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Short filmTranscript
00:01Many Brits have made the journey to foreign shores
00:05To 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.
00:31Sawyer coming to help.
00:33In this series...
00:34Keep clear.
00:37We step into the forgotten villages...
00:40On this beam here, there's some medieval writing.
00:43To 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.
01:06And 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 way's a ton.
01:20As they restore the past to build their future.
01:25I can't believe it!
01:27I bought a village!
01:28Today, La Boulière just got bigger.
01:39Shall we go and have a little look?
01:41Yeah, come on!
01:42Yeah, little keys!
01:43As our most experienced saviours in Normandy...
01:47...rescue another house.
01:50Oh, wow!
01:53Oh, look!
01:54How long has it been since this window's been opened?
01:57At a ghost village in Italy...
01:59...construction work begins after years of waiting.
02:02It was an amazing surprise, and I was just so happy.
02:05So happy!
02:07But it comes with a risk.
02:09If they happen to hit one of the rocks under the keystone...
02:13...it could all just collapse.
02:15And...
02:16Just imagine it's me.
02:18OK, I'll do that.
02:19I'm going for it.
02:20Wow!
02:22Renovators at a hamlet in Western France hit the ground running.
02:26But have they gone too far?
02:29I need another aqua pull.
02:31They're all holding the roof out next door.
02:33I'm getting a bit nervous about this, to be honest, Harry.
02:36Are you?
02:37Yeah.
02:38We'll fix one problem and cause another.
02:40This fall down on the roof.
02:51Renovating just a single house is a huge undertaking.
02:55But resurrecting an entire village can feel a bit like rolling a boulder up a never-ending slope.
03:01And even our most experienced saviours need a boost every now and again.
03:06Just west of Paris, the little hamlet of La Boulière was once a bustling agricultural hub.
03:12Abandoned decades ago, it was left to rot until Paul and Yip from Kent snapped it up for about £20,000.
03:20They've created a cosy home for themselves, rescued the piggery and turned it into a facilities block and brought the old bakery back to life.
03:29But lately, the challenge has been overwhelming.
03:34Paul's mum has serious health problems, so they're having to split their time between the UK and France.
03:43We often feel like we've bitten off more than we can chew, especially in this current time when things are difficult and as a family we're kind of going through something.
04:02In La Boulière, there is one bright spot on the horizon, though.
04:05Paul and Yip have bought an abandoned cottage in the village that wasn't part of their original purchase.
04:11And they hope it'll future-proof their business.
04:14But it's exciting, so the potential for La Boulière has just grown.
04:18There's even more reason to stick with it and see it through now.
04:21Yeah.
04:22It's July.
04:25Exciting, the big day.
04:29The couple transferred €17,000 for their new cottage weeks ago.
04:34But today, they're at the notary's office to sign the final bits of paperwork and pick up the keys.
04:40There we go.
04:41Yay!
04:42It's good, isn't it?
04:43All done.
04:44Ah.
04:45Félicitations, Paul!
04:46Their new purchase is the oldest cottage in the village, built 15 years before the start of the French Revolution.
05:07Back then, the peasants who laid the stones would have had to pay about half of what they produced from the land in rent,
05:13as well as taxes to the state and church.
05:16After the revolution, rural villages like La Boulière grew up all over the country.
05:22And now, Paul and Yip's cottage is at the beginning of another new dawn.
05:27We like it. And it's got a lovely date on it.
05:30Yep.
05:311774.
05:32Shall we go and have a little look?
05:33Yeah, come on.
05:34With our little keys.
05:36Right, here it is in all its glory.
05:41Come on.
05:45Oh, wow.
05:48A few runs to the tip here, aren't there?
05:50Yeah, it's a fair bit of work here.
05:52But in terms of how the other houses were...
05:55This is in very good condition, really.
05:57It's just junk.
05:58Yeah.
05:59The walls are good.
06:00The woodwork's good.
06:01The beams are good.
06:02You know, it's all solid oak.
06:04It's very exciting.
06:05We've got great plans for this building.
06:08The cottage has three stories, including the attic, and there's a door on the first floor that leads, via a set of outside steps, to the ground.
06:17It has spectacular views of the countryside, and the couple have grand visions of turning it into their home with an upside down layout.
06:26So we have bedrooms down here.
06:27Bedroom one.
06:28Bedroom one.
