Help! We Bought a Village Season 4 Episode 30

Name: Help! We Bought a Village Season 4 Episode 30
Uploaded: 2025-10-10T18:03:53+00:00
Duration: 45 min 30 s
Channel: Reality Insight Hub
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Help! We Bought a Village Season 4 Episode 30

#Help!WeBoughtaVillage
#RealityInsightHub

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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, isn't 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.

01:01..into beautiful homes...

01:04This is no longer a ruin. It is now a chateau.

01:07..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 villages come back to life and that's exactly what we set out to do.

01:35Today, in central France...

01:37Oh, I can feel a swim coming on.

01:40..a Sussex couple dig deep

01:42..as they unlock their villages' money-making potential.

01:45It's been one of those dreams, hasn't it?

01:47We've had so much work to get to this point.

01:49You know, three years of just building.

01:52And this is kind of the finale, really.

01:54And teamwork makes the dream work.

01:57I think it's going to be mostly out of the window, to be honest.

02:00..as an army of workers mobilises to restore a fire-damaged chateau.

02:06I'm surprised at how many other people have got on board

02:09and have shared this dream with me, you know,

02:11and people who work here now who are as passionate about it as I am.

02:16..and amazing discoveries in Transylvania.

02:20It stays from 1532.

02:22It's always amazing when you find something like this,

02:25what it's mostly 500 years old.

02:29As two village saviours look to resurrect

02:31one of Romania's oldest Saxon-era churches.

02:36So, obviously, everybody is very excited today

02:38to see how we can restore this, bring it back to life.

02:42In the heart of the Vienne department in central France,

02:5715 generations of farmers cultivated the land and tended to their herds.

03:02Over five centuries, these industrious settlers lived through feast and famine,

03:09war and plague, until industrialisation ultimately signed to the death knell

03:14for the village of La Gallisserie.

03:20Now, decades after this settlement was left to rot,

03:23it's been born again as a holiday village,

03:26thanks to the passion and dedication of Brits Lolly and Sean.

03:32This is a crucial time for La Gallisserie because you drive through France,

03:37there's a lot of properties that are just being left just to fall apart.

03:42So, it was getting to that point.

03:46Yeah, it's... I think we came here at the nick of time, really.

03:50Yeah.

03:52Since buying the village three years ago,

03:55Lolly and Sean have made deceptively light work of gutting the manoir

03:59to create both a home and a bed and breakfast business.

04:03And with the aim of launching yoga retreats this year,

04:06two former feed stores have been converted into a yoga studio and a holiday let.

04:15And as the couple prepare for a busy summer entertaining holidaymakers,

04:18the village has another permanent resident, Lolly's brother Greg,

04:23who's working to create a home in this former warehouse.

04:26He's going to be investing some of his money in this property.

04:32And yeah, he's going to be our head gardener,

04:34which is epic for us because what he doesn't know about plants

04:38is not really worth knowing.

04:41So, yeah, very exciting times ahead, really.

04:49It's March,

04:50and as the landscape and wildlife awake from their winter slumber,

04:54the grounds of La Galisserie are also a hive of activity.

05:00Today, the seam of limestone-rich soil that carries the weight of the village

05:03is making way for a contemporary addition, a swimming pool.

05:10It's been one of those dreams, hasn't it?

05:12It's been in the planning for since we got here.

05:14We always knew that we were going to have, hopefully, have a pool.

05:17And we've had so much work to get to this point,

05:20you know, three years of just building.

05:23And this is kind of the finale, really.

05:26If we'd had it built or put in the first year,

05:28I don't think we'd be as far forward as we are, to be fair.

05:32I think I would have found you going,

05:33champagne in the pool, please.

05:34Yeah.

05:36The nine-by-four-metre pool is being prefabricated off-site.

05:40And with the specialist team at the helm, it should be in the ground within 48 hours.

05:47He's doing his dig now, prepping for the pool to be inserted tomorrow.

05:52He's got to then put all his gravel footings in and do all the trenches for the pipe work.

05:57He's making light work of it in that machine, I've got to say.

06:01But elsewhere in the village, there's been a challenging lack of progress.

06:08This old warehouse is set to become Greg's forever home.

06:12But it's taken him two months to find specialist tradesmen capable of making this wreck watertight.

06:19As you know, most of these buildings were agricultural buildings.

06:23So because they're agricultural buildings, they're not fit for purpose in relationship to people living.

06:28The roof, for instance, isn't fit for purpose because it hasn't got any insulation.

06:32But the nice thing now is I've got pretty much all the trades in tow.

