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Escape to the Country Season 26 Episode 3
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FunTranscript
00:00when looking for a home in the country not all of our escapees are eager to ring the
00:09changes is decorating homes your thing not really some bring a friend to turn to for
00:17a second opinion what I've realized is I've really got to get you on board although they
00:22might end up mentally moving in themselves oh I really like it this is where I can live I can
00:28stay on my holidays here but once our buyers know what they want we'll always try to deliver
00:35it's literally everything I asked for believe it or not we aim to please
00:58we're on a very green and pleasant escape to a place that could be described as an English
01:12County Garden where historic towns and villages are brimming with beautiful homes come with us to Kent
01:20glorious Kent is widely regarded as England's first and oldest County but as the region famous
01:28for growing fruit and veg will tell you there's no such thing as aging only right thing located in
01:37the southeast of England with a coastline along the Channel is the ceremonial County of Kent Kent is the
01:45Garden of England the clue is on the car registration plates in the county they all begin with the G
01:50I've lived in Kent all my life it's just the nature and everything around it's just almost like none
01:59other really and we have really really beautiful countryside even our country lanes like they're
02:05beautiful pretty market towns include sandwich good for lunch or at any other time its proximity to a
02:15village named ham inspires an entertaining road sign and if it's making a merry escape you're after
02:22Kent could well prove fruitful territory can you not see so you in the best part of United Kingdom this area of
02:32the country is like it's warmer so it is why a lot of people is coming to this area to plant vines and
02:39then that we make lovely wines from these grapes that grow well in United Kingdom go a lot of a
02:46restaurant you can easily be going to dinner lunch break fire every day you can go to the seaside
02:53anybody that want to move here please 100% perfect you're gonna love it trust me we love it
03:01after many years spent living and working overseas today's buyer has decided it's high time that she
03:12and her son come home hi I'm Kerry and this is Aidan and we're looking to escape the country back in the UK
03:23nine-year-old Aidan was born in Britain but has grown up overseas most recently in Mallorca now mum Kerry is
03:31keen to return to give him more time with his grandparents and a taste of life in the English countryside we currently live in an apartment and we share the
03:39outdoor space so we're really looking forward to outdoor space of our own we like bike riding we like being in the country going for hikes like being near the sea and we hope to do a lot more of that back in the UK in Kent
03:57joining the search is Kerry's friend of over two decades Nina
04:01we both were pregnant at the same time and since then her and I have hung out with the kids Kent sounds
04:10like it could be a really good idea for them I'm yet to explore Kent myself so I'm looking forward to doing that with her
04:19Kerry has asked for a character property with a modern interior it should provide a double bedroom each for
04:26Aidan and herself and a dog friendly garden as a puppy has been promised she'd like to be close to schools
04:33and a train line for commuting to London and her budget is 350 000 pounds
04:45wanting to look after your kids and give them the best is the reason us parents do so many things
04:51i know i'd do anything to keep my little boy happy for Kerry and Aidan this is about getting to know his
04:57roots where he's from what it's like to live in our green green land of England well they've chosen a great
05:04place to try it out we've got a viewing lined up in the hamlet of Lenham Heath but first i want a taste
05:15of how the dynamic of house hunting with Kerry and friend Nina might work
05:23so gorgeous isn't it yeah it's amazing bit different to that view in Mallorca i'm sure
05:28a lot greener for sure how does it feel to be back here on english soil looking for your first home
05:35here it feels a bit surreal because i only landed last week but it's uh it feels good to be back the
05:39weather could be better but in my york what is it what's it like sunny all the time pretty much yeah
05:43yeah about 300 days of sun a year so yeah but yet you want to be back here yeah so myself and Aidan my
05:50son he's nine now he really wants to get to understand what it's like to be english because
05:55he was born here so it'll be nice it's good timing for us to be back now Nina you're along yeah what's
06:00your role going to be here you the happy-go-lucky one or are you going to keep her grounded no more of
06:05the grounding i think so think about what their life might be in a few years rather than what they might
06:11need right now long-term living yeah well Aidan couldn't join us on the tour today but i'm sure
06:18he has a lot of specific criteria anything i need to be aware he does he's made a little video for you
06:22oh that's super cute let me see hi Denise remember these are the things i want in the house a front and back
06:32garden for a puppy an upstairs staircase and um a bedroom as big as my mommy's oh it's adorable yeah
06:44very specific though i love it and he needs stairs loves how intriguing so no bungalows this week no
