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Short filmTranscript
00:01Many Brits have made the journey to foreign shores
00:06to find the perfect home.
00:09It's rather delicious.
00:11But a rare few are deciding to take a path less well-trodden.
00:15Believe it or not, there is quite a large building under that.
00:19They're embarking on a bold mission
00:22to preserve the past and save Europe's lost villages.
00:27800 years of history is a lot to be responsible for.
00:32Sawyer coming to help!
00:34In this series...
00:35Keep clear.
00:37We step into the forgotten villages...
00:40On this beam here, there's some medieval writing.
00:43...to meet the brave new visionaries...
00:46This is gonna be fun.
00:48...and seasoned saviours...
00:50On top of the world.
00:52...who are fighting to bring these abandoned settlements back to life.
00:56We're just trying to pick up the pieces, really.
00:59And hope they somehow go back together.
01:01As they turn ruins into homes...
01:03...and rubble into extraordinary businesses.
01:07And you can just lay down and sleep under the stars, literally.
01:10But will they buckle under the strain?
01:13One way to get it out!
01:15Or find the strength to see it through?
01:18That weighs a tonne!
01:21As they restore the past to build their future.
01:25I can't believe it!
01:27I bought a village!
01:36Today, two of our most experienced village saviours battle heroically to rescue their ancient village.
01:43I wanna flip it over, so there's no screws hanging out.
01:47As it crumbles before their eyes.
01:49It feels like we're letting La Bulliere down.
01:54We just feel that we're failing.
01:58In Italy, a thousand-year-old village ravaged by earthquakes finds a British saviour.
02:04There is something about the charm of it being just completely abandoned.
02:12But her renovation plans are running into trouble.
02:15I've been trying to find a builder to give me an estimate for, well, since the end of last year, really.
02:21And a couple who discovered a French ghost village on the internet...
02:25I think this vegetation, isn't it, I'm just gonna have to keep on top of.
02:29...fight to reclaim its secrets from Mother Nature.
02:32I can stand back and look at that and think, wow, we've actually started to save something that could disappear forever.
02:40Terry, you ought to come and have a look at this.
02:43Ah!
02:44Europe is littered with ghost villages.
02:57And to bring them back to life takes a passion for history, as well as patience and determination.
03:03It also takes deep pockets.
03:07And 60 miles east of St Malo, two of our most experienced village saviours, Paul and Yip, are struggling to keep up with La Bulliere's financial demands.
03:16It can be terrifying when we think too much about what needs to be done.
03:24Most of the jobs here need to be done now.
03:27Until La Bulliere was abandoned decades ago, it was a bustling farming community.
03:32But it could have been lost forever if these landscape gardeners from Kent hadn't fallen in love with it.
03:38Paul and Yip had never been on the property ladder before and paid just £22,000 for the village, moving into the only habitable house and becoming custodians of four more cottages, two barns, a hayloft, a bakery and two acres of land.
03:56That first year, 18 months, we got loads done. Manual labour, wasn't it? It didn't cost us anything.
04:03And then as more jobs came in that we'd need to go out and buy materials for, it felt like the pace slowed a bit as the money ran out.
04:15Since 2021, Paul and Yip have worked tirelessly to breathe new life back into La Bulliere.
04:21To help pay for the project, they've rebuilt the old piggery to create a facilities room and turned their horse box into a glamping van for holidaymakers.
04:32There you go.
04:34Oh my goodness, that's incredible. The views are just gorgeous.
04:39They are, aren't they?
04:41The accommodation has had great reviews, but it's seasonal and only brings in a trickle of cash.
04:46And now Paul and Yip have more money worries because they've had to borrow 17,000 euros to buy a missing piece of their jigsaw.
04:571774, 200 years before I was born.
05:01It's a house that's been uninhabited since the 1920s.
05:04So when we bought this row of cottages, unfortunately that house wasn't with us. We were gutted.
05:13When it unexpectedly came on the market, the couple couldn't pass it up.
05:18All we kept on thinking about was the worst case scenario of having nightmare neighbours. That could ruin things for us here.
05:24Definitely, yeah.
05:25So that was bought out of a protection for this business and for this project as a whole.
05:31I like that window.
05:33Yeah, I do.
05:35They're still waiting to get the keys.
05:37But as soon as they do, they'll be one step closer to putting La Boulière back together.
05:41That's as long as the rest of the village doesn't slip through their fingers in the meantime.
