Original subtitles

Christmas can be a magical time of year.

Merry Christmas, baby.

Behold the star!

But it often comes with a long list of jobs...

Everybody, towards Christmas, they wind down.

We go vroom.

..especially if you live in an enormous chateau.

It's a nightmare, these. Oh, dear.

You're looking in a bit of a Christmas tangle.

We're following intrepid owners...

Do you not think it's like snow? No, not quite.

..as they prepare for the festive season in France.

How are you? Merry Christmas!

It's getting a tad hectic now.

We'll witness the highs...

Ho, ho, ho!

Huh! It's Santa!

..the lows...

That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?

At this rate, I think Christmas is going to have to be cancelled.

..the joy...

We have Christmas!

..and magic...

Huh! Oh. Wow!

..as they transform their castles into a winter wonderland.

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.

Today, will there be light this Christmas at the chateau?

The big Christmas switch on.

The twinkle of Michelin stars brings magic

to this festive culinary workshop.

OK, so this is for wrapping it.

It feels like brain.

And can this couple...

Oh! Whoa! Easy!

..create a medieval banquet scene for a winter king and queen?

It's too low. Is that too low? Ow!

Let go... I've just trapped my hand.

In south-west France,

perched on the banks of the River Lot is the imposing

Chateau de Cezerac.

Built on medieval foundations, it boasts two wings,

a stone chapel and an impressive 1,000-year-old tower.

British couple Jon and Carmen bought the fire-damaged,

abandoned chateau just two years ago for £175,000

and are looking forward to their second Christmas here.

I love being here at Christmas. It's fantastic.

We've got wonderful grounds, great big open fires.

I mean, what more would you like at Christmas?

It's a great place to celebrate and entertain, isn't it? Yeah.

We love it. It's great to have friends here and family,

and they love coming down. You sort of can't keep them away,

just because of the ambience of the place.

Located 80 miles north of Toulouse,

near the village of Puy-l'Eveque,

this year, Jon and Carmen are planning

to celebrate the festive season...

Wow. Oh, wow. It looks fantastic!

..like monarchs from the Middle Ages.

This Christmas, we've come up with an amazing idea.

We've got some friends coming down from the UK

and we've got some friends from France,

so we decided to go back to medieval times.

So we're having a medieval banquet.

And not only is it a medieval banquet,

we're actually going to hold it in the tower.

Getting the tower ready for a festive feast is

going to be quite a task. Badly burnt out and open to the elements,

it's been largely untouched since the couple took on the chateau.

The room is in such a mess at the moment.

There's no roof on there, the walls are black from the soot

from the fire...

..wet all over the floor.

So I want the chandelier hanging from one of these steels. Yeah.

And then, over the window, we're going to just get

some really good curtains down there. And then the table,

I guess, will have to go here under the chandelier. The chandelier.

Not much to do, then. Just a little bit.

Carmen has the vision for this.

I can see it, but she's always, as usual,

ambitious in what she wants to do.

We've got quite a lot of work to do.

You need to use a lot of imagination right now

to picture what this is going to be like.

But I hope we can pull it off.

Wow! That's a pretty good job, isn't it, Jon?

Yeah, it's looking good now.

Having cleaned the place up, they move on to their first task.

Right, let's put this over here for now.

I don't know what it weighs, but I imagine

it's probably 30 or 40 kilos. So I've got

a chain here to hang it with. So this should be quite good.

As the tower has no electricity, Carmen is hoping candles,

placed on top of the chandelier, will create some festive ambience.

This chandelier is extremely heavy, so we need to make sure it's safe.

This is one chandelier we won't be swinging from.

Oh! Whoa! Easy!

This job is particularly challenging for Jon,

who isn't a fan of heights.

You sure? Let's just hurry up, please,

because this is damn heavy.

That's it, right. OK. Let that hang down. OK?

Take the weight. Yeah, I won't just drop it.

It's too low, isn't it? Sorry? It's too low. Is that too low? Ow!