06:29Bedroom two.
06:30Bedroom two.
06:31Central staircase.
06:32Shower room and toilet under the staircase.
06:35Yes.
06:36Be great.
06:37Lovely steps.
06:38The only way to get from the ground floor to the first floor is via the outside steps at the back.
06:43Lovely view across the valley.
06:45This is amazing.
06:46Because when the cottage was built, the ground floor was probably where they kept the animals.
06:51So a staircase inside will be a vital addition.
06:55The staircase will start to open up here, balustrade, stairs coming up there.
07:01Yep.
07:02Kitchen that side.
07:04I think it would work.
07:06It would be quite good, wouldn't it?
07:07Lounge this side.
07:08Lounge this side.
07:09Fireplace.
07:10It's perfect.
07:12Absolutely perfect.
07:13As they work their way up to the attic, Paul and Yip begin to reveal some secrets of the past.
07:20Look at that.
07:22We're loving these.
07:23Proper vintage bottle holders.
07:25They're wonderful.
07:26Really looking forward to going through all of this.
07:29Oh, look.
07:30How long has it been since this window's been opened?
07:34A lot of view.
07:35Let's have a look at our other houses.
07:40The endurance to resurrect a ghost village comes from falling in love with the project over and over again.
07:47And this cottage has shot a welcome arrow through the hearts of our most experienced saviours.
07:53I remembered how excited we were when we first bought the first house.
07:57Yeah.
07:58It was a game changer, life changer.
08:00And I'm getting that back now.
08:02You know, we are still living the dream.
08:03This is really, really exciting.
08:05Well done on the purchase of the safe house.
08:06Well done.
08:07Over a thousand miles south-east of La Boulière is another saviour who's desperately trying to turn back the hands of time.
08:25Martine is a former wine merchant from Norfolk, who's made a home in southern Italy, where shifting demographics and a succession of earthquakes have left the village of Rabatana with just 10 permanent residents.
08:40It has this almost ghost-like emptiness to it.
08:44It's just fascinating and so beautiful.
08:47You think 50 years ago, everybody would have lived in all of these houses.
08:51They would have their chairs out at night and they'd be sitting out gossiping.
08:56Until the 1950s, the streets of Rabatana would have echoed with the sounds of merchants selling locally grown produce,
09:03with women washing clothes at the standing water pipes,
09:06with children playing games and with blacksmiths beating hot metal to make shoes for donkeys.
09:14The courtyards may be empty now, but for Martine, Rabatana still has a magical charm that speaks across the ages.
09:23So far, she has renovated four properties that she's converted into a diffused hotel.
09:29You can feel how much it's absorbed in all those years it stood there from the 8th century.
09:34It's incredible, really, to believe that I'm living in a part of history.
09:45It's summertime in Rabatana, and Martine has had some disappointing news.
09:50She'd been hoping to buy another abandoned house in her courtyard, but the deal has fallen through.
09:55She isn't the type to be dispirited for long though, and since she feels her mission in Rabatana is to champion the old traditions, as well as the empty buildings, she's out today picking peppers with local farmer Giuseppe.
10:08We're here to gather some peppers so that later we can go back and string them. I can learn how to do that because I've never done it. I know that they have picked here lately, so I have to look around to see the biggest and the reddest that there are.
10:21Giuseppe shares Martine's passion for the past. His bell peppers, or pepperoni in Italian, are grown organically, and they're destined to be dried in a way that his family have been doing for generations.
10:34What we need, really, are people like him to carry on these traditions, otherwise they will be lost, and it's such a shame.
10:43Once the peppers have been picked, they're taken to Giuseppe's workshop to be sewn onto strings by hand.
10:50I knew this was going to be more difficult than it looked.
10:53In days gone by, it was only by drying them out like this that local families would have been able to feed themselves with vital nutrients over the winter.
11:09When they make this noise, they're ready.
11:12This ties in with my idea of living here, really, of embracing everything.
11:18And things like these pepperonis, it would mean the difference between going through the winter comfortably and being hungry.
11:27And it's just beautiful because it's not industrial, and it's something that I think we need to keep alive.
11:33Families would keep strings of peppers at home, hanging them in dry roof spaces, in cellars, or even on the walls outside.
11:41And Martine is delighted to carry on that tradition.
11:44Wow!
11:47It's just like a necklace. Isn't it beautiful? Can you imagine having a necklace that looked like that?
