♪ ♪

Dick: For now, Martin seems to be in control so whilst the

gabions go in, Clive's enlisted the help of his son Lewis to

tackle another job.

This is the orangery and we're going to start work on this in a

month's time and renovate it into a house for my parents.

Lewis and I will do some work coming up to check out the loft

because we've got a rather unexplained mass of hay or straw

up in the rafters.

It looks like a nest of some sort.

Come in, Lewis.

Mind your head coming through.

Clive: Right, let's get plugged in.

Dick: That nest is huge.

Right.

There she is, Lewis.

What do you reckon?

Lewis: You're going up first.

Clive: I'm going up first, am I?

[laughter]

Thanks.

♪ ♪

Set her up.

Dick: Whatever that is up there, it doesn't look like a regular

birds nest to me.

That is bizarre.

It's not manmade.

It's been put up there.

Yeah, there's kind of chicken egg shells down there.

Dick: If there's discarded chicken shells on the floor,

who knows what could be lurking in the rafters.

Clive: Lewis, can you hold the ladder for me?

♪ ♪

Dick: At Chateau de la Basmaignée, Billy has roped in

73-year-old dad Mick to help dig up, level, and then relay his

patio so that it can pass French health and safety regulations.

Oh!

Loose, yeah.

Dick: Stand back, Billy.

Us old guys know what to do.

Billy: Yeah, you've got it.

I've been in the building industry for--since I was 17.

Lying slabs for curbs, 20 years ago, it would have been no

problem at all for me.

[laughing]

But at the moment--[laughing]--it can be a

bit hard.

♪ ♪

Dick: Don't worry Mick, the young ones have got their uses.

Billy: Whoa.

That's heavy.

This is quite hard work but we'll get them up.

Slowly but surely.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: After they've dug up all the patio stones, they'll lay

them back down with fresh cement, making sure they're

level.

Mick's got a trick to work out the horizontal level.

He's a clever old sod, he is.

Um, he's been doing it for years so he knows his way around a

bit around rock.

[hammer tapping]

Mick: Voilà.

There you go.

Mick: You can see a difference where it's dropped.

Billy: Yeah.

It's dropped about four inches by the looks of it.

So it's gone down quite a way.

Yeah.

It's a bit more of a job than we thought it would be but what can

you do?

All right, then.

Should we get the cement and sand?

Mick: Yeah, we're going to get the cement and sand.

All right, then.

[whirring]

[digging]

I let him crack on moving the mixing 'cause he's the expert.

♪ ♪

Dick: Cement mixed.

Now comes the really hard part: Putting all the pieces of the

jigsaw back together again.

Mick: Put a big one in.

Billy: All right, then.

Mick: Best move on that one too.

Billy: Which one is that then?

- Hey? - Which one is that?

- That's there. - That's there.

That one is--

No, it's not that one.

That one goes there.

- Which one is it? - Under there.

- No, it ain't. - It is.

- No, it ain't. - Definitely.

- Dad, which one is it? - It is, it is.

♪ ♪

- It's this one. - That one, yeah.

That's what I said, didn't I?

[Martin laughing]

♪ ♪

Dick: Now that's settled, the first stone goes in.

Looking beautiful.

Like it grew there.

Dick: But manoeuvering the bigger 50-kilo slabs.

requires a different tactic and Mick's got an idea.

This is some ancient caveman trick, by the sounds of it.

Dick: Looks like a pretty smart piece of kit to me.

Ha, ha, ha.

What a beautiful machine.

There you go.

♪ ♪

Old caveman trick.

Dad, there's nothing underneath that corner.

[banging]

Billy: I would have sacked him by now if I was paying him.

♪ ♪

Just a job.

Dick: Two slabs down, only another 200 or so to go.

♪ ♪

Dick: 120 miles southeast at Chateau la Perrière in the Loire

Valley, the Hornes are about to deal with an urgent and rather

large problem; cutting down a 36-metre pine tree.

It's a big old tree.

The way it will want to fall, which is where all the weight is

going, it will take half the chateau down.

If it does fall the wrong way then, it's going to be a bit of

a problem.

Dick: The tree was damaged after being struck twice by lightning

and the Hornes don't want to risk leaving it standing.

♪ ♪

Looks like it's been burnt, Dad.

Paul: It's been hit by lightning.

Do you reckon it's like this, all the way up?

Paul: I don't know.

It would be interesting to see 'cause the lightning is

literally come down the tree.

Karen: It's for dead, isn't there?

Paul: That's actually rotting inside.

If it wasn't pointing towards the chateau, you could risk it

for a bit longer but, if that comes down, that'll take a third

of the chateau.

Maybe even half the chateau out 'cause it literally is pointing

straight towards it.

All I want to know is how they're going to get that

tree--how they're going to do that, I don't know.

