- 2 days ago
Help! We Bought a Village - Season 4 Episode 21
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00:01Buying a home abroad is a big step to take.
00:04This is my piece of heaven now.
00:07But imagine taking that to a whole new level.
00:10I'm down! Amazing.
00:13The ghost villages of Europe are crying out for help.
00:17It's just like Battle of the Somme in it.
00:19And a strong-willed few have answered their calls.
00:22Our whole world, our whole life and belongings are now in Ichaka.
00:27In this series...
00:29There's a real sense of history and you can feel it.
00:32..we rediscover the settlement's time left behind.
00:36Like ten people living in the whole of Rabatana now,
00:39where once it would have been thriving with schools and shops.
00:43..and meet the intrepid Brits...
00:45Trying to get this board in the hole without falling through.
00:49..who are trying to save them.
00:51It is more tricky than you imagine.
00:55But can they turn these crumbling villages...
00:58This is going to be a big crash.
01:02..into beautiful homes...
01:04This is no longer a ruin.
01:06It is now a chateau.
01:08..and successful businesses.
01:10What are gorgeous.
01:13..or will it all prove to be...
01:15That was a close shave.
01:16..beyond their grasp.
01:18As it stands at the moment, in two years' time, it might collapse.
01:21..as they restore the past to build their future.
01:25The village has come back to life.
01:27And that's exactly what we set out to do.
01:36Today...
01:39Whoa!
01:40..at a hamlet in France...
01:41Oh, my God!
01:42..leaky pipes put our village saviours in deep water.
01:46Ah! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!
01:51Stop!
01:52Oh, my God!
01:54Are you very wet?
01:56..at a Portuguese kinta...
01:58I think they're going to start knocking down a building.
02:00..there's no margin for error as a wrecking crew brings the house down.
02:05I'm a bit nervous about this one, love.
02:10..but our saviours discover it has a remarkable history.
02:14A digger driver Mario, his wife, grew up in this house.
02:17I didn't know that until today.
02:19You know, this is where her and her family live.
02:21It's one of seven children who lived in this house.
02:25..and emotions run high for a family from Glasgow.
02:30This house has been home to so many people.
02:34You've been here my whole life.
02:36..as they prepare to leave Scotland for a new start at a village in Italy.
02:42You're OK.
02:55Restoring Europe's lost villages is a monumental task,
02:58but maintaining them can be a lifelong commitment.
03:01In mid-west France, the little hamlet of Lac-de-Maison has a rich past.
03:07Since Napoleonic times, generations of families have lived and farmed here,
03:11and it was the home of the decorated French war hero,
03:14Ferdinand Clovis Pyle.
03:16But now it's been given a new lease of life as a holiday retreat.
03:20And its future rests in the hands of its faithful custodians,
03:23Liz and Dave, from Manchester.
03:26We're just caretakers, and hopefully whatever we're doing is making it good for whoever's coming next after us.
03:38Three years ago, Liz and Dave left careers in commercial radio to move to Lac-de-Maison with their extended family
03:44and begin the renovation project of a lifetime.
03:49Tom! Charlotte!
03:51You're going to come and feed the horses!
03:53From day one, they threw themselves into the challenge,
03:56restoring the buildings to expand their holiday accommodation
03:59and make a long-term future here.
04:02They've definitely had their ups...
04:05..and downs.
04:07The whole thing is shifting, and obviously with guests on site, we just need to make it safe.
04:13But they've coped with everything Lac-de-Maison has thrown at them.
04:17We've just found out from the water board we've got a massive leak somewhere on site.
04:21The trouble is they don't know where it is, and neither do we.
04:24And their love affair with this incredible hamlet shows no sign of dimming.
04:28I just fell in love, and I still do get that.
04:31On a day when you sometimes drive down and the sun's shining,
04:34and you pull into the driver and just say, wow, this is our home.
04:45It's July 2024, and the couple are still dealing with the repercussions
04:49of an underground leak they had earlier in the year.
04:54You can see here the exposed pipes.
04:56That happened because we had to rip all the stuff away.
04:59Rather than dig up the whole soil, what we had to do was reroute the water,
05:03which meant that we had to put new pipes in here, take the boxing off the wall there.
05:06So, yeah, it's in a bit of a mess anyway.