06:50no okay well i think we can deliver that Aidan i'm going to do my best but this isn't just going to be
06:55about getting it right logistically we're going to try and find somewhere that satisfies all parts of you
07:00your heart yes and your head and get you close to your friends yes we better get going okay
07:09just a mile and a half away from our first house is the medieval market village of lenham
07:15both primary and secondary schooling is available and public transport includes buses to the town of
07:21maidstone as well as trains to london's victoria or king's cross stations it's a five-minute drive to the
07:28home we've got lined up
07:36come up this is pretty and i just say i wanted a garden at the front so that is well you get this
07:41lovely yeah that's beautiful yeah isn't it it does feel quite room doesn't it it does yeah it does so
07:46far i love it i didn't think i'd be able to afford this kind of thing on my budget yes it's beautiful
07:51yes the surrounding area is beautiful but what are you going to do because they've had a really active
07:55life in majorca yeah it is the lifestyle it's got to suit the lifestyle too of course the community
08:01aspect yeah well these neighbors supposed to be brilliant yeah shall we have a look inside yes
08:05please yeah let's do it
08:10built in the middle of the 19th century to house workers for the nearby fields and brewery this attached
08:16two up two down brick and tile cottage is one of a group designed to meet victorian ideas of healthy
08:23living hence large front gardens intended for growing the family's fruit and veg and sash windows
08:30for light and air we're heading to the rear to start our tour in the kitchen diner in the back door
08:37which leads you straight into this charming door stairs for aiden that was on his wish list he'd be
08:45very happy with that and it's nice because we spend a lot of time like if we've got a table he can do
08:49homework and i'm cooking nina thoughts yeah i like i do like it and then i think for me i'm like what do
08:55you think of that outlook well i think once you know what that is you will enjoy that is that part of
08:59the house yeah okay i think so you'll be all right with that yeah you'll get out there and have a
09:05look in a bit let me show you through here and let's have a look at the view from here okay
09:13at the front is a reception room with high ceilings original floorboards and storage
09:20so this is for your living room and that would be your view oh yeah see that's what do you think nina
09:27yeah it's really really cute i think it's really good space these cottages were like newly built
09:33back in the victorian age so rather than having those very small ones they thought about the
09:37medical health of the workers and created bigger proportions i was going to say the windows are quite
09:41yeah yeah the windows even the ceiling heights yeah so it's very generous i know you're playing
09:47a very good role there you know making sure it's grounded and well thought through but how you
09:51feel is as is important for me this would be i mean i'd have it no but it's got to be how this
09:56can last for me and aiden for him going in teenage years and how it's going to be long term well
10:01we've got him the stairs he wanted a well-proportioned bedroom as well didn't you yes all right let's go
10:06and find that that's really important we're heading up that must-have staircase to the bedrooms where i'm
10:16sending kerry and nina to candidly assess the room at the back that could be aiden's it's great size because
10:24i wanted to like you get a double bed in here yeah so i think i'd be really happy here what's this
10:30oh my goodness that's unreal he can chill out and have amazing views and room to grow because it is
10:35big enough that yeah when he's older and he can have books and whatever else he gets as a teenager
10:44there's a family shower room which is shared with the second of the two bedrooms
10:48where i'm on hand to see how it suits mum so this would be yours love it now nina look at that
10:59for a view i know and for me the magnolia tree sells it i feel like you're warming to this place nina
11:05kerry wants aiden to experience like a british way of living and i think you couldn't really get much
11:10more british than somewhere like this and this type of surrounding living in mayorka is very apartment
11:15living so to have a house to be able to walk out into my own garden that will be really cool
11:22before i show them that garden i want them to check out the part of the property
11:27they glimpsed from the kitchen yeah oh my gosh a 19th century wash house that's now an office
11:34benefiting from 21st century super fast broadband we were literally just talking about where would
11:42carry work you could have a i didn't live in here when he's older this is a teenager thing that we
11:49were talking about and look it's got a toilet you can also make this into a bedroom so my parents
11:54could stay here yeah all on the ground floor oh i really like it this is where i can live i can stay
12:01on my holidays here this is amazing this is brilliant there's off street parking shared with
12:10the other cottages and as well as the large front garden there's a very generous garden to the back
12:17originally intended for keeping pigs and the household horse
12:21that you weren't expecting no oh is it the whole thing the whole thing aiden would have a whale of a
12:31time here i love it i just can't go on the size of it this is incredible i think this and the other