11:55Beautiful.
12:02As the tourist season draws to a close and bookings for Martine's diffused hotel slow down, there is at last some good news about her cellar under the Mandarin Suite.
12:11After waiting years for it to be renovated, she's found a builder, and his team have already broken ground.
12:19Basically, they rang me and said we'll be arriving tomorrow morning, which was yesterday.
12:24So I couldn't absolutely believe it. I really couldn't. It was just incredible.
12:28Yeah, it was an amazing surprise, and I was just so happy. So happy!
12:32It really is a landmark moment for Martine, who has grand designs for the cellar and hopes it will soon be another suite to add to the diffused hotel.
12:44But when you're restoring a village that has its roots in the 8th century, nothing is ever simple.
12:49These houses all have drain pipes that all go down, drain into this big cistern. Every bit of water that comes down out of the sky is gathered.
12:58In ancient Italian villages like Rabatana, bell-shaped terracotta cisterns were built to collect as much rainwater as possible, so that residents had access to water all year round.
13:11Venice once had a similar system with a complex underground network of almost 6,000 cisterns.
13:18But for Martine, this clever relic is adding serious complications to the project.
13:24So it's really quite important that they take it easily, and they have.
13:30I mean, they haven't bought an excavator and they're doing it all by hand.
13:33If they happen to hit one of the rocks on the keystone, it could all just collapse.
13:38Coming up...
13:43We're doing something we've totally never done before, so we don't know how it's going to go at all.
13:48..a rotten ceiling needs urgent repairs at a hamlet in France.
13:52Oh, Schinders, how are you supposed to use these?
13:54And...
13:55This is real haute couture. Wow.
13:58..Paul and Yip unearth something unique in La Bouliere.
14:02That is so cool, isn't it?
14:03Why wouldn't you want a brown PVC jacket from the 60s?
14:07There are, occasionally, complex factors that lie behind the empty villages of Europe.
14:23But most often, it's just the handiwork of two culprits, Father Time and Mother Nature.
14:30The little hamlet of Chicheville in Western France is definitely a victim of both.
14:36And since it was abandoned a couple of decades ago, it's been in the grip of rampant vegetation.
14:41The country and nature seems to reclaim everything here at a rate that I think most people find hard to understand if you're in the UK.
14:54Everything grows here five times quicker.
14:57They're just going to disappear off the map.
14:58But if we don't do it and it doesn't get done, it's gone.
15:02For less than £60,000, furniture restorers Tony and Terry from Gloucestershire have bought three houses, half a dozen outbuildings and a sizeable stretch of woodland.
15:14But while they wait for their house in the UK to sell, they can only scratch the surface of the vital renovations they need to do.
15:22Financially, it will be right in the end, but we're skating on thin ice a bit, you know.
15:33I have no credit cards left. I have no spare money left. We're basically blagging it now.
15:38So we need to sell.
15:40Yeah.
15:42It's November and today Tony and Terry are concentrating their efforts on the ground floor in the main farmhouse.
15:48If I hadn't left my small jackhammer behind, life would have been a lot easier because it would have just gone .
15:56Where they're planning to open up the living space.
15:59Big day for us. Doing something we've totally never done before.
16:03So we don't know how it's going to go at all.
16:06That's a good point actually. I haven't thought we haven't locked walls down for.
16:09So yeah, this one's coming down today.
16:11We're going to then open up this whole room and this will become our grand salon.
16:17But I think that might be over-egging it somewhat.
16:20Not grand at the moment.
16:21The sitting room. We're hoping it's going to come down fairly easily.
16:27As Tony takes up the challenge, it becomes apparent that removing the wall won't be as straightforward as he hoped.
16:34It's not really coming out as one brick at a time, is it?
16:45When you hit it, just imagine it's me.
16:47OK, I'll do that. I'm going for it.
16:50Wow! You hit it twice as half!
16:51You hit it twice as half!
16:57Hey!
16:58Voila!
16:59Quite good smashing things, isn't it?
17:00Yeah.
17:02Therapeutic.
17:07After a couple of hours, there's only a single baton left.
17:11And as long as it isn't supporting the ceiling, it should pop out easily.
17:21Do that go tight then, like it dropped?
17:30There's no gap now where the blade was.
17:34There should be a gap there.
17:35Means the joist has dropped a bit.