05:45Not long ago, the old barn collapsed.
05:50Whoa!
05:52And the roofs and walls of all the properties are deteriorating rapidly.
05:56In particular, the middle cottage.
05:59Every week, another stone falls out.
06:02We're expecting a collapse. It's imminent.
06:06It feels like we're letting La Boulière down.
06:12We just feel that we're failing.
06:16Erm, aren't we, don't we?
06:27It's May in La Boulière.
06:29And today, Paul and Yip are focusing on the precarious roof of the middle cottage.
06:37Where we're standing now, this has got, in big red letters, danger written all over it.
06:44This huge beam is moving.
06:48There's got to be maybe a couple of turn up there.
06:51If that came down, that would be it.
06:53It would be a nightmare.
06:54Paul and Yip are following in the footsteps of the original builders with a rudimentary scaffold tower and using just their bare hands to get the job done.
07:06That's better.
07:07Let's just get up there and have a look.
07:08Exactly.
07:11Nearly 30 feet up at the roof line, the couple can properly assess the damage and come up with an action plan.
07:18It's looking dodgy up here.
07:21This wall should start underneath this tin and go up, right the way up to the ridge.
07:27Yeah, you should see stone all the way up there.
07:29The first step is to carefully remove the wooden chevrons without dislodging the fallen stones.
07:36Yeah, just make sure you're well out of the way of it.
07:40Oh, hang on. Oh, there we go.
07:42I saved you.
07:47I saved your life, then.
07:50But with so much loose debris, the job might be more dangerous than even Paul and Yip realised.
07:56Do you just keep trying?
07:58Try, but you're going to have stuff falling on us, and I don't really want that.
08:11Over the course of its history, the region of Basilicata, in southern Italy, has passed through the hands of a multitude of conquering civilisations.
08:23From the Greeks to the Romans, and from the Moors to the Normans, each has left its mark here.
08:29And the ghost village of Rabatana sums up the legacy of the past perfectly.
08:33It sits above the modern town of Tursi, and can trace its roots back to an Arab invasion in the 8th century.
08:42It could only be accessed by three drawbridges.
08:46Rabatana's narrow streets once resonated with the traffic of people and animals,
08:51and a cacophony of languages echoed from its walls.
08:58But today, the mountaintop village stands eerily silent.
09:03But emigration, earthquakes and landslides have left it in a perilous state.
09:09But there is a glimmer of hope.
09:15I love this look, you know, the half-open door and no roof.
09:18But there is something about the charm of it being just completely abandoned.
09:24Martine, who's from Norfolk, and once worked criss-crossing the globe as a wine merchant, fell in love with this abandoned town on a holiday in 2006.
09:39I came here and I was just completely blown away.
09:43The houses were, as people left them, there were still things on the table.
09:48There were toys in the corner on the floor.
09:50They just basically kind of walked out.
09:53I've never seen anything like it in my life.
09:54Her holiday ignited a passion to learn more about the past here, and to find out how an earthquake led to Rabatana's final demise.
10:10They created a new part of the new town down here.
10:14It was a lot easier for most people to just say, right, OK, they're giving us a new house down there.
10:18We'll just move out and we'll leave this old one.
10:21Martine started exploring the abandoned homes.
10:23This is rather lovely, isn't it?
10:26The family would live here with the fireplace and the animals would be at the back here, behind a curtain maybe.
10:33Quite normal, not anything strange about it at all.
10:36It's a really good example of what you can buy.
10:40As her love for the old town grew, she decided to take the plunge and start saving the empty homes.
10:46She has five now and is on the lookout for more.
10:50I'd had enough of living in England.
10:51Whenever I came here, I didn't want to go home.
10:54And I just thought, do you know what, I'm just going to sell everything.
10:58And I did. It was ridiculous, really, in hindsight, but I just thought, what could go wrong?
11:06It's time now for the once lost homes to pay their saviour back.
11:11Martine has spectacularly transformed them into holiday rentals to create what's called a diffused hotel.
11:17It's a concept that originated in Italy in the 1980s and spreads rooms across multiple buildings to give guests a more authentic local experience.
11:28Perhaps Martine's greatest achievement is the Mandarin Suite, built from the ruins of one of the most beautiful houses in Rabatana.
11:35Not a stately home, but an important home, a noble home when it was built.
11:42And yeah, I did fall in love with it when I saw the arches because it's just so romantic apart from anything else. Just beautiful.