05:08On the plus side, it's the perfect excuse to finally revamp their downstairs bathroom.
05:14Every time we've done anything like this, there's always been hidden disasters behind stuff.
05:22And if there isn't that...
05:23I think that's a result.
05:24Yeah, that'd be a win.
05:25That'd be a win.
05:26Yeah.
05:27Liz and Dave are wasting no time getting started.
05:35This is one element of their ancient hamlet they'll be glad to see the back of.
05:42Whoa!
05:44Sweet!
05:45Oh, my God!
05:47The demolition work goes smoothly.
05:49Goodbye.
05:51And for once, there are very few nasty surprises.
05:55I'm quite pleased.
05:56That didn't take long at all, really.
05:58It's actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
06:02Next stage, we put the stuff in.
06:05A week later, rubble is cleared and Dave has made a start on the stud walls.
06:15Before insulation goes in, there are just a few pipes left to connect.
06:19There's ten places that could leak when I reconnect it and I've had to turn off the mains.
06:26So, it's just a case of connecting all of this up and then hoping that all the seals hold.
06:35Over the last three years, Liz and Dave have perfected a wide range of renovation skills.
06:40As soon as these issues are on, I can tell them whether we've got leaks.
06:47Oh, yeah, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, very, very...
06:51Although plumbing, by their own admission, is still a work in progress.
06:56That was a really bad one, right?
06:58Yeah.
06:59The couple have always had a never-say-die attitude, though.
07:02OK, let's try that.
07:05Have we done it?
07:06Is it dry?
07:07Yeah.
07:08Boom.
07:09And they usually get there in the end.
07:11Yeah, it doesn't do anything.
07:13Ah! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!
07:15Just not today.
07:17Stop! Oh, my God!
07:21Are you very wet?
07:22There aren't many certainties in village restoration, but one is that things always take longer than expected.
07:33After three years in Lac de Maison, Liz and Dave are definitely getting used to that.
07:39The Douro Valley in northern Portugal is the birthplace of port wine, and for hundreds of years the grapes that went into its production were nurtured and crushed by the families that lived along its steep, fertile banks.
07:57One of the villages, or Kinter, that originally played its part in the wine industry, was Kinter das Compras.
08:05It was abandoned about 20 years ago, but it's found two saviours who've moved here from Bristol with their young family.
08:12We have epic plans for this place, don't we?
08:19We do, yeah.
08:20The biggest, the biggest, the biggest that we can possibly afford and manage.
08:23And we're literally just about to start, so it's super exciting.
08:27John and Tara gave up their jobs in the travel industry to buy the Kinter with dreams of living a more simple life, just like the generations who settled here before.
08:42They grew a variety of crops that included grapes and potatoes, and raised animals, so life was quite self-sufficient.
08:49Hey, my chucks, come on.
08:51John and Tara believe the Kinter will give their sons the chance to grow up in a tight-knit rural community, in harmony with nature.
09:00There he is.
09:02He's probably quite scared.
09:04For us, it's all about the outdoor space, the space for our family to roam, for the boys to play.
09:09I think it's a place where kids can grow and have an imagination that grows as big as the space they're in.
09:16Yeah, for sure.
09:18The Kinter spreads across a five-acre site, and originally there were at least four houses here and several outbuildings, including one where the former residents used to make wine.
09:29There is a wine-making press at the back of it, but I don't think it's been used for 20 years.
09:33You know, I think there are actually still bottles in the back there that have got wine in them.
09:37The Kinter cost just £80,000, but when John and Tara first arrived, it was firmly in the grip of Mother Nature.
09:44When we came down that hill the first time, the place was completely overgrown.
09:50We couldn't see any of the land, we couldn't see the views, so that was all a mystery.
09:54But something in us just made it feel really, really right, and so we quite literally followed our guts, and here we are.
10:01So it was just a punt.
10:03A lucky, lucky punt.
10:04Yeah.
10:05It's September, and over the last two years the couple have not only tamed the vegetation, they've also created an idyllic life for themselves and their children.
10:20But they're about to embark upon the biggest and most expensive phase of the renovations to date.
10:26So what you can currently see up on our hill is a great big white house, and that is about to get knocked down any day now.
10:34It's been our home, that house, for two years.