12:38outbuilding has really changed my view on this property these extras are unreal it's literally
12:44everything i asked for believe it or not we aim to please we do try yeah so i guess the one thing
12:52you need to know now then is how much it's on the market for what do you think i said 350 max so i'm
12:59going to have to say that okay i think it's over but i'm just going to say three 350. i'll go 385
13:05385 000 pounds this house with this garden this beautiful setting is on the market for 350 000 pounds
13:18that is brilliant yeah i'm worth every penny i didn't think you'd get something like this for
13:23that budget you enjoy yourself having a bit more of an explore around the property and then i'll see
13:28you a little bit later okay great they were a bit hesitant at the start but that's to be expected this
13:35is such a big move this house however has delivered for a guide price of 350 000 pounds this attached
13:46mid-19th century workers cottage would give kerry and aidan a double bedroom each there's a separate
13:53well-appointed home office and generous gardens to front and back it's in a rural location but just
14:00a mile and a half from a large village with services and schools oh aiden's going to love
14:06this place it's exactly what he asked for i said he could get a puppy now he's going to want five
14:11because the size of the garden so he's going to be really excited about that
14:17it's been a strange week kerrie just moving back and already we're here looking at houses but i think
14:22coming here and knowing that it's within her budget i think that makes it feel much more realistic
14:27and that makes me feel very happy for them well that was a great start wasn't it yeah beautiful
14:36there's lots more to come great
14:47for kerrie finding a family friendly community with good schools plus activities to help aid and discover
14:54what it's like to live in the uk is a central part of the move to kent we're sending mum and son to
15:00explore the town of cranbrook together quite a lot of lovely little shops here it's a lovely little high
15:07street it's a really nice place to bring up children there's loads of mums there's lots of groups that
15:14people go to and everyone connects with each other let's have a look at this oh look youth club
15:21and there's just lots of great things to do for children around here
15:27annual events include a street festival and for schooling there's the country's only co-educational
15:33state grammar that caters to both day students and boarders oh that's beautiful i do love a windmill
15:41it's quite tall yeah
15:44the iconic windmill originally built to serve a population swelled by soldiers ready to fight off
15:50napoleon still mills flour and is cared for by a committee of volunteers
15:59who open it up for visitors we are open at weekends we have lots of families come to visit us
16:08it's a nice place but if you just look around apart from windmill the school is 500 years old the church
16:15is just as old queen elizabeth the first passed through here it just has a nice warm atmosphere
16:22to it beautiful view it's very high up very high up i'd love to live in one of these houses
16:30what one do you like
16:33that one myself and the family we moved down here 45 years ago we love cranbrook and from where i live
16:42i walk 100 yards and i've got open fields and woodlands
16:49for shopping there's a selection to suit young and old can we go inside oh that looks so pretty come on
16:59and traditional face-to-face counter service is at the heart of the many independently run businesses
17:05thank you look at that they look like a tree that's brilliant thank you so much you're welcome
17:10oh it's the best sweet shop ever
17:15cranbrook seems to be working a treat for them so do you like cranbrook yeah
17:21now to find the home that hits that sweet spot too
17:24the next offering is in the village of pluckley known as the most haunted village in england with
17:36claims of up to 17 active ghosts there's nothing dead about this place
17:42kent county character shines through from good old-fashioned butchers and bakers
17:46a choice of pubs includes two previously owned by noble family the derings who favored arched windows
17:55due to a myth that an ancestor had escaped through one during the english civil war
18:02once the site of a large works producing the bricks and tiles
18:05featured in many local homes a station opened in 1842 to serve the growing community
18:13and the railway has a strong connection to the house we're here to view
18:20so this is our second property a gorgeous little cottage so we thought we'd bring you somewhere
18:26that's a bit more the heart of a village so close in fact to village life that you've got the train
18:32station right there yeah really handy that's the path across the road it's a stone's throw literally
18:38what a place to get to know people yeah it's great i like this location yeah and i think maybe
18:43starting a new life might be a little bit easier if you are closer to people yeah it is the property
18:48but it's your lifestyle lifestyle is really important and you've got to think about that too
18:52but i'm just falling in love with each house as i see them so let's see how much you fall in love with
18:56this one mid-row in a set of cottages built for station staff in the 19th century with a series of
19:06later extensions to the rear it features the village vernacular daring windows and a slate roof
19:12with dormers set back from the road with graveled parking our tour starts via a front porch in the