Let go. I've just trapped my hand.

That's all right.

Just clip it on and we'll test it.

Lovely. OK?

How's that for the height?

I'm going down to look at it from a height perspective.

Oh, yeah, I love it! It's fantastic!

Yeah, it's really good, isn't it?

I mean... Yeah, I mean, that's going to be great across the table

with all the candles. Oh, I love it. I love it!

Great.

They've hung the chandelier,

but Jon and Carmen still need to get a table

and decorations into this space

and cook a sumptuous feast

for their festive night of medieval revelry.

In the foothills of the snowcapped Pyrenees

stands the historic 14th-century Chateau de Gere.

Surrounded by a five-acre estate,

this medieval hunting lodge boasts thick stone walls

and a turret tower.

Queen of this Christmas castle is Connecticut-born Trish.

It's so much fun celebrating the festive season

here in the chateau.

You know, that first snowfall,

especially a winter evening where you've got

a nice blanket of white snow outside,

fire burning in the fireplace,

maybe spending it with friends here for a nice dinner,

it's like that song, Winter Wonderland, right?

TRISH LAUGHS

Sitting less than an hour from the Spanish border,

Trish bought the chateau in 2020 for £512,000

and threw herself into its renovation.

Planning to open the chateau for retreats,

last Christmas, along with friend Beth,

she decorated one of the guest rooms.

No, I think it's looking good.

It's nice and bright as well. Yeah.

This year, Trish is going to trial

a festive culinary workshop with help from two chefs.

One of the things that I'm going to be offering for

the retreats for my guests is to do a cooking class here.

So, you know, I'm kind of experimenting with my friends,

I'm really looking forward to it,

I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

But before that, Trish has a kitchen DIY project to tackle.

She wants to create a marble-topped pastry cart

and, being a sustainability consultant,

her mission is to upcycle.

So we're off to Emmaus, which is

a very large recyclery where people donate objects,

everything from clothes to furniture

to Christmas decorations,

and they resell it for greatly reduced prices

and it's really a big focus on...

..environmental friendliness.

You know, re-using as opposed to buying new

and, you know, it's amazing, the things that you can find there.

I've found a lot of little treasures.

So I'm looking for something like this,

I've already got a piece of marble

that I want to put on top of it.

I think it's a little smaller than what I need.

The space is 49 x 45 centimetres.

So this is 41 x 35,

so smaller is OK,

I can probably make that work,

but I think I'd like to keep looking,

see if I can find something a little bit bigger.

Oh, this one can work, I think. Let me just see.

This is 50.

I think I can make that work.

And then this is 35, which is too short.

Now, this might be a serious contender here.

I like this one better. 55 x 39.

The thing is is that I can remove this top bit

because for one thing it's only ten euros,

so I'm not really too bothered about what happens to it

and then I can just put feet on the bottom of this

to lift it up a little bit more.

All right, I'm going to take this, for ten bucks.

Can't beat that!

So now we just go pay and pick up our stuff.

Yeah, the people here are fantastic.

It's been a successful shopping trip

but, with the upcycling still to tackle,

and the cookery class to prepare for,

Trish is going to be working her Christmas socks off.

Coming up...

..has Jon overdone it with this year's Christmas table?

It's bigger than I thought.

The table is huge.

And having found peace,

this chatelaine's night is far from silent.

It looks good. I've only got to get it up the spiral staircase now.

In the Vienne department

of a wintry central France...

..lies the breathtaking Chateau de la Boutiniere.

Boasting 47 elegant rooms,

it was bought for £580,000

in 2021 by interior designer Alison

and Moroccan-born builder Zion.

Wahey! Have you done it?

Seriously? Yeah.

Both are looking forward to having friends

to stay during the festive holiday.

Being in a chateau at Christmas, I mean, it's absolutely magical.

If it's pouring with rain and freezing cold,

we put a huge fire on

and we invite friends over, we're so lucky.

We consider ourselves to be really, really lucky.

It's important to have friends to come and stay

because this is encouraging you to make more rooms.