11:49After fixing the non-existent roof, Martine has created two stunning apartments, one of which she lives in and one she rents out.
11:59She's also discovered some amazing historical features in the process.
12:03There's a stone here that's obviously been inside the wall since the house was built.
12:11And with like this carving of an olive branch, which might mean this house is slightly less old than the convent, which is like 1350 maybe the convent.
12:21It's just amazing. The history is incredible.
12:24Martine's unique sense of style is now present in every detail.
12:28I think Americans find it a bit strange having a bath in the front room, but basically I'm inviting people into my home to live how I live.
12:36But nowhere embodies Martine's creativity more clearly than the former living room of the house, where she's decided not to repair the roof at all.
12:47You can just lay down and sleep under the stars, literally.
12:51You can just look at everything that there is up there and feel very small.
12:54And there's a fireplace too. So in the winter you can light a fire, sit in front of it, drink mulled wine.
13:01Needless to say, this has become one of Martine's most popular rooms to let.
13:06And the swallows zooming over in the morning. It's just gorgeous.
13:09She may have built a fledgling business from the ground up, but Martine's work is far from over.
13:18There are dozens more unloved homes in Rabatana, and she dreams of reviving them one by one.
13:25I'm forever looking at other properties here. As I walk around, I'm just thinking, oh my God, that could be amazing.
13:30That could be lovely. But I know it's going to cost a fortune. I mean, my only form of income is my rentals.
13:38With the tourist season now about to begin, can the homes that Martine rescued generate enough income to preserve more of this incredible heritage?
13:48Coming up, a couple prepare for the worst as they return to their French village after half a year away.
14:00It definitely looks like it's been abandoned for a bit. Six months is a long time to leave a house in France.
14:06And at La Bouillière, Paul and Jip are still up on the roof.
14:11Ready below? Yep.
14:15You do just wobbling bits off.
14:21Fine, let's go.
14:36The ghost villages of Europe whisper their secrets to the wind.
14:41Forgotten histories suspended in time.
14:45And the ancient settlement of Chicheville in Western France is no exception.
14:50This tiny hamlet in the department of Deux-Sèvres was once a thriving farming community,
14:56home to 600 people with its own village school.
15:00Au revoir.
15:01I think they want us to feed them, don't they?
15:06But the empty stone buildings could have been lost forever
15:10if Tony and Terry from Gloucestershire hadn't found them on the internet during lockdown.
15:18For us, it's very important that we're protecting part of France.
15:23We're saving something that might otherwise disappear and basically become a pile of stones.
15:26And there's so much history, so many families, so many people have earned the living here over the generations
15:32that I think it's such a shame to see that go.
15:36Tony and Terry are furniture restorers by trade, but they were looking for a much bigger renovation project
15:43when they spotted Chicheville for sale on a French property site.
15:46I just thought it was a beautiful place. I know there's a lot of work to be done on the inside,
15:53but the actual house and the grounds and where it is was just beautiful.
15:58We were really pleased with what we were looking at.
16:01The couple have paid around 60,000 euros for three cottages that date back to the 1800s,
16:09and a variety of outbuildings rapidly disappearing under ivy, bushes and weeds.
16:15We've got a pigsty, we've got a barn, we've got a row of outbuildings along the road.
16:21We've even got a little wood now as well.
16:24To finance the restoration, the couple have put their house in the UK on the market.
16:28And when it's sold, it'll give them the cash injection they need.
16:33But for now, their finances are stretched.
16:36And they can only do the basic repairs and maintenance required to stop Mother Nature reclaiming Chicheville for her own.
16:44Other than credit cards, we haven't had a lot of spare cash to spend on it.
16:47No. It's been a difficult time in the UK.
16:49Our business in the UK, which we thought would be helping to offend doing the work,
16:54has been slow, unfortunately, so it's not been easy.
16:56You know, with the cost of living crisis and everything else, it's put us under more pressure.
17:01So, yeah, I don't know. Would we have not done it? Would we still want the pressure?
17:08I think we're enjoying the pressure.
17:11It's October 2024. Work commitments and visa restrictions mean Tony and Terry are returning to Chicheville for the first time in half a year.
17:25It's a lot longer than they'd have liked, and they aren't entirely sure what they're going to find.
17:30It definitely looks like it's been abandoned for a bit. Six months is a long time to leave a house in France.
17:41The vegetation might be running riot, and the weather has done its best to batter the roofs into submission.