Dick: Paul will soon find out as a local tree surgeon is almost

here and Karen's getting nervous.

It's what I do best.

I worry.

- Relax. - No!

Relax, you're okay.

You gotta remember that he does do this for a living.

I'm not panicking at all.

I've got perfectly straight hands.

I'm not stressing.

Neil: We can video this from 100 metres away, can't we?

I'm not standing anywhere near it.

Bonjour, Monsieur.

- Ça va? - Oui, ça va.

Dick: After brief introductions, the tree surgeon gets right

to it.

He's just going to move the tractor a little bit this way.

And then he's going to connect his cable to the tree.

And then when he's prepared, we'll...go.

Dick: And without any further ado, or health and safety gear,

he's off.

♪ ♪

[sawing]

Paul: I suppose there's no point in going back now, is there?

[sawing]

Oh!

♪ ♪

Dick: About 250 miles east at Abbaye de la Bussière,

owner Clive is hoping to turn the old orangery into a home

for his mom and dad but has discovered what looks like a

huge nest.

Clive: If I do jump, I want there to be stability down.

Dick: With his son Lewis looking on, Clive approaches the ominous

mass of straw.

Clive: Oh, wow.

That is bizarre.

Clive: It looks like about five or six different depressions of

nests.

One corner off, looks like it's their toilet.

Now in this beam here, there's poo inside this beam.

One thing, it's quite humid.

It's quite warm.

Lovely environment for them, whatever it is.

♪ ♪

That was odd.

What does it look like to you?

It's a nest of some sort.

It's quite big and there's a central compression and there's

about three of them around the outside of it so it's a family.

Dick: It's going to be difficult for Clive to convert this place

into a home for his parents with a family of whatever is living

up there.

Raf, it's Clive.

Animals, wild animals.

What do you know about them?

Dick: Clive calls the gardener Rafael for his opinion on what

the nest might be.

Bonjour.

- Bizarre? - Yeah.

Un quoi?

[mumbling in French]

- You know, the-- - Clive: Ferret?

Yeah, white like this?

Man: Pine marten.

And they kill the chicken.

Dick: Rafael thinks the nest was taken over by pine martens,

which look a bit like large weasels.

This would certainly explain the broken egg shells on the floor.

We put chickens on our island, trying to think about doing

eggs.

And slowly, over the course of a month, all the chickens were

killed.

Dick: Fortunately, Rafael thinks the nest has been abandoned for

some time.

Which means nothing will be disturbed by the renovations

which Clive and Lewis hope to start next month.

This is going to be quite good fun, actually.

Nice bit of exercise just before the winter.

♪ ♪

Dick: Back outside, all ten gabions have been safely

installed to Martin's exacting standards.

You've done very well.

Very well.

Don't break the bridge on the way out.

My pleasure, my pleasure.

Au revoir!

Dick: But whilst Martin gets on with filling the gaps with soil,

there's one obvious problem.

We did measure it, honestly, and we thought we needed only 10.

But as you can see, we're seven short.

40% short.

[laughing]

I thought we might be one or two short but not seven.

♪ ♪

Dick: It'll take another month for the remaining seven gabions

to be made so they can finish the job.

Not that Martin seems to mind because in the meantime,

he's got a new toy to play with.

Yeah, look at him.

He loves it, look.

Yes, he loves it.

Dick: But even when the wall is finally built, Clive's list of

jobs here at the Abbaye is enough to keep him busy for

another 10 years.

There's the cabins to build onto the woods, there's the tree

houses to get on with and there's a swimming pool to get

on with.

Refurbishments, carpets, wallpaper, furniture.

The list never stops.

The list goes on and on and on.

Dick: With a to-do list like that, it's a good thing Mr.

Cummings Sr. is on hand to help out.

Not bad for 74.

[laughing]

♪ ♪

Dick: Good luck for the future, Clive.

I wish you and your family all the best.

♪ ♪

Dick: In northwestern France, at Chateau de la Basmaignée,

Billy's been trying to make sure the chateau complies with health

and safety regulations.

Billy: That looks about right, doesn't it?

It's two weeks since he and his dad started working levelling

off the sunken patio.

They're hoping to finish it today.

Michael: Come on, let's see.

Dick: But first, Michael wants a hand in the chapel putting in a

stained glass window he's repaired.

Hope it goes in all right.

I'm really looking forward to seeing it go back in.

It's been a long time fixing it and it was one of the things

that really let this chapel down is the fact that the stained

glass window was falling out and now it's finally fixed.

It can go back in its rightful place and yeah, the chapel could

be complete again.

♪ ♪

Michael: Right, I'm ready.

Pick the window up really carefully and bring it over.

Billy: I will, I'll do my best.

♪ ♪

Be careful.