It's true. It gives us a project

to finish every time we have someone visit us.

You can't be relaxed.

Located just over three hours from Paris,

the couple are busy renovating an empty room

into a guest suite for Christmas.

I have a good feeling it's going to work.

So far, they've put Zion's handmade coving up...

Oh, my word! This is very exciting.

..and created a secret doorway out of an old wardrobe.

It's like Narnia.

Well, it will be when you walk through this.

Oh, yeah. Oh!

They're now left with an empty room to furnish.

To create some instant sparkle,

Alison wants to put up her 40-euro chandelier

bought at a local brocante.

You have a look

and tell me if you're happy with that lamp or you

want to extend it because we can.

Probably needs to come down just a little bit, yes.

This much?

Yes, I would say so. So I need to get more hooks.

So this is the light that we had in the basement.

We got a really good deal.

But they're so pretty. I love these. So very typical French style.

Alison?! Yeah?

Approval, please. Coming.

Just a bit higher.

Higher? Yeah.

Oh. What do you think now?

Oh, that's much better.

I do like these chandeliers, you know.

That's it!

How many here? Five? Yep.

Five is a good number, you know?

The big Christmas switch on.

Ba!

Isn't that lovely?

Who needs Christmas lights? We've got Christmas chandelier.

Alison's heading somewhere quiet for the next task.

This is our chapel

and I'm rather naughtily using it as a workshop at the moment.

And I've got this bed,

but the cover was just too worn

when I actually extracted it from the basement

and so I decided it needed a makeover

and I found some curtains in one of the local DIY shops,

the perfect colour for the wallpaper that we've put up.

This is the equivalent of tacking at least,

probably, 200 individual pins.

And they sell this thread, which are shaped like pinheads,

and then every fifth fake pinhead you actually put

a real pin, and it saves you 100% of the work.

I mean, it's just crazy and it just looks so great.

You would never know that it wasn't the real McCoy.

Looks good.

I've only got to get it up the spiral staircase now.

I shall pass that one on to Zion.

With the bed to build

and an entire room still to furnish

and decorate before their friends arrive tomorrow,

the festive clock is ticking.

200 miles south at Chateau de Cezerac,

Jon's been tasked with a supersized challenge.

Big Christmases always require big tables

and the bigger the spread the more fun the Christmas, of course.

The tables we've got aren't big enough,

so I'm actually going to make one.

To get it through the tower's ancient doorway,

he'll have to cut the table top in half.

Voila.

Once inside, it can be rejoined into one large table...

..to seat eight people.

I think it's a nice-sized table.

Wait till we get it up on the legs, it'll be really, really good.

Ugh!

Right, I've got it. Ready? One, two, three.

Yeah. OK.

There. Wow! It's huge!

It's bigger than I thought.

The table is huge,

but we've got a lot of plates of food to go on there.

So I'm sure, once it's dressed, it'll be perfect.

Next on Carmen's list is making home-made Christmas crafts.

So we're outside, it's a nice dry day,

and I'm going to make some decorations for the tree.

So I've got this air-dry clay.

It's a bit like pastry.

So you sort of like knead it a bit and then roll it

so you don't get cracks everywhere.

So we just want to roll this so it's an even thickness.

It's just like rolling a piece of pastry, really.

So this is just a cookie cutter.

It's Christmas-like, isn't it?

Because it's a star.

So it's just easy to do that

and you can do smaller ones.

And I really like this crown

because it's king and queen theme, isn't it?

So we just put that on and then apply some even pressure.

So here are the air-dry clay decorations

that I made two days ago,

and you can see they've gone from grey to white now,

so they're ready to decorate.

Right, let's go.

Oh, I like it! It's fantastic!

I love the finish on that.

Wow! I'm pleased with that.

Christmas is a great time.

It's just a nice, relaxing time to just sit back

and enjoy with friends and family.

Red for Christmas.

It's bringing it to life, isn't it?

Wow! That's really nice.