17:38Years of neglect seem to have caused unseen problems to the joists.
17:43And the couple need to come up with a plan fast or the ceiling could collapse around their ears.
17:48I need another acro prop.
17:51Yeah.
17:52Haven't got any more.
17:54They're all holding the roof out next door.
17:57So, did this fall down or the roof?
18:00Tony's left with no choice but to borrow a prop already doing a job outside.
18:08I'm getting a bit nervous about this, to be honest, Harry.
18:10Are you?
18:11Yeah.
18:13I don't want it in here very long.
18:14No, OK.
18:15First we'll fix one problem and cause another.
18:24Will that go under there?
18:25Might be a bit tight.
18:27Ghost villages often come with nasty surprises.
18:30I've seen this.
18:31How are you supposed to use these?
18:33But the couple aren't about to be put off.
18:36The acro prop seems to have done the job.
18:38Well, I think if you worry too much, you'd never do these places.
18:43With the prop safely supporting the ceiling for now, Tony and Terry can breathe a sigh of relief.
18:49There's still a long way to go, but their vision for the farmhouse is still intact.
18:54Seeing this space as a whole makes it easier to imagine what it's going to be like when it's all done.
19:01Definitely.
19:02Yeah.
19:03We're a long way off.
19:04Going to be a lot of work, but I think this is going to be an amazing room.
19:08Back in Normandy, the stonework on Paul and Yip's middle cottage is still patiently waiting to be rebuilt.
19:24But, excited by the secrets that lie within their latest property, the couple are today kicking off its restoration.
19:34And just as always when they start working on a building in La Boulliere, Paul and Yip's first task is to release it from nature's grip.
19:41Very thorny, aren't they?
19:45They really are.
19:47Creating an access path to the back of the property, which will be vital for clearing the junk from inside.
19:55Marvellous.
19:56We're making great progress.
19:58We've just got to cut these thorny bushes down and get them all out of the way, and then I can get up there and start the digging bit.
20:05This cottage is likely to have been the first in the village to be built, and the original owners would have gazed out on very different views.
20:13There would have been nothing but open fields here.
20:16Over the years, La Boulliere would have grown organically as other families moved nearby to farm the land, eventually creating a self-sufficient community.
20:28Oh, we're nearly through, Paul, aren't we?
20:29We are nearly through.
20:30A lot of this is just bush, isn't it?
20:32After a few hours of hard graft, the vegetation has been tamed.
20:38That's great, that is.
20:40We've got access and we've got light.
20:43It feels like the beginning stages of giving this house and a home a new lease of life.
20:51So now Paul and Yip can start sifting the trash from the treasure.
20:55The box can go.
20:59It's a dirty job that requires strong arms.
21:02God, bloody hell.
21:03Yeah, it's weighty.
21:05And an even stronger stomach.
21:07Imagine if this was an Airbnb.
21:09There's your bed.
21:11Just a little bit of dust.
21:13Paul and Yip don't know how many people have lived in this cottage since it was built 250 years ago or why it was abandoned.
21:20But every item they find is a tantalising link back to someone who once called this place home.
21:28Oh, my God.
21:30This is real haute couture.
21:32Wow.
21:34That is so cool, isn't it?
21:36Why wouldn't you want a brown PVC jacket from the 60s?
21:40See you in a bit.
21:42After a few trips to the tip, the ground floor has been cleared and they've managed to find at least a few items they can restore.
21:53This is a good solid bit of oak.
21:56But obviously the doors are missing, the drawers are missing.
21:59So we're going to just put some shelves in there, give it a coat of wax or something and it'll look lovely.
22:10But clearing out the attic could take days.
22:14And with the other houses at La Bouliere still crying out for help, Paul and Yip are in a quandary.
22:20There's part of me that's battling with a lot of guilt about that we should be across there doing stuff.
22:25But we're always going to have that.
22:27I feel that.
22:28This is the thing.
22:29Every job at La Bouliere is something that needs to be done and sometimes it's not just easy putting it in order.
22:42Luckily, the cavalry turns out to be just around the corner.
22:46What a lovely morning, isn't it just?
22:50Because a few days later they're hosting a VIP guest who's keen to help.
22:56Oh, there she is.
22:58Hey!
23:00Oh, look at that.
23:01Look at this, eh?
23:02What a spread.
23:03Chocolate.