19:19reception room i do feel that this is a lot more enclosed it's just not grabbing me as much as the
19:28first one did is cottagey is cozy but you do have to i think use your imagination a lot more we've
19:34got to strip out this furniture yeah imagine it was furniture that fits you yeah and your style
19:39is decorating homes your thing not really no so is that putting you off then because this would need
19:46yeah some work what are you thinking i like the look of this one so far and you've got like the
19:51hallway which is really nice to have a hallway to be able to take all your boots off being able to see
19:55through there yeah and that is gorgeous i love that it is really nice okay so nina's moved in
20:01i'm still working on you come and see the kitchen
20:06bathroom on the way it's great it's got a bath that's a bonus
20:10oh this is nice oh yeah the light's coming in though so this changes it doesn't it it does it's
20:17really bright and light and given it's where you spend a fair amount of time and there's a nice
20:21there's still i mean we've got a small table here but actually you could have quite a big table i
20:25thought that you could fit something a bit more generous here the extendable ones there's not
20:28much to do here it's all done really lovely what do you think aiden would think of this i'm not sure
20:33he'd care about what the house downstairs looks like his bedroom and then what the garden looks
20:38like that's going to be his okay well we've got stairs
20:44and i'm sending nina and kerry up those to explore
20:47a large central landing room is being used as an office but could also work for guests
20:54okay so this must be the work from home area yeah it's nice and big okay it's good because
21:01they've got like because they've got the skylight works well you could have like a little sofa or
21:06sofa bed in here so if you wanted to watch tv up here yeah he could be downstairs yeah because
21:11he grows up he was going to want more of his own space yeah leading off and set into the eaves of a
21:18back extension is a double with a gable end window okay so this would be aiden's room
21:26but you could get a double bed you could get his desk in here and it's got 50 wardrobes
21:30so it'd be a good space then to the front is the final bedroom a double with dormer window
21:40i think this would be my room it's big enough it's got double you could get a king in here yeah i'm not
21:45keen on this you've gone down there yeah you would have space for everything but it's not
21:51i'm not loving it as much no i think with a young son growing up being closer to people will have a
22:01draw but which thing will she want to trade off the house or the location
22:09there's a manageable and well enclosed rare garden to provide puppy play time as well as patio seating
22:15and a barbecue all with a good amount of peace and privacy so this is your garden area do you think
22:25aiden would be happy with this yeah i still think we could get a dog for me it's actually better this
22:30size because i wouldn't have so much work to do and i'm not very green fingered so this would work quite
22:35well so how much do you think this property is on the market for i think it's probably still near top
22:41of my budget so about 340 340 000 i would have gone for 340 okay because of the amenities and the
22:48location i think it'll be higher this property is on the market for 350 000 pounds really yes interesting
22:59yes and it was recently dropped so it was on at 375 375 000 location yes yeah yeah this tuning you in a
23:06bit now yeah yeah yeah yeah this mid-row former station workers cottage has architectural features
23:16including arched daring windows two double bedrooms and an additional office space there's off-road
23:23parking and it's in a characterful lively village with rail links right on the doorstep so what's really
23:30good about this property is the fact that it's near a train station which means commuting to london
23:34will be great it means that when aiden does get a bit older he can go into town on his own
23:42i like the driveway as well so you can just come in yeah on a rainy day and just jump inside
23:47yeah and the garden definitely would be more manageable
23:55this sort of made me think more about that head versus heart and the practicalities that's been great
24:04different country unfamiliar county house tours it's a lot to take in so from one mum to another
24:17how's kerry feeling about kent after a first full day
24:24well kerry how lovely is it to be here actually making this move now it's really lovely and having
24:31seen what i've seen today i'm really glad that i've made the right the right choice and kent it's
24:36new for you as well yeah i mean i grew up in surrey from when i was 14 and i know surrey very well but
24:41i didn't know kent very well what are you feeling so far loving it really impressed kent is beautiful
24:47and the houses we've seen today have just shown that actually you can get more in kent for your budget
24:51than you can in surrey so that's really good as a mum of a son get a very strong bond with your son don't
24:57yeah and this move is so much about giving him something special tell me more about that well
25:03for first of all he wants to come back to england he's really happy about being back here he's
25:07getting to that stage where he's really kind of finding out about his identity and he's like yeah
25:11i'm english and i want to live in england and i love the weather and i want to go back so he's