Hello, hello. Are these medieval Christmas decorations?

Well, they're very simple, made from clay.

Yeah, so they could be, really, couldn't they?

And they could be done with natural dyes. That's right, yeah,

I'm not sure about the gold paint, but, you know,

we're kings and queens, so we need some opulence.

They had gold, they had gold.

With the tower still to furnish,

all the table-dressing to organise

and a huge Christmas banquet to cook,

these chateau royals may need to call in the cavalry.

Over in the Ossau Valley, near the Pyrenees,

Trish is ready to upcycle her pastry cart.

All right. I'm excited to get started on this.

This is one of the few projects that I've got

a very clear vision of what I want to do

and how I want to do it,

however, execution doesn't always turn out

exactly how I was planning it.

So I'm prepared for that. What I think I want to do is get...

..to get started is I want to actually take the top off of this.

It's a little bit too wide for what I need,

but this is really nice,

I could potentially make some use of it elsewhere.

She plans to replace it with a piece of reclaimed marble,

which is ideal for rolling pastry dough.

Here we go. Look at that.

So I'm just going to set my marble on here

and just see how this is, is shaping up.

Even though I've got a little bit of an overhang here

and on either side,

once I paint the whole thing

and refinish it, I think it'll be fine.

This is just a base coat

and then I'm going to sand it all down for that distressed look.

This paint is really nice paint, I think.

It goes on very smoothly

and I think it's only going to take one coat.

This is the big moment!

This is great, I'm excited.

I can totally make a pizza right here. I'm getting hungry.

DIY task completed,

Trish's next mission is

to gather some festive decorations for tomorrow's cooking workshop.

So, for the table centrepieces, I'm just going to do

a very simple thing of putting some greenery

and some berries in an old wine bottle,

as well as some glass jars, and just put a candle on that.

So just keep it really simple.

I like using natural materials

and so I'm going to start with some of this rosemary

that has grown very nicely this year,

and I haven't used a lot of it,

so this seems like a good time to use it.

Mm! That smells so good.

The things we do for Christmas decorations!

Getting scratched up by all the sharp leaves,

but I got two little berries out of it.

TRISH LAUGHS

This smells so good. Oh, love it.

And now I'm just going to put these in this little jar.

These things are very, very sharp.

There we go.

There we go.

I'm really happy with it.

Very simple, very easy to do,

and I like it. I'm digging it.

Tomorrow,

as she opens her chateau doors to five friends

and two chefs for her first-ever festive cooking class,

Trish may find herself a little snowed under.

Still to come...

..it's a mad dash to deck the halls...

Race you up the ladder.

..and unconventional cooking materials make this

a nightmare before Christmas.

Mark, I don't know what you're feeding us, but...

..I'm a little scared.

In south-west France, help has arrived at Jon

and Carmen's, where they're planning to hold

a Christmas medieval banquet in the old tower.

So, what do you think? This is it.

Wow, stunning!

Look at the window! It's just beautiful.

Amanda and Emma are friends of ours

and they're here for the banquet primarily,

but we're going to make the most out of their skills

as interior designers

to help dress the tower and make it very special.

You could just scroll curtains at the top

so you're not losing the gold either

and then you won't lose any of the window frame.

That's right, keep this in the frame, yeah. Fantastic.

Eager to find some props,

the new arrivals head to Jon and Carmen's storeroom.

So this is full of my treasures, junk, possessions, you name it.

It's a Santa's grotto filled with pieces

the couple have collected over the years.

Do you think, first of all, we should get some furniture in

and then you can place everything on, on the top?

That's gorgeous.

Look at the colours, that's beautiful.

I can't wait to get all the tapestry on the wall

and the pictures and the mirrors,

and I think it'll really come to life then.

Race you up the ladder.

I'm not racing up ladders.

To me, to you, to me, to you.

I'm on.

Wow! I'm on.

Perfect. Let's have a look. See what it looks like.

I think it's a bit high.

No, it's perfect.