23:04Oh, look.
23:08Paul's cousin Sarah arrived late last night from California.
23:12Sleep right?
23:13Good stuff?
23:14Oh, yeah, yeah.
23:15She's here for a week and her visit is just the boost La Bouliere needed.
23:19So I'm really excited to see the countryside because I'm a country girl.
23:23Yeah.
23:24And I want to see the new place.
23:27From what it seems, the last person to live in that house was about 100 odd years ago.
23:32So the top floor of the house is absolutely ram-packed.
23:36It looks like 100 years' worth of stuff.
23:40But we might start rooting around this week, mightn't we?
23:42Mm.
23:43See if we can find any treasures.
23:45Or maybe a little summit that Sarah can fit in her hand luggage back to...
23:50That's it.
23:51Sometimes even the most dedicated saviours need to take a breath.
23:57And on mornings like this, when Paul and Yip can share La Bouliere with a guest,
24:02the village is paying back their hard work in spades.
24:06Coming up, Martine has something to celebrate in Rabatana.
24:19Let me take a photo. Oh, my God!
24:22And is Paul's Californian cousin falling in love with La Bouliere?
24:27My favourite part is feeling like I went back in time.
24:31This picture's about 1880, 1890.
24:35He may well have been the original owner of La Bouliere.
24:38Back in southern Italy, winter has set in.
24:52And days of bad weather have forced the construction team
24:55to abandon their sewage trench and to start tackling the walls of the cellar.
25:00It's been raining since about eight o'clock this morning.
25:03So they're all actually indoors, preparing it all for plastering.
25:08Martine managed to remove most of the old plaster herself.
25:12But the stonework needs to be completely clear before the team can begin rendering.
25:16I did it very roughly.
25:18If they don't take off what's loose, then it's not going to stick.
25:21The stuff that's on there is going to fall off again.
25:24Martine had considered leaving a lot of the old stones exposed.
25:28But this time the walls are going to be covered in a rough, rustic plaster.
25:32It's a nod to the days when they'd have made wine, cheese or salami down here
25:36and exposed stonework would have been less hygienic.
25:41Martine has also made a decision on the original double doors.
25:45This is going to stay in this. It's lovely.
25:47And I've got the other half of this door. It's in there.
25:50It's just so characteristic. I really don't want to do much with that door either.
25:56It's just beautiful, isn't it?
26:00Over the next few days, the site becomes a hive of enterprise,
26:04as the building team tackles the electrics and any broken sections of the wall.
26:09It just looks so much better already.
26:11The house hasn't seen this much activity for decades.
26:14Today, it's builders with hammers and drills.
26:17In winter's past, it would have been servants making food like cheese or cured meats
26:22for the aristocracy living on the floors above.
26:27Normally January, February would be a slaughtering time for the pigs.
26:34The earliest records of cured meats in Italy date back to the Romans,
26:37who were pioneers of salting and drying.
26:41It allowed them to prolong the shelf life of their meat
26:44and making sausages was a cost-effective way of using up leftover scraps.
26:50Actually making the things isn't difficult, it's the curing.
26:53You have to have the right temperature.
26:55If there is too much breeze, that's a disaster too,
26:58because it dries too quickly and there will be like a hole through the middle of the salami.
27:02But this sort of temperature would be perfect.
27:05Martine's vision for this apartment isn't as luxurious as her previous restorations,
27:11but it will be consistent with its history.
27:14She'll be furnishing it with rustic period pieces,
27:17many of which have been donated by local people,
27:20keen to support her efforts to revive Rabatana.
27:24Oops.
27:26She's starting with this small 20th century sideboard
27:29that's an example of a movement called Arte Porfora.
27:32Arte Porfora is a style that was popular in the 40s and 50s.
27:41And Porfora means poor.
27:43And it's kind of very simply made.
27:46You won't find any of the corners mitered or anything.
27:49It's all just straight pieces of wood.
27:51Almost, almost like it's hand-made at the home.
27:54A lot of people don't like this kind of thing.
27:56They're not really into reclaiming.
27:59But luckily they know I am.
28:01So, you know, I'm kind of a recipient for anything that people don't want.
28:06It'll look nice in my cantina.
28:08It's the sort of thing that would have been down there originally in the 50s.
28:13Restoring this sideboard and the other pieces of furniture that she has will take Martina a couple of weeks.