10:36They've discovered the building had so many structural problems it couldn't be saved, and they've moved into the cottage next door temporarily.
10:45We're going to start building a four bedroom stone home, but instead of it being a big white building, it'll be all built out of this traditional beautiful golden granite that we get in our local area.
10:58The cottage they live in now is made of the same local granite.
11:02And since it's easy to find plenty of similar pre-loved stone, construction of the new place will fit with their eco-friendly ideas and maintain a link to the Kinter's heritage.
11:12There's a lot of these stone houses around Portugal that just aren't used and then eventually just get knocked down and thrown away.
11:19And the idea that we can take these stones and create something magical out of somebody else's memories, we are definitely doing that.
11:28To fund their restoration plans, John and Tara are videoing their journey and putting the content online.
11:35Well done, look!
11:39They hope to generate income through views and advertising, and already it's proving pretty lucrative.
11:45Wow!
11:47But with bills for demolition and reconstruction about to land, they'll need every euro.
11:53The build cost is around about a thousand euros per square meter, so we're thinking it's probably going to cost us about 300,000.
12:03I try and imagine how much something like that would be in the UK.
12:07It's just not comparable.
12:09What we can create here for our family is mega, isn't it?
12:12Yeah.
12:13We're excited, aren't we?
12:15Very.
12:16A digger will arrive to start knocking down their old home in a few days.
12:25So John and Tara are bracing themselves for life on a construction site.
12:29As so many of our village saviors have found, it's often vital to take one step back before moving forward.
12:36But demolition on this scale, followed by the construction of a two-story house, is a huge undertaking.
12:43Especially with their kinter so far off the beaten track, and with two small boys to take care of.
12:48I am a little bit nervous about the stress.
12:53And I think, you know, timelines in Portugal are pretty kind of free and easy.
12:58So our timeline and Portugal's timeline might be slightly different.
13:02We'll see.
13:03Yeah.
13:07Coming up, at Lac de Maison...
13:09This was the one that we hoped wouldn't be a headache.
13:12..the floodgates have opened again.
13:14We had guests who stayed here last weekend and they basically said that someone had had a shower
13:19and water was coming through the ceiling downstairs.
13:22And at a village in Italy...
13:24Other than windows, we should be ready.
13:28..they're doing last-minute prep for an incredible reunion.
13:32You can get very emotional about these things.
13:34At the turn of the 20th century, over 13 million Italians left their homeland in search of a better life.
13:51It was one of the largest migrations in history.
13:54And a good many families from the little village of Ichaka ended up in Scotland.
14:00Now, though, one of their sons has returned with hopes of creating a new home for the next generation.
14:06You can get very emotional about these things because it's part of you.
14:11Your DNA is built of the same materials.
14:14Chisidio is a lawyer from Edinburgh, but the blood, sweat and tears of his ancestors are soaked into every corner of the architecture here.
14:23The buildings that exist here have been built over a long period.
14:26So as our family grew, another house was built.
14:29This part of the building was built by my grandmother, my nonna,
14:34bringing stones from the fields up here on a basket in her head.
14:48Over the last 13 years, Chisidio has been working with his son Giovanni and his wife Celina
14:53to breathe new life back into the village.
14:57Chaka probably comes from the verb achakare,
15:02which means to walk or to stomp through stony ground.
15:05This side particularly is very, very stony.
15:08Perfect conditions for wine.
15:15They've opened a winery, a boutique hotel and a cooking school here.
15:20Yeah, it's good, good.
15:22They've hosted weddings and a poignant visit from Chisidio's mother, Gertrude,
15:27shortly before she passed away.
15:31He felt that his duty was here and decides this is where he wants to be.
15:37I think it's quite amusing.
15:39But now, Chaka stands at the threshold of an exciting new era.
15:44Chisidio's dream has become his daughter Sophia's.
15:47And she's coming from Scotland to settle permanently in the village with her husband and their children.
15:53Sophia will be returning to the very roots of her family tree,
15:56the village her grandparents left in the 1920s.
16:00I've used what I've got to create this space.
16:07They've got to take it and move it on to the next phase.
16:09It's June and Chisidio is busy getting things organised for Sophia, Luigi and their daughters who will be arriving in a few weeks.