17:46But at first sight, the damage hasn't been too bad, and the couple can breathe a sigh of relief.
17:53It still looks good, though. I love it.
17:55Yeah, it's still lovely to see, isn't it?
17:56It's just amazing, really, I think. Yeah.
17:58In its previous life, the main cottage would have been at the heart of the village, and several generations of farming families would have lived on the ground floor, with the hayloft above.
18:11Tony and Terry have some work to do, but as a matter of principle, their renovations will be entirely in keeping with its traditions.
18:18We don't really like some of the methods that people use when restoring houses nowadays, and we just want it to look how it would have looked before.
18:30Tony and Terry intend to focus their renovations on the main house to begin with, but the outbuildings have already revealed some fascinating secrets.
18:40Barely a year ago, that lintel was still in place, and two-thirds of the way up, built into the wall, was a terracotta jug.
18:48We were hoping it was full of gold, but if it was, it's gone.
18:53Between the 16th and 18th centuries, terracotta objects were traditionally embedded into the walls as part of a superstitious practice to protect against evil spirits.
19:04Maintaining the history of the place is very important, definitely, and especially with buildings like this, we'd love to rebuild it now, but we just don't have the time or the resources.
19:15The house and the other buildings have to take priority over this.
19:19Pleased not to have discovered any signs of new damage outside, the couple can now head inside, hoping they'll be lucky enough to find the rooms pretty much as they left them six months ago.
19:28Back in northern France, Paul and Yip are still bravely taking down the crumbling roof from the middle cottage in La Bollière.
19:44Yeah.
19:47I want to flip it over so there's no screws hanging out.
19:51Yeah? Can you catch any debris?
19:53Hang on, cos there's going to be quite a lot coming down.
19:55Yeah, I'm just doing it a little bit at a time.
19:58Any time there's a bit of movement, we'll stop.
20:01Try not to lift the other bits.
20:04Yeah, get that for me.
20:10Well done, you're nearly on the floor. There you are.
20:12I'm leaning that against there, yeah?
20:17That's chevron number one. Only another eight to go.
20:24Paul doesn't have a head for heights, so Yip has volunteered to do most of the work along the roof line.
20:31This is the worst building at La Bollière, this is.
20:34If we can successfully do this without injury or collapse or anything like that, then it really is the worst bit out of the way, I think, here.
20:42Yeah, I think so.
20:44You're cracking on there, aren't you?
20:46An hour later, Yip's fearlessness is paying off, but the job is still a long way from finished.
20:52The outside scaffolding, we've reached across and we've gotten as many timbers as possible.
20:57We now need to get up on the inside scaffolding to tackle the rest of the timbers from there, and then it feels like the safest point, doesn't it?
21:06Yeah.
21:07Let's crack on, then.
21:08Good luck.
21:09Thank you, aren't you?
21:10Stay safe.
21:16Well done.
21:21Ready?
21:23Where am I chucking this down?
21:24In the doorway, maybe, or just over this side.
21:27That's it, like that.
21:28Slowly but surely.
21:29That's all we're going to do.
21:32It's very grave.
21:34I'm not sure I'd want to be out there.
21:36Ready below?
21:37Yep.
21:41It's mad that they've, rather than battens, it's like feather boarding.
21:46Yeah, they just nailed to that, didn't they?
21:48No, this is back in the day, though, isn't it?
21:50Could do with just wobbling bits off.
21:55Mind that stone.
21:58Paul and Jip have had this roof on their to-do list ever since they moved into the village.
22:03So it's a relief to finally be making some progress.
22:09This is like Kaplunk.
22:13The next stage will be to remove the top half of the front wall stone by stone.
22:18Got it?
22:19Yep.
22:21Well done.
22:23It will definitely be a two-man job.
22:25So with most of the timber stripped, they decide to build a platform to help Paul overcome his phobia of heights.
22:33We've put a temporary floor in, really temporary floor.
22:36So we've used some roof timbers and some boarding that we had about.
22:41So, A, I can't see down, which is great.
22:45B, it's a lot more sturdier than the wobbly scaffold tower.
22:48So it's perfect.
22:49We can now think about doing the stonework, which is desperately need, you know, there's really some serious attention needs.
22:57But I can get on with that now.
22:58Now I feel safe up here.
23:00It's all systems going.
23:02The couple finish stripping the final bits of the roof together.
23:06Well done, yeah.
23:08We've got that done, haven't we?