25:15really pushed the move well being closer to your friends is important getting aiden closer to friends
25:20and building new relationships yeah obviously the school will have a community he can be part of but
25:26that's really important for him is to build up a friendship group to take him through the next
25:29phases of his life as well i love what strong head he's got on his shoulders he knows exactly what
25:34he wants doesn't he thank goodness we've got another day to look at some more properties
25:38and enjoy more of this gorgeous countryside fantastic
25:50my buyer kerry has already spotted something when it comes to kent property prices they're
26:00significantly lower than those of neighboring surrey in fact at 609 000 pounds whilst above the uk figure
26:08of almost 440 000 the average price achieved by a detached house in kent is a whopping 361 000 pounds
26:18lower than that of detached surrey homes and there's always the option of trying the place out for a bit
26:28and renting all the character and less of the commitment could come in the form of this grade 2
26:34listed two-bed cottage set in 90 acres of farmland just over the kent border into east sussex
26:41a short-term tenancy is 1900 pounds per calendar month available furnished or unfurnished for those
26:51looking to buy why not ring the changes in a 17th century historic two-bedroom home
26:59that's within earshot of church bells it has a courtyard garden and lovers of period features will be
27:06positively beaming on the market for 295 000 pounds for a larger budget how about half of a historic hall
27:17house dating to the 15th century and more recently divided into two this share has three bedrooms incredible
27:26interiors and a glorious garden it's offered at 475 000 pounds well it's time for the mystery house and
27:38today it's all about aiden well kerry's wish for aiden to get to know his british heritage
27:47our mystery house is taking us closer to the coast and the sussex border at the small settlement of sandhurst cross
27:56a mile away i've sent my buyers to check out the vibe of sandhurst village alongside many weather
28:02boarded houses common to this part of kent there's a victorian clock tower a social club and activities
28:10from adult ballet to horticultural society meetings in the old school hall should aiden get his promised
28:17puppy pet supplies are sold at the petrol station which has a convenience store and parcel drop-off
28:24a restaurant offers spanish cuisine with a british twist and talking of national flavors the mystery
28:31house really puts kerry's wish to give aiden a taste of his homeland at the forefront and what could be
28:38more british than moving into a 17th century grade two listed period cottage and if you think this one
28:44looks gorgeous on the outside just wait until you see what they've done on the inside
28:48this 17th century mystery cottage has attached neighbors either side meaning although it's
28:56exempt from energy performance ratings because it's listed it needs much less energy to heat than a
29:02similar detached home all right the first thing that strikes you about this house is not just how
29:08beautiful it looks but how warm it is it's so warm and cozy it's got all the period features you'd want
29:14but it's been lovingly restored by the current owners so it has all the modern conveniences too
29:19including underfloor heating but will carry warm to it
29:27hello oh indeed it's mystery house time super cute so you can say it's super adorable this is a listed
29:35cottage it used to be a long house so the animals would be underneath and the humans lived at the top
29:40not not anymore it's fit for human habitation i promise you what do you think aiden would think
29:46he'd like it as well the garden at the front so he's ticked that it looks very diddy he looks very
29:52cute wondering how small it will be but then who knows i'm just really excited to get inside
29:57it's not known when this four centuries old long house featuring weather boarding brick and tiles
30:10was divided into four homes sitting between neighbors the mystery pick has been extended to the rear
30:16the front path through the garden is shared for access with a home to the side and leads to a timber
30:22front door opening into the reception room oh yeah yes oh yes character yeah oh my god look at this
30:30it's very pretty and all the natural materials in here but there is a modern twist as well underfloor
30:37heating no way yes way i said you've had aiden already by just saying underfloor heating okay
30:43so aiden right he'll be happy with you he's more modern than me but this has got a good mix because
30:49it's got modern touches and like i said underfloor heating it's sold so so far love it let me show
30:55you some more okay from the reception room there's a corridor through to the rest of the ground floor
31:03which has been ingeniously put to use with additional fitted units for the kitchen diner
31:08practicalities look at this built-in storage there we go all the way through into this
31:17i love it fabulous kitchen it's fabulous it's amazing and having that space is brilliant that's
31:23incredible incredible love this so nice nina i think i've been trying to sell the places to kerry but
31:29what i've realized is i've really got to get you on board so to hear you say incredible it is just
31:34maybe a bit more of that flexible space that kerry and aiden would need and then we can see a utility