Here we go.

The bottom in first.

Billy: Oh lovely, look at that.

Michael: Looks amazing.

♪ ♪

Does it look all right?

Yeah.

Amazing.

It looks really good.

You did a good job there.

Michael: Thanks a lot.

It's definitely really nice to have it put back in the chapel

now.

And hopefully it will stay there for another, I don't know,

100 years.

There we go.

Glad to see it back in.

Absolutely.

Dick: There's lots more to do so Billy rejoins dad Mick to finish

the terrace.

[exhales]

Carry on with this one.

That one's been lost.

It's been an odd couple of weeks.

Because it's not just simple as taking them up and relaying

them.

You've got to clean them all off and they're all covered over in

cement.

Dick: Fortunately, they've only got a few more stones to relay.

It was a really big necessity for us to have this terrace nice

and level because it's going to be used for events and things.

Now it's almost done.

I'm very happy.

♪ ♪

Dick: While they put the finishing touches to the

terrace--

Billy [grunting]: Oh!

That's better.

Dick:--Michael's heading off to the greenhouse.

Five months ago, he cleared it out and fertilized the beds with

pigeon manure from the chateau's loft.

This stuff absolutely stinks!

Dick: Now his vegetables are flourishing.

♪ ♪

Michael: The amount of, you know, growth from these tomato

plants is ridiculous.

I'm constantly having to cut them back.

And I've got an absolute surplus of tomatoes that you know,

I don't even know what to do with them all.

Dick: It's not just tomatoes.

Michael's got an abundance of fresh chili peppers, cucumbers,

onions, and carrots too.

Michael: They look amazing.

Dick: And he's had an idea of what to do with it all.

Billy's finishing the terrace today so you know, I think it's

probably only fair if we do them a nice meal to celebrate.

I've got loads of tomatoes so probably do like a lasagna or

something.

Make the sauce from scratch.

♪ ♪

I'm going to go and get cooking.

♪ ♪

Dick: Back on the terrace, the finishing line is in sight.

All right, Dad, last one and that's it, done.

♪ ♪

Oh, look at that.

Dick: It might have taken them two weeks but I think that's a

pretty impressive piece of work.

♪ ♪

We've managed it and it looks so much better.

It's like, it's a transformation.

It even looks bigger now.

It's completely level.

So we just gotta get the seal of approval from Gwen and see what

she thinks.

Are you done?

Yeah, we just finished it.

Okay.

Gwendoline: Oh, look at that!

Billy: What do you think of it then?

Gwendoline: It's all flat!

- It's lovely, isn't it? - Yeah, it is lovely.

I can't believe how much it changed.

You did a good job, darling.

Thank you.

♪ ♪

Dick: And the job is finished just in time as the weather

takes a turn for the worse.

[thunder rumbles]

♪ ♪

[rain falling]

♪ ♪

Dick: In the Loire Valley, the Hornes nervously look on as a

tree surgeon finishes sawing through a damaged 36-metre pine

tree that's been threatening to fall on their chateau.

I suppose there's no point going back now, is there?

Dick: Too late, I'm afraid.

Better hope he's got it right.

Karen: Oh my God!

♪ ♪

Oh my God!

Paul: Hey!

Absolutely right!

Relief, I think, is my biggest reaction at the moment.

I mean, the crack from that.

So much weight.

The whole floor moved.

Karen: Such a massive sense of relief.

Good to be down though.

That was dangerous.

When people start telling you to take it down...

You've been worried about this for days.

Stressed.

- C'est bon. - Well done.

Merci.

Oui!

- Spot-on! - Told you.

Thank you.

Panic merchant.

He's going to chop it up, he's gonna de-branch it.

[sawing]

Dick: Now Karen, Paul, and handyman Neil can turn their

attention back to the office conversion.

With only two days before the next paying guests arrive,

there's still plenty to do.

While Paul and Karen struggle assembling the furniture--

Paul: Put that up so it stands up.

Like that?

Flatten your--

Building furniture without instructions is definitely not

my forte.

Dick:--Neil takes it all in from his vantage point in the office.

I got a feeling that husband and wife putting furniture together

is a bit like husband and wife teaching each other how to

drive, isn't it?

[laughter]

Paul: It's not that way around, is it?

♪ ♪

You would have thought this should have been--

Should just slot in.

Okay, try the other leg.

Does the other leg work?

Paul: The blind leading the blind.

♪ ♪

Dick: But after more than an hour--

Not a problem.

No instructions and we did it anyway.

- Ready, Karen? - Yeah.

Dick: They move the furniture in.

- We're on an angle. - Yeah.

Just a slight one, not too much.

Yeah, that's good.

I'll go and get the chair.

♪ ♪

Dick: Kids Tom and Katie are on hand to help with the finishing

touches.