That decided,

it's all hands on deck to dress the room.

Da-da-da-da!

Look at that!

It's a bit surreal actually at the moment.

It's not quite like a Christmas in Britain.

It would be...quite weird, I think,

but in France it just seems, like, natural.

Why would you not decorate a medieval room

and have a medieval dinner?

That's the middle. Yeah. OK?

Just use that one to the left and...

Shall I just wrap it around? Yeah, like a snake.

Like a coil.

If I pull it through and then we can adjust it afterwards.

As the tower has no electricity,

they'll be relying on candles alone this Christmas,

unless Jon can work his magic with some old lights.

These open up and we can direct the light where we want.

Testing, testing.

Find the on-off switch. Must be around here somewhere.

Yes!

How good is that?

Ooh! There you go.

Yeah. Oh... What's it like in the upstairs room, Carmen?

It's very dirty and rubbly.

Pfft!

Lovely.

Perfect. Lovely. Point it at the ceiling.

I think that'll be perfect.

Yay! Wahey! Ooh!

I honestly think that that will create enough light in here.

But, worst-case scenario, we'll...

..we'll check tonight and put another one up tomorrow.

I'll tell you what, this room looks fantastic from up here.

Tomorrow's the big day, lots to do,

but we'll have a rest and get on with it first thing.

I'm feeling pretty tired now. I don't know about you, but...yeah.

Yeah, it's draining work.

Yeah, owning a chateau isn't easy, is it? No.

But it's very rewarding.

Yeah, I can't wait for the party.

They may have set the scene,

but, with a huge banquet still to prepare,

they won't be pulling crackers any time soon.

Back at Chateau de la Boutiniere...

..Alison's reupholstered bedhead is about to find its new home...

Ugh!

..which is no mean feat when it's on the second floor.

That's what you call going round the bend.

The colour is just spot-on. The colour is perfect.

No, I'm really happy with that colour with that as well

because those two are quite good.

Excellent.

With friends arriving tomorrow,

they need to get this room finished.

Let's put the bed in position.

I'll bring the mattress, and hasta la vista, baby.

Oh, that looks really good, doesn't it?

Yeah.

Step on, let it down.

Oh, I hope it's not going to damage that.

Take your hands.

I'm just looking at this, what it's doing to my headboard there.

Oh! My heart!

I hope it's the right mattress. Me too.

Nice!

I'm really happy with these. We've had them lined,

I wanted it to be pink,

but the only curtains available were these cream ones

and they only had two,

and I didn't have time to make them from scratch

so what we...what I did was bought these

and then lined them with the pink.

She's got good vision, my lady, hasn't she?

I don't know what is next. Oh, I remember this one.

Yeah.

Now they can begin dressing the room,

bringing more of their brocante buys back out into the light.

Down a bit. Back, back, back, back. There.

There. So does it look centre?

That looks great.

There we go. That's very good, isn't it?

You're the leader.

I want to surprise my friends.

I want to dress the room a bit Christmassy as well.

I love entertaining any time of year,

but what I particularly love about Christmas

is its entertaining overdrive

and it's just that excuse

to do everything traditionally British,

but at the same time mixed with a twist of French.

I'm never happier than when I'm preparing for Christmas.

Our friends are arriving this afternoon, so no pressure!

There we are.

Yeah, I'm happy with that.

With a bed fit for a princess,

there's just time to add some personal touches.

I just love this little arrangement I have here.

These little shoes belonged

to our first little granddaughter, Josephine.

The reason we chose this wallpaper is

because it's called Josephine.

So Josephine's shoes are in the room with Josephine wallpaper.

Oh, well done, the final touches. Yes.

We're nearly there. Yeah.

With a cosy bed installed and all the furnishings in,

the room just needs a bit of Santa's sparkle

before the guests arrive.

Nearly 350 miles south at Chateau de Gere,

it's the day of Trish's festive cooking workshop

and chefs Mark and Jerome have arrived.

Ah, bonjour. Hello. Bonjour, Patricia. Ca va? Ca va, et toi?