16:23The long-term plan is to renovate some of the crumbling buildings in Ichaka and make a home there.
16:34But for now, the family will base themselves just down the road in the nearby village of Pichinisco.
16:39When they move from Scotland, until their house is ready, they're going to have to live in this apartment.
16:47We're just putting in triple glazing, which is fairly common here,
16:51because triple glazing helps to protect against the cold in the winter because it gets very cold here.
16:57Frankly, the old windows weren't safe.
16:59And when you've got two children of under five, especially one who's a bit of a climber, you need safety, safety first.
17:07The arrival of his daughter, his son-in-law and his grandchildren will mark a defining moment for Chisidio.
17:15Over a century after his grandfather left this part of Italy in search of a new beginning,
17:20the next generation is returning for the same reason.
17:24And the cycle will be complete.
17:27The one thing they don't have is an oven, but I suspect that Sophia will end up leaning on her mum a bit.
17:34So other than windows, which will be finished today, Wi-Fi, which should be done in the next couple of days, we should be ready.
17:43Back in Midwest France, it's now three weeks since Liz and Dave ripped out their family bathroom.
17:55And Dave's still having issues with leaky pipes.
17:58We've had a few problems with it, problems with the pipe work, so it's been good fun.
18:05Looks like we're at the back end of that now.
18:08So I've got one more thing to do with the water pipe.
18:11Hopefully by the end of today, all the plasterboards should be up.
18:14Yeah, we'll see.
18:15We'll see.
18:16It'll be fine. We'll get it done.
18:18It has got to be done by the end of September, otherwise I'm going to lose my mind.
18:23For the 17th century families who once lived here, a wash with fire-heated water was just part of life.
18:30But Liz definitely doesn't want to revisit that chapter in Lac de Maison's past.
18:35Dave has promised to get it done by the autumn, and he's pinning his hopes on some new brass pipe connectors.
18:41These things are amazing, but you just have to make sure that everything's kind of locked in place well.
18:51Liz needs to let the guests and the holiday sheets know exactly what's happening, and they'll need to keep disruption to a minimum.
18:59We're just going to have to turn the water off.
19:01It'll be about ten minutes and then it'll be back on.
19:03OK. OK.
19:04Thank you. No worries.
19:06So they've got one shot to get this right.
19:08All righty.
19:11As Dave turns the water back on...
19:13Yeah.
19:14OK, that's fully on.
19:15..it's the moment of truth.
19:17No leaks.
19:20No leaks or just a slight drip?
19:21No, no leaks.
19:24No, nothing.
19:27Oh, there you go.
19:28I knew it was going to work the first time.
19:30No, it didn't.
19:31There's no problem.
19:32With the plumbing finally fixed, the insulation can be installed and then neatly covered with good old-fashioned plasterboard.
19:41Please hurry up.
19:43Love and life.
19:47What do you think, then?
19:48No, I'm really pleased.
19:49It looks great, actually.
19:50It's starting to take shape and look like a room.
19:52The bathroom still needs a bit of work before it's finished, but the couple have achieved everything they set out to do today.
19:59It's one step closer, so it's good.
20:01So I think that makes me right, doesn't it?
20:04We did get everything done.
20:07For once.
20:08It's now October, and over the last few weeks, the couple have put in some extra hours of graft, and the bathroom is finally finished.
20:19It's two days after Liz's deadline, but it was close enough.
20:23Compared to what it was, which was a really bleak, beige...
20:28Cold.
20:30Cold space that was very uninviting.
20:33This now feels like a proper, luxurious, comfortable bathroom. I'm really happy.
20:38I really love the wallpaper. I absolutely love it.
20:41It's nice to have somewhere that reflects us, you know, our taste, and feels like home.
20:47After years of putting the business first, now, room by room, the couple are finally making this place their own,
20:54leaving their personal stamp on the Hamlet's rich history.
20:57Just when they thought they could draw a line through bathroom jobs, though, another one writes itself on their to-do list,
21:09and this time in their newest holiday sheet.
21:11My guests who stayed here last weekend, and they basically said that someone had had a shower, and water was coming through the ceiling downstairs, and what we noticed is this wasn't very well sealed around the bath.
21:26Water was just coming down and around the bath, coming under here, and then just going through the floor walls and down to the kitchen.