- Done? - Yeah.

♪ ♪

Dick: And finally, after working all summer between guest

bookings, the new luxury office is finished.

♪ ♪

Paul: Fantastic.

The guests are going to love this.

Three months hard work and here we go.

Really, really nice.

Paul: It's a long way since the rusty old water tower.

Karen: Amazing.

Fantastic.

- It worked. - It worked.

You feel comfortable?

It feels great.

You tried it yet, Paul?

I haven't yet.

Time for the new HQ.

Ah!

That's quite nice, actually.

Nice comfy chair.

Not a bad view.

What do you think?

Dick: Thanks to the tall pine tree being removed, the added

bonus is an unobstructed view of Chinon Castle.

Cheers.

Here's to the restoration of the water tower.

Karen: A lot of hard work has gone into making this room

happen.

It's a beautiful place to come and work.

Hopefully, we'll get more people coming and taking more time out

so perhaps coming for two weeks rather than previously one week

because they can come and work in the office.

Dick: It's the end of a busy summer for Paul and Karen.

Did they ever feel like giving up?

Two days, angle grinding out a steel water tank and then doing

the rendering in 32 degrees.

Phew.

Maybe it wasn't--maybe I was questioning it.

Dick: And there was the chance of that tree destroying all

their good work.

That was the one thing out of our control.

You know, there's another guy that--we put the chateau into

somebody else's hands.

[crash]

Dick: But was it all worth it?

I've now got a fabulous office with well, arguably, one of the

best views I could imagine.

Can't really ask for much more, can we?

Dick: So what now?

What next?

Oh yeah, what next?

- There's loads. - There's loads.

Dick: Well, we wish them good luck with it all.

♪ ♪

Dick: Back at Chateau de la Basmaignée, Michael's hoping for

some good luck with the weather so he can serve up his dinner

made from some of his homegrown produce on the newly completed

patio.

But that's not going to happen.

Billy, you did a lovely job.

It's such a shame we can't actually have dinner on it

tonight 'cause it's raining.

This is supposed to be the summer.

It's the middle of August and there you go.

Rain.

Welcome to northwest of France.

[rain falling]

[thunder rumbles]

Dick: Instead, dinner is served in the grand salon.

- There you go. - Lovely.

♪ ♪

Gwendoline: Let's celebrate.

Billy: Let's drink to our accomplishments.

♪ ♪

[pouring]

Cheers.

Cheers.

Cheers.

[laughter]

To the future.

Yeah and to everything we've done so far.

Yeah.

To the chateau as well.

Yeah, cheers to that.

Dick: I'm genuinely impressed with what Billy, Gwendoline, and

Michael have achieved over the past few months.

It's been fun, hasn't it?

Yeah, it has been really fun.

Yeah, it's been fun, exhausting.

Uh hmm.

And we've done so much work.

I think we can be quite proud of ourselves.

Everyone thought you guys were mad for taking on this project.

Yeah.

People thought you would never do any of these things.

We are mad.

Maybe in a way but I don't think we're that mad.

The house used to be a psychiatric space in the Second

World War and it still is.

[laughter]

Dick: I think they'll have no problem being up and ready to

start their wedding business next year.

We've got a target haven't we, for next year.

Well, we've got a few weddings coming if everything goes as

planned so--

So we've got to decorate the big room.

Maybe one room for B&B.

Or a suite.

Dick: And make a place for themselves, of course.

Get our home, our family home well-established here.

And to build our family here.

Be able to live off of it.

And just--how do you say again?

Billy: Enjoy life?

Live a long and happy life.

[laughter]

With a lot of children.

[laughter]

Dick: And what about Michael?

Can he stay?

Am I allowed?

[laughter]

Oh I don't know.

Kick me out.

If you work a little bit harder, you might be able to stay.

If you finish the mural.

Yeah, I'll finish the mural.

If you get up early every morning.

Dick: Good luck, guys.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Dick: Next time: We need someone like Dick Strawbridge.

I mean, he'd understand something like this.

Dick: One couple's chateau expansion plans are threatened

by bees.

[bees buzzing]

Man: Look at that, they're swarming.

Dick: And a troublesome tractor.

♪ ♪

I can't believe I just found this.

It's incredibly stupid thing to do.

♪ ♪

Dick: There's disagreement about the design of a chateau's

renovation project.

Nicole: Can you do it with a glass roof?

Stephan: Absolutely [beep]

We'll go do that.

[laughter]

I'm actually being serious.

♪ ♪

Dick: And at our beautiful chateau, my mind is on food.

You put cheese in here, you know, all sorts of salamis and

meats and things can go in here.

♪ ♪

[banging]

Dick: Building a food smoker.

[drilling]

This is the subtle way of lighting.

[torch burning]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