23:11But seeing the scale of the work up close has been a reminder of how far away they are from earning an income from any of the cottages.
23:20So they've come up with a plan to earn extra cash by letting out their own home to holidaymakers and moving into one of their other unrenovated cottages.
23:29It makes complete sense that we should maximise on our income.
23:37We have become used to having hot water on tap.
23:41Paul and Yip spent three years renovating their home.
23:44It's been re-plumbed, re-wired and re-plastered.
23:47They've installed a new kitchen, a vaulted ceiling in the bathroom and a granite fireplace in the lounge.
23:53So it'll be more than comfortable enough for guests.
23:55So it is a little bit of a sacrifice.
24:00Yeah, stepping backwards a little bit to go forward.
24:03But we're definitely going to be moving forward as well, aren't we?
24:06Small price to pay.
24:08The cottage they'll be moving into couldn't be more different.
24:12It's been used mostly for storage since they bought La Boulier.
24:16Number three, La Boulier.
24:18And with their finances already stretched, they'll have very little left to spend on sprucing it up before they move in.
24:25So our bed could come off of this wall, couldn't it?
24:28Yeah.
24:29A kitchen under the window.
24:30Over here.
24:32Our pipe work needs to be on the outside wall.
24:34So maybe if our toilet, possibly a shower area, was here.
24:39Because it only has to be a temporary installation, doesn't it?
24:44Living in this unrenovated space is going to be a challenge.
24:47But if it helps fast forward their village restoration, Paul and Yip are willing to slum it.
24:54This house here, actually, apart from the big hole in the floor and the leaks in the roof, isn't far away from our house, is it?
25:03When we first moved into that.
25:05No.
25:09Coming up, in Rabatana, Martine needs help, but she's getting nowhere fast.
25:15I've been trying to get builders to come and give me an estimate.
25:18At the moment, I'm still beating my head on a brick wall.
25:20I've had about seven come and I haven't had one estimate yet.
25:23And in Sheeshville, Terry and Tony's house is slowly crumbling away.
25:27Instead of a lime or a cement mortar, it's just mud.
25:32Take a pair of the ground.
25:34Your house is made of mud.
25:44In southern Italy, it's June.
25:47And our village saviour, Martine, is heading to the very first house she bought in Rabatana over 15 years ago.
25:53It's now one of the cosiest of the rooms in her diffused hotel, and she calls it The Stack, named after an old variety of Italian orange, said to be so big it could feed a family.
26:05It looks almost like she hasn't been here.
26:07Martine's last guest checked out this morning, so she now needs to do a changeover.
26:12I love doing the bathrooms. I hate doing the beds.
26:14They're just exhausting.
26:16But we're now at a point where we don't need to have the duvets on there anymore.
26:20It's the duvets that are really, you know, can be heavy and awkward.
26:28In the 400 years of its existence, the house has been through some real highs and lows.
26:34This was once the servants' quarters of a lavish 17th century palace.
26:39Members of the noble Lutronico family lived in luxury upstairs, while up to 20 of their servants shared the ground floor with their children.
26:48Years of decadence followed.
26:50But as the Italian aristocracy declined, so did the upper floors.
26:55And in a complete reversal of fortune, it's only the servants' quarters that are thriving today.
27:01It didn't look anything like this when I bought it.
27:06So I had a lot of plaster taken off of the walls, and then there was kind of this bulge, and I kind of investigated, you know, tapping the render off.
27:15And I found the archway with the original window in it.
27:18Oh, and there's this amazing symbol on this beam.
27:25They're just beautiful, the beams.
27:27And this Palazzo 1600.
27:29Finding things like that, that's what it's, for me, that's what it's all about.
27:33If Martine is going to save any more abandoned buildings, she now needs to expand her business and boost her income.
27:45She's decided the best way to do that is to renovate the cellar of the building she calls the Mandarin.
27:52So this is a cantina that's underneath the terrace upstairs, the Sleeping Under the Stars terrace.
28:04So this is a dream for me to finish this part of the project, because it means that just about all of the house will be renovated.
28:12Around 15 years after her first renovation, her latest one will be in a space traditionally reserved for storing wine or cured Italian meats like salami.
28:22Although Martine believes it was later converted into a living area.
28:27This cantina under here, nobody's been here probably since the 60s, I don't think.
28:33I've got a complete vision of how I want it.
28:35Just this lovely rough white plaster and these lovely tiles are going to be quite pale.