Jerome.

Ah, bonjour, bonjour, Jerome.

Mark used to own a two Michelin-star restaurant,

while chef Jerome is a catering instructor.

For Trish, today is a trial run...

..of something she'd like to include in her retreat business.

I definitely hope it's the first of many.

I mean, not only do they have so much experience

and so much knowledge, but they're a lot of fun.

Mark, I don't know what you're feeding us, but...

..I'm a little scared.

I mean, yeah, it's a little funky-looking.

I'm sure whatever we do with it is going to be delicious,

I have no doubt.

Hi!

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.

Hi!

Merry Christmas. Oh, merry Christmas.

How are you doing? I am really good, how are you?

Hello, how you doing?

I'm well. You?

Welcome. What do you think, guys? Are you ready?

Shall we get this party started?

Yes!

The group set to work, preparing a festive duck dish,

starting with some knife skills.

We've got two bones there.

You take time, no rush, mind your fingers.

THEY LAUGH

And you just follow the bone.

Ah, OK. They make it look so easy.

To make it easier, you just open as maximum, as much you can.

Too much meat on the bone, I'd say.

OK, so this is for wrapping it.

Uh-huh. Yes.

Interesting.

It feels like brain. Um... Actually, yeah, it's kind of...

How many brains have you felt?

Remember the last time you guys came for dinner?

All the vegetables left on the tables will be used for

the, for the garnish, for the main course.

THEY LAUGH

I do a bit of cooking at home,

but I've just learnt so many new things

that I have never tried before,

like deboning a duck leg,

and I think it's going to be fantastic,

I can't wait to do it more at home.

Merry Christmas. ALL: Merry Christmas.

Amazing, it's been... it's been a lot of fun.

We're laughing a lot and learning a lot

and I'm hoping we're going to eat a lot as well later.

Wow! Wow!

THEY CHEER AND APPLAUD

Trish has a great activity for her future retreats.

Merry Christmas. Cheers!

Class done, it's time to eat, drink and be merry.

Oh, my gosh!

Wow!

Bon appetit.

Out of this world.

Oh, my God! It's incredible.

I couldn't be happier with this.

It was so much fun

and the food is just unbelievably delicious.

For me, this is what the holidays is all about,

getting together with friends, enjoying some good food.

Cheers. Thank you. Thank you, my friends. I've loved this.

This has been so great. Oh, sorry.

Coming up,

Alison embraces the spirit of Christmas...

And it snowed.

It's like being a child again, isn't it?

..and Carmen's aiming to impress at the festive banquet.

More is more in medieval times.

In western France,

with just hours before their friends arrive,

Alison is off to hunt for festive decorations.

I want to decorate the mantelpiece area

and round the mirror. This is typical Christmas material,

these beautiful cones.

There we go.

I'm going to take some of the bigger ones off

and then re-use them...in the mix.

I think that's about right.

So now it's time for the snow spray.

And it snowed.

It's like being a child again, isn't it?

A bounty of baubles and candles to finish it off.

I'm really pleased with that.

Oh, look at this!

# Christmas-time... #

OK, put the Eiffel Tower on, shall I?

Centre stage, of course.

Oh, isn't that gorgeous?

Completely over the top, just like I like it.

I am super happy with this room, I have to say.

Very good. It feels really warm, doesn't it?

Yeah, yeah. It feels really welcoming.

Three weeks ago, the chateau's second-floor room

was a dull, empty space which had been unused for decades.

Now it has been transformed into a luxurious,

cosy bedroom.

Zion's handmade coving

and giant-sized ceiling rose give

the room added grandeur.

While Alison's colour palette of pinks,

picked out in the floral wallpaper and furnishings,

adds a soft sophistication.

The room is ready just in time for their friends, Jo and David.

Wow!

Welcome to your room.

Wow. Oh, this is lovely.

This is fantastic.

It's beautiful, you know, the green and the pink,

it's not normal colours to put together.