31:39room that looks quite big as well and even if you had friends around you can sit while you're cooking
31:43they've done it really well it's really charming and it's old and it's got a history and it's got
31:47a story and i love that but for modern day living it works really well we chose this because we were
31:52thinking about making aided happy but we've happened to make you extremely happy too with this level of
31:58history yeah no it's really nice i love it the mystery house is doing its work doing its job
32:02embarrassing moving excellent all right i want you to head upstairs now then have a look at the bedrooms
32:07on offer and then i will find you out the back okay all right off you go okay thanks after you
32:15oh there you go you keep the sun happy you get the mum too and even the friend triple whammy
32:20keeping them both in mind there's aiden's requested staircase with exposed timbers showcasing this
32:30home's historic bones and then there are two double bedrooms starting with one at the front partly set
32:37into the eaves i'm not seeing a wardrobe no this is a bit small yeah
32:43there is space to fit additional storage and next to this the family bathroom shows how a
32:53modern finish with built-in units work within this home's timber bean dimensions well that's nice oh
33:00that's lovely oh that is nice beautiful so this was always going to be a bit of a gamble but showing
33:08how this cottage and what you can do and how you can get that mix of the old and the new i think is a
33:13bit of a revelation they've really used like the space so well because you would think how would
33:17you fit a bathroom in this like proportion how i think it looks so nice
33:25completing this floor at the back of the home bedroom two has a vaulted ceiling oh look at that
33:32that's amazing look how high the ceilings are there it's a little bit smaller than what i'd
33:36hoped because i wanted to be able to get his bed and a desk it's got lots of character yeah but
33:41it maybe it's not not practical practical at all yeah
33:48kerrie may be struggling to visualize the furniture she needs in the bedrooms but outside it's all laid
33:54out for her the front garden has a patio courtesy of bricks from the home's original floor while the
34:01back garden has raised beds and a synthetic lawn to suit even the most horticulturally challenged house
34:07spire what used to be the wash house is now a versatile brick outbuilding for me it means there's
34:15not a lot of maintenance again because there's lots of pots so only a little bit for me to kill
34:20so yeah the space the garden's great okay so it's time to discuss price how much do you think this
34:27property is on the market for i'm going to go slightly above budget and say like 355 355 000 pounds
34:35i'm gonna go 390 390 000 pounds yeah well that'll be quite over your budget wouldn't it
34:41well this property is on the market for 350 000 and that's great because there is nothing to do there
34:50is nothing to do packed with period features this grade two listed 17th century cottage has an
34:59impeccably finished kitchen diner two double bedrooms plus front and rear gardens it's in a rural
35:05location with village facilities just a mile away the kitchen is gorgeous and i do like the fact the
35:13upstairs has higher ceilings those ceilings are amazing and the beams and aidan's what would be
35:17aidan's room were really characterful so i like that that highlighted how low the ceilings were though
35:24downstairs when we came back down again then it just felt yeah
35:27i think if i was buying this from my heart i would buy this one because i love it if i had to
35:36live on my own this would be okay okay which is why i'm here so there we go
35:42a big driver on this house hunt is a mother's instinct to return her son to his roots
36:01and at blean woods near the city of canterbury a project to bring free-roaming bison descendants
36:07of the ancient oryx back to britain is being spearheaded by the wildwood trust director of
36:14zoological operations is mark haban
36:22so mark it's a gorgeous day to be out in the woods how long ago did we last have bison here
36:27well there's there's actually a lot of debate about that we may not have done certainly in mainland
36:31europe they were here we had the oryx which was very closely related um in which bison essentially
36:37descended from um many many uh years years before how many bison do you have then roaming wild so
36:43we've got eight now and the herd has been growing we've got four youngsters and the four adults that's
36:47amazing that can see a perimeter fence so they're wild but how does this work yeah that's right we
36:53have to put a perimeter fence up at the moment they fall under the dangerous wild animals act in the uk
36:58it's a very large perimeter fence and they're living a wildlife within this reserved area and the idea
37:04behind this is we want to create a far better mosaic of habitats within this footprint within this
37:10area so what they're doing is just changing everything well i know we can't get super
37:13close but can we get a little closer so i can have a look at the work they're doing absolutely that's
37:18no problem let's go so over here we've got a very good example of the kind of things that the bison
37:24have been doing and it's just a nice comparison between the dense woodland and the open spaces that
37:30they're creating wow so this would not look like this had it not been for the bison no that's right
37:36and in thickets like this it's so dense that the sunlight doesn't reach the ground at all but it's