21:32So, we've taken all the floor up. Currently, we've got the radiator on in here. It's lovely and warm.
21:39And we've got a dehumidifier, and then hopefully this will dry out quite considerably.
21:44It's a bit frustrating when stuff like this happens, because this is our newest sheet, and to be honest, this was the one that we hoped wouldn't be a headache.
21:54But, hey-ho.
21:57I thought you'd know that was here.
21:58Along with drying everything out, they now have to replace the bathroom floor, reseal the bath, and repaint the damaged ceiling below.
22:09So, I've had a little bit of water damage on the ceiling here, from the water just getting under the floorboards.
22:17To make matters worse, this time, there's definitely a deadline they can't afford to miss.
22:24We've got guests arriving on Friday to take all three sheets.
22:28And it's Wednesday today.
22:29And it's Wednesday today, so we've got two days.
22:36Coming up, there's more pipework problems.
22:38I don't know what force that valve is going to come off of this tank at.
22:44This time at Quinta das Compras.
22:47Whether it comes, like, poof, like this, really, like, what?
22:52And Ichaka is about to get a surprise new member of the family.
22:57The big news is we're also having another baby.
23:01In the mountains of northern Portugal, John and Tara have about a week to prepare their house for demolition.
23:21Before it gets knocked down, we want to go in there and take everything that's good,
23:26so that we can save it for projects later on, because there are always projects going on.
23:29What's going on?
23:30It's like stripping it. You're stripping the house.
23:32Do you need a shove in the right direction, or are you all right?
23:34Are you excited?
23:36Delighted, yeah.
23:37All right, let's do it.
23:38Get your chisel, get your hammer, get on with it.
23:39Fine. Good luck.
23:40Off we go.
23:41See you later.
23:43The house was originally shared by at least two families.
23:47But when John and Tara moved in, it had been abandoned for about 20 years.
23:52It was just really, like, stepping back in time.
23:54And I remember walking into the house,
23:56and that window right there was broken.
23:59But I remember seeing that orange tree,
24:02and for an English person to walk into a house and see an orange tree right outside the front window,
24:09that's really special, you know?
24:11That orange tree is part of the history of the farm.
24:14And the new house that we're building, we're going to be putting it pretty much on the same footprint.
24:19And one of the things I really, truly hope is that we can somehow keep that orange tree,
24:26because the front door will be right here into the new house.
24:29John hand-built the kitchen cabinets and the frames around the windows with locally sourced wood.
24:36And he was working on it for months.
24:38So now he has very mixed feelings about taking it all out,
24:41especially as the windows cost nearly 2,000 euros.
24:44Yeah, literally ripping out the most expensive thing that we bought, probably, for this entire house.
24:56Since he's planning to reuse the windows, John's hoping they'll pop out easily.
25:01I think it's just four screws.
25:03It soon becomes clear, though, this one won't be coming without a fight.
25:13Ah, blimey!
25:16Not ready.
25:18He thinks it might be the sealant holding it fast.
25:20But it turns out there were five screws, not four.
25:36Yeah, look at that. There we go. I missed a screw, that's why.
25:39All right, I'll no for the next one.
25:42Luckily, the kitchen cabinets come out with a lot less bother.
25:46That's the kind of wood you don't want to lose.
25:48It's getting exciting.
25:56There it is. Look at that.
25:59His next task is the boiler, and it needs removing in one piece because John hopes to sell it on.
26:05But there are still 50 litres of water inside, and he's only found a way so far to empty it in a dribble.
26:1450 litres at that pace.
26:16The solution could be unscrewing the whole valve.
26:20It's risky, though.
26:22The reason why I'm procrastinating is I don't know what force that valve is going to come off of this tank at.
26:29Whether it comes, like, poof, like this, really, like, what? Or whether it comes off nice and slowly.
26:37OK, I don't feel any pressure there.
26:48Not only is it job done...
26:51I feel somehow let down and disappointed by that.
26:55But John's feet are still dry.
26:57There we go. Check that out. Genius.
27:00There we go. A lot easier.
27:10Once the tank is carried off to a safe place, there isn't much more to do before demolition in a few days' time.
27:15This building was a product of the 1980s, with no possibility of being saved.