06:37This is specialist stuff, so I would rather get somebody in to do that

06:41rather than making a complete cock-up of it myself.

06:45But the pause in putting a roof over Greg's head has served up a problem.

06:49For three months, he's been living in Lolly and Sean's jeet.

06:53But with accommodation bookings flooding in for spring and summer, Greg is on the move.

07:01Today's Thursday, we've got guests coming in a couple of days.

07:04So we vacated him yesterday and we've just been clearing the rest of his stuff out

07:08and he's going to be in a small B&B room for a couple of weeks.

07:12I feel like we're at that point where the jeet is finally ready for our season.

07:19And it's at a point where I'm really happy with it as well.

07:23Three years ago, it was hard to see the buildings of La Gelisserie for the weeds.

07:28But now its rebirth as a holiday village is tantalisingly close.

07:34The pool is arriving tomorrow.

07:36Oh, I can feel a swim coming on.

07:38Some of Europe's ghost villages are quietly coming back to life one building at a time.

07:53But in Transylvania, the village of Kund has been undergoing an inspiring transformation for over two decades.

08:00Once a thriving Saxon community, its streets were shaped by centuries of German-speaking settlers.

08:11Until the fall of communism saw most of them leave.

08:14But Jonas and Enrica saw a place not to forget, but to bring back to life.

08:23For us, it was very scary to see in Romania so many empty villages.

08:32So our work, so the project is very important.

08:35I think this village has possibly seen an investment of more than three million in the last 20 years

08:44in its infrastructure and restoration and preservation.

08:51Thanks to their efforts, the village is now a thriving tourist destination.

08:57Ancient Saxon homes have become guest houses.

09:00And their fine dining restaurant and luxury retreat draw visitors from across the world.

09:06It's not only keeping the village alive, it's helping preserve a vital chapter of Romania's heritage.

09:15It would be so easy.

09:17And cheaper.

09:18And cheaper to build from scratch, to do new buildings.

09:24But for us, it's a matter of the heart, preserving what makes this community so special to us.

09:31Yeah.

09:33This year, they've embarked on their most ambitious project yet.

09:37Restoring the village's 14th century fortified church.

09:40It's February, and keen to uncover the building's forgotten stories, Jonas and Ulrike have traveled to Sibiu, the cultural heart of Saxon Transylvania.

09:53For me, a very important part of the new church will be our little village museum.

10:02So we are meeting here at the Torch Archive, our project manager, and we will have a look together at the history of our village.

10:15The Transylvanian Saxons were organized communities and prolific record keepers.

10:22Many of these records are preserved here, in the state archives.

10:26How are you Sebastian?

10:27And their project manager, and Saxon historian Sebastian, has already found documents that speak directly to their village's past.

10:35So what we are researching here are documents related only to our church in Kunt.

10:44So it's a ledger from 1846, which details all the possessions of the church.

10:50And interesting for us, we found that the school building had several different plots.

10:55We only know one plot, so it's interesting that I have to go into more detail on this one to find out more about this.

11:04Each document is a clue to what life would have looked like in the 1800s for this unique group of German settlers.

11:10In Saxon villages, all children received an education through the Lutheran Church, and were among the first in Europe to introduce compulsory schooling.

11:24But this closed community preserved their heritage through strict social boundaries.

11:29The diary of a priest, here is a rule from 1859, how to deal with mixed marriage.

11:41So I think in our village, we are talking mainly about Saxon and Hungarian marriage.

11:49Romanian was impossible.

11:52For me, it's really interesting.

11:53And the detailed inventory of church possessions dates back even further in time.

12:01This ledger also mentions the Bible from 1633, which we don't know where it is.

12:08It could be in the State Archive or perhaps somewhere in the village.

12:12Something to explore when we come back.

12:15This 400-year-old Bible is a rare piece of Saxon spiritual heritage.

12:20And it could still be hidden somewhere in their village.

12:26After two decades, Jonas and Ulrika are still uncovering the secrets of this unique community.

12:33And perhaps his past has more to give.

12:41Coming up, two volunteers get more than they bargained for.

12:45It could just be a hammer either side job.

12:48As they join the fight to restore a fire-damaged chateau roof.

12:52Nick and Brian have got an abseil over the front of the chateau.

12:57It's a little bit sketchy.

12:59And Jonas and Ulrika go on a voyage of discovery.

13:03We're very happy to have uncovered this, and this is a really great find for today.

13:07For many village saviors, the reason for taking on such monumental challenges goes far beyond building a business or dream home.