28:39And then above that as well, instead of leaving it open, I'm going to have a flat roof.
28:43It'll just be beautiful because you have a 360 degree view.
28:46It will be stunning.
28:48I think it's rather delicious.
28:55Martine may be at the dawn of another awe-inspiring rescue mission,
28:59but it looks like this project is set to test her more than any other so far.
29:04It is a big job.
29:06There's a lot that the architects found that really needs to be consolidated before we can start doing this.
29:12I've been trying to get builders to come and give me an estimate for the work,
29:16and it's just at the moment I'm still beating my head on a brick wall.
29:19I've had about seven come and I haven't had one estimate yet.
29:22If we can do it, it's going to be lovely.
29:24Back in Western France, Tony and Terry are busy checking to see if their six-month absence from the village has led to any significant damage inside.
29:40Luckily, everything seems just as they left it, and the couple have some grand designs for the main farmhouse.
29:47This will take us through to what will become our grand salon.
29:51This will all come down.
29:53It will become one big room.
29:55Yeah.
29:56I've started stripping out the fireplace.
29:58It was all boarded up, and then we'll start stripping all these walls out, exposing the original stone.
30:04This is a big project, to be honest.
30:06We're making inroads into it at the moment.
30:10With their background as furniture restorers, it's no surprise they've already created a little oasis for themselves in here.
30:19We call this our cocktail lounge.
30:21Originally, it was just going to be a landing area.
30:23Yeah.
30:24And then we felt we needed some kind of moral support, I think.
30:27Somewhere nice to sit down in the evening, play a bit of music, have a glass of wine.
30:32Tony and Terry may have only put their stamp on a few rooms so far, but they're acutely aware of the importance of what they're doing and their place in the history of the village.
30:45You know, you've got to rescue these houses before they disappear.
30:50Like the rest of the Hamlet, really, it's just there waiting to disappear unless somebody steps in now and saves it.
30:58At the beginning, you thought it's all about us. Then you realise that it's not just us, it's everybody that was here before.
31:05You're kind of adding to their story and hopefully maintaining their story.
31:11Their first task on this trip will be to oversee repairs to the guttering on the roof of the farmhouse.
31:17We're heading to winter, which will rain, no doubt.
31:21We need to get the extra dam pipe fitted so it can get the water away from the house.
31:24If it keeps soaking the thermal, it's going to cause problems inside. So that we definitely need to get done.
31:30As many of our village saviours discover, the work required to drag these buildings into the 21st century can be overwhelming.
31:38And often you need a bit of help.
31:41You should do.
31:42So it's a good job another expat, Peter, lives just down the road.
31:47He's a builder and his skills have already proved invaluable to Tony and Tara's project.
31:52You need me up there?
31:54No, no, no.
31:55OK, well, if you're not going to need me, I'll start getting some of this ivy off.
31:59Ivy can actually be an asset to a house and villagers of the past may well have encouraged its growth.
32:05The leaves help keep buildings warm in winter and cool in summer.
32:09But it can be calamitous if the roots bury their way into weak spots in the masonry.
32:17These houses are bit by bit by bit, put together, instead of a lime or a cement mortar, it's clay.
32:24Basically, it's just mud, dig up out of the ground. Your house is made of mud.
32:32While Tony grapples with the ivy...
32:34Get some of these now.
32:36...Terry is fighting her own battle with the native flora.
32:40I think this vegetation isn't just going to have to keep on top of.
32:44It just has grown up, you know, really a lot since we've last been here.
32:49Around half a dozen outbuildings stand derelict in the hamlet,
32:53all in various states of disrepair.
32:56But Tony and Terry are determined to preserve them,
32:59however much the ravages of time have hidden them away.
33:03Believe it or not, there is the remains of quite a large building under that.
33:08We'll make a pathway in and then I can work out how to clear the building.
33:13In a former life, this forgotten ruin would have been a shelter for pigs or cattle.
33:17They're quite overgrown in there. There's brambles thicker than my thumb.
33:24Turn it up to the right speed.
33:32Slowly the brambles succumb to Tony's trimmer and it gives him a glimpse of the beautiful stonework buried beneath.
33:39Terry, you ought to come and have a look at this.
33:44Ah.
33:46That's further back than I thought because I thought our boundary was here,
33:48so it curves round to this corner here.
33:51Yeah. Look at that wall there. That's fab.
33:53It's nice, isn't it?