27:21But it's been home for the last two years, and even John admits that saying goodbye will stir some deep emotions.
27:28I don't know. I think what's making it, what makes it a little bit, you know, weirder, perhaps, is that...
27:39I don't know. I remember building all of that stuff.
27:43But that's it.
27:47Feels weird. A little bit weird. Not mega weird, but a little bit weird.
27:50Back in Eichaka, a moment that's been a century in the making is about to unfold.
28:07It'll have a huge impact on the future of the village, but it isn't taking place in the vineyards or in the cobbled courtyards.
28:14It's happening 1,500 miles away on a residential street in Scotland.
28:21Where are we going tomorrow?
28:24Italy.
28:25And are we moving to Italy?
28:27Where in Italy? P?
28:29Pekingismo.
28:31And what's our job? What's our job?
28:34Making honey and wine.
28:36Making honey and wine.
28:38Chisidio's daughter Sofia, her husband Rigi, and their two children are preparing to return to Sofia's ancestral home.
28:45And it will bring their family's migration story full circle.
28:51We're living life to the full and, yeah, it's very exciting.
28:55We're going to do it. We're going to do it. It's happening.
28:58Whether we like it or not, we're on the road now.
29:00The removal lorry is packed with anything and everything that could possibly be useful in the village.
29:05What am I thinking?
29:09I'm thinking I should have got an Arctic.
29:12But the most precious cargo won't be travelling in the back of the truck.
29:19The big news is that we're not crazy enough by moving our entire family life home up to about seven people.
29:31We're also having another baby.
29:33December and December, number three, and it's another little girl.
29:38Three little baby girls.
29:40And, er, ahh!
29:42In so many ways, it's the start of a brand new chapter.
29:50But saying goodbye to the house you grew up in isn't easy.
29:54I'm starting to get emotional.
29:57I am starting to get emotional.
29:59And I was coming out the back of the house there and thought...
30:03You've been here...
30:05My whole life.
30:0735 years.
30:09The bricks, the mortar, the gardens and the trees carry a lifetime of memories for four generations of Sophia's family.
30:18Happy family.
30:20Wow.
30:22Hello, Jake.
30:24Hello.
30:28This house has been home to so many people, including my nonna Gertrude who passed away two months ago.
30:37Now, a hundred years after her great-grandfather left everything he'd known to build a future in Scotland,
30:43Sophia is closing the door and embarking on the journey back.
30:48I think for mum, dad and Giovanni, it's going to be strange not being here today and, er, sing about it.
30:55You're okay.
30:56Hey, listen, she's giving us so much good luck today.
31:11Yeah.
31:13Yeah.
31:21Five days later, everybody is reunited in Ichaka and it's been the sweetest of welcomes.
31:28What is it?
31:30Honey.
31:32Oy!
31:34First honey of the year.
31:35It's all sticky.
31:36It's all sticky, isn't it?
31:38Oh, this is so fun.
31:40The girls, Raffaella and Eleonora, are already settling into their new roles as honey tasters and quality controllers.
31:48Wow.
31:49Is that tasty?
31:53Are we all living in Nonna's farm now?
31:56Yes!
31:57Are you happy?
31:58Yeah.
32:00It's a moment that was once unimaginable.
32:13Ichaka had become a lost village, deserted by its people and crumbling from its foundations to its rooftops.
32:19But now three generations have returned to breathe the same air as their ancestors, to follow in their footsteps and to tread their own new path.
32:31Seeing Mama felt like a huge relief.
32:35The whole family back together feels right.
32:39It's the way we've always lived.
32:40It's the way we've always wanted to live.
32:42And so lucky.
32:44So, so lucky.
32:45We were meant to be here.
32:46And for Selena, the prospect of now being a full-time Nonna is a dream come true.
32:53You know, I'm a daughter.
32:54I'm a sister.
32:55I'm a mother.
32:56I'm a grandmother.
32:57And now I've got them all wrapped up in here beside us.
33:01It's just amazing.
33:02And there's been a huge part missing for me and it's the heart of the family.
33:08And now to bring the future generations here and try and make a life for ourselves all together.
33:14And I just think that's just so magical.
33:19Chisidio has worked tirelessly for almost 15 years to give his ancestral home new life.