13:25In central France lies the settlement of Choumont.

13:30At its heart, a fire-damaged chateau, which holds the story of a community so courageous that Dan Preston has spent the last two years saving it from oblivion.

13:41During the war, it was host to Jewish refugee children around France and different areas.

13:51And about a thousand children passed through the gates of Choumont and were given refuge and schooling and food and a safe place to hide.

13:59Everyone that was involved in the chateau that helped people, their story is immortalised with the renovation.

14:10Dan is funding this extraordinary project by sharing every step of his journey on social media.

14:17With the hope that one day, Choumont won't just be a home, but will echo once again with the sound of children.

14:24So the main plan has always been that we're going to host children here.

14:31We're going to work with children's charities and host these kind of, I don't know, events or workshops for them to create these spaces that are going to allow people to really use the chateau.

14:43It's October. Dan is about to reach another milestone.

14:47The turret canopy, once the proud crown of the chateau, is finally being rebuilt.

14:56So we're basically creating a little canopy here.

14:59It'll be a wooden frame which holds the rest of the roof.

15:02So the roof will flare out and create like a little canopy around the bottom of it.

15:07That's in theory. It's exactly how it was when it was built.

15:11Old photographs are Dan's only guide for reconstructing the turret's intricate design.

15:18It's been a head-scratcher for Dan, but after building a scale model in his workshop, today the full-sized version is going into action.

15:27Basically, we're just trying to work out, we've got to put this plate on the wall.

15:32I'm trying to work out how high we need to do it.

15:35And the same with all the roofs. We break it down into little triangles.

15:37And then when we start working out all the angles, it gives us magically all the other measurements.

15:44What it does mean is that Nick and Brian have got our abseil over the front of the chateau and be drilling bits of wood into there.

15:51So it's a little bit sketchy.

15:57With the team relatively confident, the first task is to install timbers around the tower to create a base for the canopy frame.

16:04I think it's going to be mostly out of the window, to be honest.

16:11Eventually, this structure will support the full weight of a tiled roof, so even the slightest error could throw the whole thing off.

16:18It'll just be a hammer either side job on the level.

16:25It's crucial the timbers are perfectly level.

16:29Let's see, 20, 15, stop, 10.

16:33And 25 metres above ground level, that's no mean feat.

16:37Perfect!

16:39Yes, I just came down here to get kind of a full view of it to make sure it's all going right.

16:44And so far, so good.

16:47It's not easy, obviously, with them guys on ropes, lowering wood down to them.

16:51This is one of the hardest bits done.

16:53Once the rest of the timbers are in place,

16:58the team begin to assemble the wooden turret frame.

17:08And over the next few days, Dan's innovative structure becomes stronger,

17:11and Chaumont's original silhouette begins to take shape.

17:18The new structure remains faithful to Chaumont's original elaborate facade.

17:24Designed in the ornate Second Empire style, which embraced the opulence of the late 19th century.

17:30And with every nail and timber, that long-lost splendour begins to return.

17:37It's something else. It's always like, we know what we're trying to achieve.

17:42We've seen the photo, but, you know, when it all starts coming together,

17:46it's just so surprising.

17:48The dramatic difference that takes place.

17:51There's still a little bit to go on the bracing, but every brace we add is strengthening it all.

17:56Now the race is on to finish before winter sets in, to seal and protect what's been so carefully brought back.

18:06But day by day, beam by beam, Chaumont is rising from the ashes.

18:12Back in Transylvania, it's March.

18:22And Jonas and Ulrika continue their mission to uncover the secrets of their 14th century church.

18:31Four weeks ago, they discovered an inventory of the church's possessions in the state archives.

18:36Today, along with their project manager Sebastian, they're searching properties in the village in the hope of unearthing some of those lost Saxon relics.

18:47This is an old Saxon house in here, which is out of use and just being used for storage.

18:53The idea was to have a look if we find still something church-related in here as well.

18:57When the Gothic ceiling of their abandoned church began to deteriorate 12 years ago, villagers rallied to protect its most precious items.

19:09Only, unlike the organised Saxon communities before them, they didn't make an inventory.

19:16As people had such a close relationship to the church as a place of worship,

19:21everybody felt responsible, and this means we can find stuff in many different places.

19:28One such caretaker is Istvan, the local cheesemaker.

19:33That's the stock guy.

19:35Born and raised in Kund, and baptised in the church when it was still the beating heart of the village,

19:41and he's been looking after a piece close to his own heart.

19:44Ishti is the custodian of this baptism font, which is not 100% intact, but I think Sebastian can still be restored.