28:19It'll be a process of cleaning, repairing, repainting and waiting for things to dry.
28:25Downstairs in the cellar it's a similar story, with the team methodically ticking off each job on the list.
28:30They're doing really, really, really well. I'm really pleased with it.
28:35Outside, they've also managed to connect her property to the sewers without damaging the ancient terracotta cisterns.
28:43Let me take a photo. Oh my God!
28:49And it means the trench can now be carefully filled in again.
28:53With Christmas looming, Martine's construction team are under pressure to finish the walls and ceiling before the holidays.
29:00But things are definitely moving in the right direction.
29:05Ciao, a domani. Ciao, grazie. Buona serata.
29:09Back in Normandy, Paul's cousin Sarah is getting her first look at the latest addition to the village.
29:31So this is a new place? Yeah.
29:34And Paul and Yip are keen to show her a few relics from the past that could be clues to the original owners.
29:39So on this sack is the name Ernest Boida.
29:46So that was a farm business where they sold grain or something like that.
29:52We're wondering and we're going to try and find out whether this is him.
29:56So I put his name into the internet and someone did come up on like a census.
30:02And he did reside in Saint-Cyr-de-Bayeul and he had a business in Montillet, just up the road.
30:08And he died in 1930. So if this was him in, this picture is about 1880, 1890.
30:18He may well have been the original farm owner of Le Boulier.
30:23Exactement.
30:24That's the furthest ever we've got of any kind of history and stuff, isn't it? So far.
30:30By unearthing artifacts like this, Paul and Yip are slowly filling in the gaps in their knowledge about the village they love.
30:37So this is the barn that the lady that lived in the middle house was married in.
30:43And it looks like Le Boulier is casting a spell over Sarah too.
30:46My favorite part is feeling like I went back in time, you know, and because I'm in America and there aren't very many historical buildings, I mean, this old.
31:00So having that sense of rootedness, just kind of stepping into that is pretty trippy.
31:08Keen to uncover more clues about the past, the trio gets straight to work.
31:16So this is rubbish.
31:18Clearing out the rest of the attic.
31:20These are called coulee shades, so they're light shades.
31:24Enameled, beautiful, quite collectible.
31:28I don't know, they could be 10 or 20 euros a piece.
31:31Anything we can sell and get some money for, it just goes back into the renovation, so it's perfect.
31:35Coolie shades, coolie shades sell all day long.
31:40I know.
31:42Look, that is interesting.
31:45Look how nice that is when you put a light on that and you fix that to the wall.
31:50It's like a scissor lamp.
31:52And they're really, um...
31:54Collectible.
31:55They're really collectible and unusual.
31:57A couple of hours in and the trio have made a decent dent in the pile.
32:01Yeah, it's fun.
32:03Looking at all these old things that are in the attic.
32:07Wow.
32:09They know what they're doing and they've got an eye for things that have value or might be worth something.
32:16And Yip has gained another insight into the lives of the former residents.
32:20My favourite find so far is this little bit of paper with the name Andre Boida on it.
32:27And it's from the Minister de Finance, so the Ministry of Finances.
32:32It's just a personal document.
32:33So that's interesting.
32:35So there was a Ernest Boida who died in 1930, but this is 1941, so maybe this was his son or something like that.
32:45I feel like we're building a picture of who was here and what he did, maybe.
32:52So all of these things we can piece together.
32:54What part of the Boida family played in the history of La Bouliere, they're yet to discover.
33:00But it's thrilling to have found another name and another clue.
33:03Two weeks later, Sarah has gone back to the States and Paul and Yip have finally finished clearing the attic.
33:19Awful dirty job, but we're a step ahead and a step closer, aren't we?
33:24Yeah.
33:25That's all we can ask for, really.
33:27The more buildings they take on, the stronger their bond grows with La Bouliere.
33:32And, although their latest cottage will mean more work, it's given the couple a boost as they continue putting their beloved village back together.
33:41Go on, Poppet. It gives a dirty hug.
33:50Coming up, Christmas is on its way.
33:53It's basically pine. The smell is so lovely.
33:57And Martine is collecting gifts from the trees in Rabatana.
33:59It's so lovely to have a winter fruit that we can pick.
34:04It's loaded. Absolutely loaded with fruit.
34:07And in Sheeshville, Terry and Tony are coming to terms with a terrible loss.