33:54Yeah. I think all this cleaned up and make sure that it's secure, it doesn't fall down.
33:59I think it's just going to be the fab thing.
34:01Looking at the house, you look out the window, you'll see all of that.
34:03Yeah. No, it looks really good. I can't believe how much you've done.
34:07It's at moments like this when the village is slowly revealing its secrets
34:12that Tony and Terry feel the decision to come here is the right one.
34:16I can stand back and look at that and think, wow, we've actually started to save something that could disappear forever.
34:25If we can save that in whatever form, it's something that can be there for generations to come.
34:30There's no doubt that Tony and Terry have the vision and determination to resurrect their ghost village.
34:36But with so many of their buildings hanging on by a thread, the couple need to sell their house in the UK soon,
34:43or they might find their efforts are simply too little, too late.
34:54Coming up, in Rabatana, Martine takes things into her own hands.
34:59I think it's much better to get it back to bare bones here and just start again.
35:03And in La Boulière, Paul and Yip have to deal with devastating news.
35:10It's been tough. It's been up and down, so, you know.
35:13So it's caused a lot of, um, heartache, hasn't it, really? And it has been difficult.
35:18Back in Rabatana, Martine is out to visit a couple of long-term guests, staying in her diffused hotel.
35:37But Salvatore and Maria aren't ordinary guests.
35:44They're bringing to this ancient village the very latest in 21st century working life, because they're digital nomads.
35:51And they've booked the Bergamot rooms for a whopping two months.
35:58So, how are you? How's the house? Is everything fine?
36:01Very, very nice, comfortable. We are...
36:04Do I like to sit outside and work?
36:06Really? You've been out there? Yes, yes.
36:09This long-term booking is just what Martine needs to finance the next stage of her renovations in the village.
36:15Obviously, they pay less than they would if they were paying on a nightly rate, but if you kind of work it all together, of not actually putting a breakfast into each person, not changing sheets and ironing them, washing them and cleaning and everything else, it works really well for me, really well.
36:35Martine's young guests have been so impressed by their working environment that they've encouraged more digital nomads to spend time here.
36:43And they now regularly hold meetings in the town's ancient convent nearby.
36:49What we do is to bring remote workers in the village.
36:54The spaces are huge, the light is very good, and we can focus here. The silence is perfect for working remotely.
37:02Having spent a few weeks here already, Salvatore and Maria have come to know the history of their diffused hotel, and they're in awe of Martine's passion for preserving the village.
37:13In my opinion, with what she did, I think that she gave a second life to these properties and to this beauty.
37:23I bought it in 2015, and it was a wreck. It was all rusty wire knitting. This was all cemented. It looked like a prison block. It was awful, absolutely awful.
37:33But there's just something when you walk inside that you just feel there's just this soul of the house, and it was crying out to be rescued, really.
37:42Every nook and cranny in the Bergamot Suite seems to embody Martine's vision for the whole village, a place where modernity and the past can flourish together.
37:52I didn't want it all to be on one floor level, so we created the mezzanine here. That's really lovely. It's so romantic, sleeping up there.
38:03And then there's the view as well of La Rabatana. Yeah, it's beautiful here.
38:10As Martine's visit comes to an end, she heads back to the Mandarin apartment, where she decided to make a start on the cantina herself.
38:17You can hear it's really hollow behind. I think it's much better to get it back to bare bones here and just start again.
38:30Despite not being able to find builders, Martine is determined to get this project going.
38:39It's so thick. I mean, I'm sure it's been plastered on top of plaster, really.
38:44It's a bit like taking off wallpaper, but quicker.
38:51After a couple of hours' work, she's taken the old plaster off a big section of the cantina's main load-bearing wall.
38:59I just find it very satisfying, because it's something that's actually quite easy.
39:04It's not difficult, and you do see a result quite quickly.
39:07Like all of our village saviours, Martine has no qualms about getting dirty and taking on the work herself.
39:14But some jobs are just too big for one pair of hands, and she'll need help if this unloved corner of Rabatana is going to rise from the ashes again.
39:23Back in La Boullière, it's a big day for Paul and Yip as they kick-start their plan to move into the unrenovated cottage a few doors down.
39:43We're going to start clearing all the junk that's in there. It's a complete dumping ground at the minute, isn't it?
39:51And we want to clear the fireplace and have a fire in there.
39:56Now, there hasn't been a fire in that fireplace for about 30, 40, possibly even 50 years, you know.