33:25But what gives it the best chance of surviving is the enduring bond of family.
33:29And today, Ichaka has taken a giant leap forward.
33:40Coming up, it's demolition day at Quinta des Compras.
33:44Gonna go do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do.
33:46Make a whole bunch of noise and smash up a house.
33:49If the excavator can get up the slope.
33:53Whoa.
33:55And at Lac de Maison...
33:57Tommy's coming out.
33:58Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick.
34:00Dave races to the rescue.
34:02Woo! Timber!
34:05That was close.
34:06Back in Quinta des Compras, the old farmhouse has been cleared.
34:23And the demolition team has arrived with their excavator and hydraulic chisel.
34:28Basically, he's gonna put it up there.
34:29He's gonna go do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do.
34:32Make a whole bunch of noise.
34:34Okay.
34:35Erm, and smash up a house.
34:37Demolition is a necessary and unavoidable step.
34:41But the couple are having some mixed emotions.
34:44They're keen to preserve as much of the past here as they can.
34:47And this building was once their home.
34:50We're knocking down something that once upon a time was somebody else's dream project.
34:55dream project and we're knocking it down to build our own dream project got a lot of memories in it
34:59you know it's where we brought our youngest son sawyer home to when he was born and it's kind of
35:04the first place we felt settled here i think i'm a bit all over the place it's like it's a big day
35:08demolition will be in the hands of their friend and local contractor mario whose nine tonne digger
35:16should make mincemeat of the building that's if he can get it up the driveway
35:20usually he comes in like an excavator but it looks like he might be struggling to get up the
35:28hill a little bit steep slopes are a common feature of portuguese kinta to make the most of the
35:34naturally hilly terrain farmers often plant their crops on terraces with a sharp incline rainwater
35:40can run off easily and it's great for irrigation it isn't so good for diggers but mario cleverly
35:47deploys the hydraulic chisel like a mountaineer with an ice pick
35:50he's literally using that hook to like pull himself up the hill i i just said to him why don't you go
36:01around the other way yeah i don't think he'd fit that through the gate yeah yeah he was very polite
36:06and he just went
36:07a few masterful manoeuvres later
36:12oh that's insane and the diggers in position
36:19yay he's up
36:23now it should be full steam ahead but there's somebody on site who's dreaming of following in mario's footsteps
36:32just quickly if he wants he says you can come
36:37and desperate for an invitation to the cockpit
36:40come here you want to go
36:42after crusoe has a quick spin and his brother sawyer joins him for some snaps
36:54sawyer coming to help
36:56wow boys
36:58demolition finally gets underway
37:05now i feel a bit emotional
37:06i think they're going to start knocking down a building
37:11the hydraulic chisel soon makes headway with the house
37:17but tara has a slight concern about stray debris hitting their place next door
37:22i'm a bit nervous about this one love
37:24is our house going to be okay
37:29it's definitely going to be tight
37:32it's a real reminder that we are living in a building site
37:36we're only three meters four meters from the actual build
37:40but mario and his team have the skills to avoid any collateral damage
37:45and now they can have a proper look at the way the house was put together
37:49it really does justify john and tara's decision to knock it down
37:53there isn't a single piece of steel reinforcement in the whole thing
37:58it's just cement and block
37:59it's just crumbling
38:01the house may only have a history that stretches back about 40 years
38:05but before it finally gives up the ghost
38:08it does have one last surprising story to tell
38:11our digger driver mario his wife grew up in this house
38:15i didn't know that until today
38:17yeah it turns out that this used to be her home
38:20so she was feeling really also very emotional
38:22you know this is where her and her family lived
38:24it's one of seven children
38:25seven children
38:28seven children
38:29when we think about history we think about
38:31it being a really long time ago
38:33not last week or last year or last decade or the decade before you know
38:39john and tara feel that with mario and his team on the job
38:43their kinta is in safe hands
38:45they're now about halfway through the demolition
38:48but it should be done by the end of the day
38:50then our village saviors can start to write the next chapter of the book
38:55there you go top floor is officially down
38:58what was that like a quarter of the job isn't it
39:00first floor down second floor down
39:02yeah cleaning up
39:03yeah exactly so that would be a third then