34:12It was like soul-destroying, really.
34:13Yeah.
34:14I thought we were going to go back.
34:28Back in the crumbling Italian village of Rabatana, Martine's team is making incredible progress, transforming her cellar into a self-contained apartment.
34:36The walls are finished, and the ceiling is being boarded, ready for plastering.
34:46The old cobbles are being relayed above the sewage trench.
34:51And upstairs, Martine is rolling up her sleeves.
34:58The Arte Porvera sideboard she was working on has now been painted cream.
35:03So she's moving on to another piece from the same era.
35:05Perfecto.
35:06So at the moment I'm using a mixture of hot water, bicarbonate of soda and ammonia to take off the grease that's inside here.
35:20It's probably been in here for years.
35:21You can see from the ring marks in the bottom here that it's been used for storing what they call sottiacchetti.
35:30Imagine how many jars of preserved courgette have been in here.
35:36In Italy, there are two types of pickles.
35:40Sottiacchetti, meaning under vinegar, and sottoli, which means under oil.
35:44In the past, vegetables like courgettes, olives and peppers were traditionally picked during the summer and then pickled to ensure the pantry was well stocked during the colder months.
35:55These days, they're still considered a staple.
35:59And every well-respected Italian kitchen has its full share of pickle jars.
36:04I think this is going to look really lovely, considering what it was like, brown and turquoise.
36:19And everything looks a bit bland because it's all white, but I think once it's down in the cantina with all the other white things,
36:25it's just going to look really simple and really different to all the other houses that I've got and just really lovely.
36:30OK, I think that's it for today.
36:37A few days later, Martine's upcycled sideboards are ready, and soon they can take pride of place in the cantina.
36:47For now, with no paying guests on the horizon, Martine is moving out of the small apartment called the Kumquat into its big sister, the Mandarin, next door.
36:56And with Christmas coming, her first thought is a festive treat.
37:03I'm making mincemeat, homemade mincemeat, because it just tastes so much nicer than that stuff that you buy that's already industrially produced.
37:10Although mince pies aren't a traditional Italian dish, Martine is making hers Rabatana style, with citrus fruits foraged from the village's communal green spaces.
37:22Isn't it so lovely to have a winter fruit that you can pick?
37:26It's loaded, absolutely loaded with fruit.
37:29Oh, the smell of the lemon, it's just so...
37:32You can't get it any fresher, can you? Straight off the tree, into the kitchen.
37:45With the mince pies prepped, Martine's next job is to gather some greenery for the house, just like the residents of Rabatana would have done in days gone by.
37:55It's basically pine, and the smell is so lovely.
38:01Christmas trees didn't become widely adopted in Italy until the 20th century.
38:07But decorating the home with evergreens during dark winter months is thought to date back to pre-Christian times.
38:14We might as well use what there is available, and it's not hurting the tree.
38:18It might even be doing it some good.
38:28Since she moved to Rabatana, Martine has immersed herself in village life.
38:35And her dogged determination to resurrect this lost place is really starting to reap rewards.
38:40Because just ten days after the builders arrived, they can now see the finishing line.
38:49It's better than I imagined it. It's really, really, really good.
38:55Whatever. Ciao, grazie tanto.
38:59So with Christmas in the air, Martine's in the mood to celebrate.
39:04The change has been phenomenal.
39:07You know, we've got a ceiling, we've got walls, it's clean.
39:10The first fitting of the electricity is all in.
39:13I can't believe, really, that I'm in this position.
39:16It just doesn't seem real. I keep kind of pinching myself.
39:18Back in France, Tony and Terry are coming to the end of their five-week stay in Chicheville.
39:33And the Grand Salon is now in much better shape.
39:36They've stabilized the ceiling and cleared away the debris.
39:39So once the walls have dried out, the room will be ready for lime plaster.
39:42Elsewhere, there's still plenty to do, though.
39:47Welcome to the makeshift kitchen.
39:51So the kitchen is now in our hall.
39:54It was in the other room through there, but we've knocked the wall down now.
39:59So we've brought all the kitchen items into here.
40:02We put that down when we want to warm it up.
40:05It works really well, actually.
40:07There you go. Warm kitchen diner.
40:09And then we own it to warm up the rest of the house.
40:13The couple plan to build a much bigger kitchen in the room next door.
40:17But for now, they're happy to make do.