40:01It'd be nice to see smoke coming out of the chimney.
40:04Oh, they're amazing. It'd be something quite... It feels quite big to me.
40:08Yeah, yeah, definitely.
40:11Ye old locking system.
40:14The first step in turning this unloved cottage into a home...
40:18Bottom or top? Top, please.
40:21..is to move everything they've been storing here into the next house along.
40:26Oh, pure granite. Oh!
40:29You all right? Yeah.
40:30But it's surprisingly simple because they don't even need to go out the front door.
40:35Every house apart from our house has got a connecting door.
40:40La Boullière was built around 200 years ago to house the people who worked the land here.
40:47This terrace may have started as just one cottage that was added to
40:52as the number of farm workers and their families grew.
40:55In more recent years, these houses were home to three generations of the Boucher family.
41:00And arrangements like this provided an ideal solution to childcare problems.
41:05There was a partition there.
41:09And along here and a door.
41:12Madame Boucher just lived in that little bit.
41:14That was her bedroom, her lounge and her bathroom.
41:17For years. Just that corner.
41:18Not here.
41:22After an hour of hard graft...
41:24Oh, God!
41:26...the main living area is free from clutter.
41:29And the couple make a start on bringing the old fireplace back to life.
41:34Oh, look at that!
41:36That's great, Paul!
41:39No-one has used this fireplace in nearly half a century,
41:44so to see flames flickering in its grate is a real milestone.
41:48It's good!
41:50So far, it's looking good.
41:52Smoke's going the right way.
41:56It's drawing straight up there, isn't it?
41:58It is fantastic.
41:59It's not even, no problem at all.
42:01It's like it was asking to be lit.
42:03Yeah.
42:04There's something very magical about it, isn't it?
42:06It totally is like bringing life back into the building.
42:08Yeah.
42:19Fire's on.
42:21It's all clean, clear.
42:23It feels amazing to get this done today.
42:26Oh, yeah.
42:27It'd be interesting living in here for a change, won't it?
42:30It would.
42:32I'm looking forward to it.
42:33Look at the lovely fire.
42:34Why wouldn't we be happy in here?
42:35It's amazing.
42:38But, weeks later, moving house is the furthest thing from Paul and Yip's minds.
42:48We found out that Paul's mum...
42:55She's got terminal cancer, so pancreatic cancer and breast cancer.
43:02She's fighting, you know, a good fire.
43:08But it's been difficult.
43:09Yeah, it's tough.
43:10It's been up and down, so, you know.
43:11So, it's caused a lot of heartache, hasn't it, really?
43:24I see, yeah, it's been difficult.
43:27It has been difficult, but...
43:29You know, I think, practically, the impact that's had...
43:34Yeah.
43:36...has slowed progress, you know, because we work and then we get some money together, we go back to England.
43:43But also with motivation, because sometimes I haven't felt like I want to just get up and...
43:48No.
43:49It's probably the best thing to get up and crack on with stuff, but...
43:52Yeah, it just leaves you exhausted, I suppose, doesn't it?
43:54That is it.
43:55It is exhaustion.
43:57When you're resurrecting a ghost village, things rarely go to plan.
44:02And sometimes your priorities can be overturned in a second.
44:07For now, Paul and Yip have to take each day at a time and do what's best for their family.
44:13Even if that means La Boulière has to take a back seat.
44:23Next time...
44:24Brice yourself.
44:25La Boulière threatens to fall apart at the seams.
44:28It's just literally mud.
44:30It's just holding everything together.
44:32It's mad.
44:33Guests in Rabatana are amazed by their room without a roof.
44:37Oh, my God.
44:39It is so rare that I don't find any words, but this is now happening.
44:46And in Shishville...
44:50...it takes some heavy lifting and plenty of help...
44:55...to get a fire going.
45:09What's going on here?
45:10Corrado.
45:11It's the end.
45:12In Shishville...
45:13I'll see you next time.
45:14I've always learned how to build the re-pair.
45:15The re-pair goes on.
45:16The re-pair goes on.
45:18This is the Ender.
45:19The Neon Software.
45:20It gives you a story.
45:22The Ender is a story.
45:24The Ender is a story.
45:25I've always learned how to build a re-pair.
45:26Ugh.
45:27The ender is a story.
45:29This is a story.
45:31That's a story.
45:32It's a story.
45:33It's a story.
Recommended
45:19
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