39:06great maths
39:08at the 17th century hamlet of lac de maison
39:22liz and dave are racing to fix water damage
39:25in the bathroom of their holiday sheet
39:27is that all the size of it looks really small doesn't it
39:30it's only a tiny bathroom isn't it
39:32the floorboards have at last dried out
39:34so now they're preparing to lay a new covering
39:36long term we'd probably like to tile it
39:39but we've got guests only up in two days time
39:42so it's got to be done quickly
39:44so we're going to lino it
39:45seal it all
39:46and hopefully that'll kind of keep the issue at bay for now
39:49for months it's been one water problem after another
39:53yeah it looks like my measurements are correct
39:55and while dave fixes the latest
39:58paul a local tree surgeon
40:00has arrived to stop an old one from recurring
40:03we've got a willow tree which is absolutely stunning in the middle of our kind of driveway here
40:11and on either side of it two ponds
40:13the problem is that we discovered when we had the water leak
40:18one of the experts actually said to us
40:22you really shouldn't have a willow tree that big
40:25near all your mains water pipes
40:27because their roots are really invasive
40:29our water pipes run across the driveway
40:31so unfortunately it's got to go
40:34the willow tree is a relatively recent addition to the hamlet
40:39in the past this courtyard would have served a more practical purpose
40:44as a working area for the farm labourers who lived here
40:47now liz hopes to transform it into a focal point for their holiday guests
40:52i'm going to plant it with wildflowers
40:54and turn it into a kind of like a wildlifey area
40:57with the butterflies and bees
40:58i'm going to put a little kind of insect hotel
41:01so when we've got kids here
41:02they can see insects and stuff like that
41:05and hopefully it'll attract loads of wildlife
41:07by the next day paul has made swift progress
41:13with their three jeets booked tomorrow
41:16all jobs inside and out need to be finished today
41:19so while dave offers a helping hand
41:22crazy how much lighter it is
41:25liz has taken charge of repairs in the bathroom
41:29it's not going to be a very neat or particularly great job
41:35it's safe to say liz and dave will be glad to see this bathroom finally finished
41:41it's been pretty challenging weirdly because it's quite a small job but i'm over this
41:49outside paul has made huge strides
41:53what do you think you don't look very happy you look a bit uh-oh what have i done
41:59i don't know it's weird but i i don't regret it
42:02but it's amazing how big the plum tree looks now
42:06yeah and it'll thrive now as well
42:08paul's also tackling a leylandi tree next to the willow
42:12and he needs it to fall onto the driveway
42:15because on the other side there's a pond full of fish and frogs
42:18and he doesn't want to disturb them but
42:21although i'm a bit worried because like dave just said it's going
42:25oh it's going the wrong way oh
42:26tom it's coming out quick quick quick quick quick quick quick
42:29i think it had got a natural lean that way paul
42:33okay
42:34is that right
42:39as usual they're against the clock to clear the garden debris
42:50it'll be easier this way
42:52and gets the bathroom finished
42:56i'll have to do it
42:59i've never done one of the toilets here before
43:08but after a fierce battle with the toilet
43:12it looks like they're pulling it off just in time
43:15it's a relief one less headache
43:22it's frustrating because it shouldn't really have been a headache
43:24because this is the new issue
43:25but such a life
43:28liz and dave didn't buy their village with the intention of kicking off their shoes
43:34and putting their feet up
43:35but three and a half years in they had hoped all the big jobs would have been done and there wouldn't be any more nasty surprises
43:42as usual though like the maison likes to keep them guessing
43:50we've got full-time jobs and that those jobs are keeping this place running so that's just what it is it
43:57it is what it is there is always something to do even if you think oh yeah that's the last thing i need to do
44:04there will be something else that comes up because you've got old buildings and there's always stuff that needs repairing
44:10changing
44:11changing i don't think we'll ever complete this place
44:18next time overnight gales batter the walls of lac de maison
44:24is on this wall behind us has completely collapsed leaving liz and dave bereft
44:32just one year one year without some disaster
44:36a demolition team is bringing the house down at quinta das compras
44:40house has gone totally i can see a staircase and that's it
44:44and it's moving day in ichaka
44:47this is called lots of men thinking they know best
44:53story of my life
44:55so
45:04you
45:25so
45:34you
45:36you
45:38you
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