No. It makes it warm and cosy, doesn't it?

And there is one final surprise.

You like the wardrobe? Yes.

Then you just pull from here. JO: OK.

Oh, it's a bathroom!

This is amazing! Wowee. JO: Oh, wow!

You weren't expecting that, were you? Fantastic.

What was previously an abandoned room

is now a luxurious, contemporary and stylish en suite.

It's incredible. Oh, wow! What a fantastic job.

I thought it was a wardrobe.

You're so clever. Ah!

JO: That is a... Yeah, I'm well impressed with that. Mm.

The wardrobe, well... What a surprise!

The wardrobe that's actually a bathroom door

was just amazing, amazing.

What a surprise that was.

It's amazing what they've done in such a short space of time.

We're honoured, absolutely honoured.

Welcome to Chateau de la Boutiniere.

We are honoured, it's beautiful.

Christmas has arrived. There we go, room service.

Merry Christmas everyone. Hey! Merry Christmas.

Lovely to have you with us. JO: It's lovely to see you.

Ho, ho, ho!

THEY LAUGH

We did well there, didn't we?

Good, very good. I'm very happy.

Happy Christmas. Happy Christmas, darling.

Enjoy.

Alison and Zion have an en suite bedroom to be proud of

and, with friends to help celebrate,

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the chateau.

200 miles south, with much milder weather,

food preparations for Jon and Carmen's banquet

are in full swing,

from a sizzling Christmas barbecue...

Look at this.

..to a hearty dish originating from bygone times,

cooked by friend Neil who is a chef.

So we're making a wild boar stew.

Well, that was the intention, however, we went

to two different supermarkets and two...

No, actually, three butchers, and you cannot buy boar here.

So we've got beef instead,

but we're just pretending it's going to be wild boar.

We've got the chicken in there -

that needs to come out in about an hour or so.

Yeah, and then we've got a side of salmon to do

and then we've got the vegetable dishes to do.

Tonight's banquet will take place in

the chateau's 1,000-year-old tower, which needs some festive twinkle.

I'm just putting some Christmas lights around the boar,

he is the centrepiece, and more is more in medieval times.

Hooray!

ALL: Merry Christmas.

Just two days ago, the ancient tower was a dismal,

dust-filled, empty space

which had been ravaged by a fire.

Now it's been transformed with decadence and drama.

From the beautifully styled dining table

to the candle-topped chandelier.

All the trimmings, including Carmen's home-made decorations, work well

to create Christmas magic.

Outside waiting to feast are the suitably attired guests.

THEY CHEER AND APPLAUD

Hello, loyal subjects. How are you? Are you well?

Let this royal party commence.

Onward!

RINGING

Welcome, everybody,

to this medieval Christmas meal at Chateau de Cezerac.

Cheers, my lord.

Oh, look at that.

I'm going to try these medieval leeks.

Jon? Yes? How are you, my king?

Oh, miles away.

THEY LAUGH

Do you know what?

I could get used to this. It's so much fun, isn't it?

It is. It certainly is.

Cheers. Cheers. Cheers, everybody.

Sante!

And there's one final nod to the days of old.

RINGING

My lords and ladies, I think it is time for the royal dance.

The evening has been incredible, I've loved every minute.

And it hasn't finished yet.

Change direction. And one, two.

This is a wonderful place to have people for Christmas

and I totally loved it and I want to do it every week.

I'm worn out.

No, you're not.

Still some more partying to do, perhaps.

Four, and bow.

Yeah!

It's been a show-stopping evening full of festive cheer,

and now Jon and Carmen can happily jingle their way through

the rest of the Christmas season.

ALL: Merry Christmas!

Next time,

a party idea could be a recipe for disaster...

I do think it's a bit ambitious,

particularly as you've never done this before.

..one family decide on an alternative Christmas...

Simple solution to make a Christmas tree.

..and a chateau pair's festive plans hit the buffers.

It's completely stuck and wedged, can't go forwards,

can't go backwards, and it weighs tons.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media