37:42so heavy as they stomp through they're crushing smaller plants smaller trees growing up which
37:47inhibits this huge monoculture and then they'll start browsing on it so they create these clearings
37:52and i would imagine that in a couple of years this will just be a small field this area surrounded by
37:58woodland and that's what they like that mosaic of habitat and it just wouldn't happen without them
38:02so they're going through they're kind of turning up the earth they're crashing through and then allowing
38:07this biodiversity so you get lots of different plants rather than just the ones that you've had
38:11already it's exactly that and they're spreading seeds as well of course so from the plants that
38:16they're eating and this plant is coming through and then of course that encourages other life as well
38:20as well as over 55 hectares of wooded territory where the bison herd roam free there's an animal
38:29park where the public can view species the organization breeds or rescues from other zoos
38:39and that includes an enclosure with a couple of young bison
38:42this is incredible they are so majestic and they're huge these are still quite young uh these
38:52two they're they're around 20 months at the moment but they will get quite a lot bigger they can weigh
38:57up to a tonne the balls um these are both boys and as you can see at the moment they're shedding this
39:03thick winter coat and this thick fur that they have this is what um the birds are really benefiting from
39:09we regularly see the birds picking um up the fur from the enclosure so that really helps biodiversity
39:14within the local landscape it's honor to stand here with these beautiful creatures and to know that
39:21they are contributing to everything springing back to life yeah people can come to the park and actually
39:26see what bison are doing and of course doing much larger scale out in the bling i think the the term
39:32eco engineers couldn't be better for this species it's been illuminating to learn what bison can bring
39:43to our natural landscapes but let's see if we've found the right native habitat for kerry and aden
39:49with any of our houses here in kent
39:51well we've had a fabulous couple of days in the kent countryside but now it's time to find out what
40:02kerry and nina think of everything we've shown them
40:12wow giving you lots to think about over the last few days haven't we has anything surprised you as we've
40:17been going around i thought i'd be more practical i think what surprised me is i see a house straight
40:23we go oh this is nice i want this one so i've needed nina to kind of go oh how would that work
40:29and where would that go and how would you how would you get to school so all those questions rather
40:34than just going oh this is land off to live here yeah you have been great it's been wonderful to watch
40:40you both the dynamic and how useful it's been to help you just see all the aspects as you go in
40:47to the property and you've really provided that and we can't forget aiden couldn't at all that
40:52little video message telling me what i needed to provide yeah how do you think i've done great i
40:57think he will love lots of aspects of all the different houses the first one would be the garden
41:02would be the key thing and also that room where he could grow into as a teenager and have his own space
41:08so what are your next steps we need to know are you going to go for any of our properties because
41:11you really did like number one i did i know i was thinking if my heart was up like that would have been
41:15bought already but i think um what i now know is this location is really important it's actually
41:22the practicalities of that so looking at the location a lot more and spending some more time
41:26in kent to understand it more i think that's the next step and maybe even going back to that first
41:31property to see what's around it but we know for sure that you can get a property that could deliver
41:36everything you need in this county yeah for a price you can afford yes yes and that's that's been the
41:42biggest plus from it going actually when we're when we find the right property in the right location
41:48i can actually afford it so yeah well it's been so much fun showing you the properties i've loved
41:53how you've leaned into it with that heart of yours and i have no doubt there will be aiden there will be
41:59a beautiful home and there will be a puppy yeah next time i come and see you for sure thank you for all
42:04your help it's been really good fun well for kerry this is a big move moving from the sun in majorca
42:15back to english soil and making a new start for her and aiden and i love how beneficial this process
42:21has been for her because that's what this journey is all about we've shown her the countryside we've
42:26shown her what it could be like to be in kent and we've shown her different properties and every
42:30single one has taught her something new and what she knows for sure now is that all she wants is to
42:37get back here set up the new life with her son and that it is possible to live the dream life that
42:43they've been envisioning for so long i can't wait to hear that they are here and settled i'll see you
42:49next time on escape to the country if you would like to escape to the country in england northern ireland
42:57scotland or wales and need our help why not apply online at bbc.co.uk forward slash take part
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