40:20I think a lot of people have noticed, do come and do the kitchen first.
40:24Yeah, that might have been sensible, but there you go.
40:27It isn't just in the Grand Salon where Tony and Terry have made progress.
40:31Outside, they've cleared vegetation, made safe a crumbling wall on one of their outbuildings, and fixed the guttering.
40:39They've achieved all this despite a heartbreaking loss that threatened to derail their trip entirely.
40:45Two days into our trip, we lost our dog, Stan, which was a bit of a shock, to say the least.
40:52And on top of losing our other dog, Molly, a month before.
40:55So the first weekend we were here, we were kind of...
40:58It was like soul-destroying, really.
41:01Yeah, missed having them, haven't we, so...
41:03I thought we were going to go back.
41:04Yeah.
41:05You know, we really thought that we wouldn't get anything achieved this time.
41:09But I think with the help of our friends and neighbours...
41:12Yeah.
41:13We've achieved more than we expected to achieve.
41:19Terry and Tony now have to prepare the village for their return to Gloucestershire,
41:23where they can hopefully push through their house sale.
41:26But when you're leaving a village you love, it helps ease the pain of separation
41:32if you can keep a close eye on things while you're away.
41:35That one's working, I'll just check and see what I need to see.
41:38You can see outside as well, so it's quite good.
41:41Yeah, see if any trees come down or anything.
41:44Tony and Terry still haven't quite got over the loss of Molly and Stanley,
41:48but by plunging themselves into vital jobs around Sheeshville,
41:52they've been able to take their minds off things.
41:56That's it.
41:57OK.
42:01It's new and exciting, it's an adventure, isn't it?
42:03It is.
42:04And we own, yeah.
42:05Yes, we do.
42:06I mean, who owns the village?
42:08Autumn 24, done?
42:10OK, let's go.
42:21It's April, and Tony and Terry are back home in Gloucestershire.
42:25Sadly, they still haven't managed to sell their house, but there is some good news.
42:31Sit.
42:32Come on.
42:33Good girl.
42:34Ow.
42:35That's my thumb.
42:36Two new additions to the family.
42:38Good girl, what have we got?
42:40Lupin, a Pagalier, and Daisy, a Jack Russell Terrier.
42:43They're both rescue dogs who arrived just before Christmas, and they had such a special bond, the rehoming charity wanted them to live as a pair.
42:54So, two days after coming back from France, at the end of November, we went to see them.
42:59Three days later, they were home.
43:01We'll be taking them both back to France with us.
43:04That village would have had loads of animals in it.
43:07I mean, it's originally a farm with lots of different families living there.
43:11You know, it's all about bringing back life to a village that otherwise could just vanish and be forgotten.
43:17The logjam over Tony and Terry's house sale has put the couple under financial pressure and has slowed down progress at Sheeshville.
43:27But the couple are hoping for an upturn in the market soon.
43:30We've got one coming up, haven't we, another view?
43:32Yeah, I've got a viewing next week.
43:35It's difficult. Some parts of the housing market seem to be quite busy.
43:38It just happens that our part, the countryside, seems a bit quieter than it used to be.
43:42Moving permanently to France hasn't been as straightforward as they'd hoped.
43:47But Tony and Terry aren't giving up, and their dream is still alive.
43:52Sheeshville may be in desperate need of their love and attention, but it just needs to wait for its saviours a little while longer.
43:59It's been daunting in some respects, but quite good fun.
44:03A bit like rescuing the dogs. We're not rescuing dogs, we're rescuing a village.
44:09Come on then. Shall we go in?
44:13Next time...
44:16Come bearing news, Paul.
44:19In La Boulière, Paul and Yip unearth a treasure trove.
44:22This is gold dust, really, for us here at La Boulière.
44:26Rabatana might be about to get another hotel room.
44:30Oh!
44:32Oh, my God!
44:35What a find.
44:36And Martial's deadline to buy Openso is fast running out.
44:43My deposit was non-refundable, and she could easily have just taken the money and said no.
44:47I'm not taking the money and said no.
44:48I'm not taking the money and said no.
44:49I'm not taking the money and said no.
44:50What a find.
44:51By the way, what a find.
44:52And I hope you have a giveaway.
44:53I'll see you next time.
44:54I'll see you next time.
44:56Go to the next time.
44:57Transcription by CastingWords
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