19:56The actual reservoir for the water, which was used to baptise children, is in Tsikishwara, in the main church,

20:04because it's quite valuable, it's made of some precious metals.

20:08And so we're very happy to have uncovered this, and this is a really great find for today.

20:15For 200 years, thousands of newborns were formally welcomed into the village fold,

20:20using water drawn from this oak-carved font.

20:24And it's Jonas and Ulrike's hope that it will be used to wet the heads of future generations of villagers.

20:32To be able to have proper services again, I don't think we can even estimate what it means to them.

20:40But as the search draws to a close, it's in Jonas' own carpentry workshop where a remarkable discovery is made.

20:49An altar pew crown, dating back to the 16th century.

20:53We have a really great thing. It stays from 1532. It's a mark in this, and it's also like a kind of wood carving with this ornament of teeth.

21:07And this was a crown, who actually on the top, was on the top of it.

21:15In the 1500s, this hand-carved crown would have sat atop the pew in the altar room,

21:21a seat reserved for the most honoured members of the Saxon community.

21:25It's a valuable insight into Saxon spiritual culture, and an exceptionally rare find.

21:36It's very seldom that we find it, generally in Europe.

21:40Here in Romania, we find from time to time this kind of pieces,

21:43but always amazing when you find something like this, what it's mostly 500 years old.

21:48If Jonas hadn't salvaged it, this crown could have been lost forever.

21:53But saving it now may be Sebastian's greatest challenge.

21:58It's a very bad shape. It's quite broken.

22:01But we have few pieces, so we theoretically could reconstruct it.

22:05A lot of things are missing, but it's important to preserve it and to conserve it.

22:10If those missing pieces can be found, this ancient relic might stand a chance of being brought back to life.

22:22Coming up, a giant move...

22:25Oh, my gosh. It's going to slow the whole village down now.

22:28...raises the stress levels at La Galisserie.

22:31Feeling the pressure, these poor guys that have got to manoeuvre this.

22:36It's a lot of responsibility.

22:37And there's Hollywood-level drama for Dan in Chimont.

22:42Just like when Tom Cruise abseiled in for the Olympics, this.

22:59It's a misty March morning in central France.

23:01But today, Lolly and Sean's vision for La Galisserie as a desirable holiday destination has come firmly into focus.

23:10Today's going to be crazy to see a swimming pool in the ground.

23:13I think the pool is going to arrive in the next hour.

23:18So everyone's on high alert and the guys are rushing around trying to get the sub-base ready for the pool to come in.

23:24At a cost of 85,000 euros, the below-ground pool didn't come cheap.

23:29But Lolly and Sean are convinced that high-end amenities like this will boost accommodation bookings now and well into the future.

23:38This is where the pool house is going to be.

23:41It's an area that we weren't really sure what we were going to do with anyway.

23:43So it kind of really suits to have the pool house here.

23:46So the pump, the electrics and everything will go there.

23:49The pool has been prefabricated off-site and is being delivered today on the back of a lorry.

23:56Oh, my gosh.

23:58It's going to slow the whole village down now.

24:00And we've got lots of people coming to stay with us this year, lots of guests coming.

24:06Even the ones renting our jeep next week, they've already said, is it going to be ready for them to swim in?

24:10And we were like, no.

24:11Well, they can.

24:12Getting to the front gate was easy, but the other side of the village can only be accessed by a narrow lane.

24:22But winching the 36-cubit metre pool into position will require nerves of steel.

24:28Feeling the pressure, these poor guys that have got to manoeuvre this.

24:33It's a lot of responsibility, isn't it?

24:35Metre by metre, the pool is navigated across the village.

24:44The building crew only arrived an hour ago and their swift progress has stopped Sean in his tracks.

24:52You're watching the pool coming in and then you realise they've dug a trench.

24:56They're starting to get all the pipes ready to run through.

25:00They've got electrical cable that's going to be pulled through as well.

25:03So they're a super team.

25:07Of course.

25:08I know.

25:09Where does that come from?

25:11Progress is rarely this rapid for Lolly and Sean.

25:15But as the pool sinks into the ground, Lolly's worried they may yet be tripped up by red tape.

25:21You know, with the planning?

25:24Yes.

25:25With the French planning.

25:27Planning regulations dictate that the pool must be five metres away from the house.

25:31So we have 5'20".

25:34Yeah.

25:35But a quick measurement finds it 20 centimetres further away than planned.

25:40Sank.

25:41Yes, but minimum from the house.

25:44So you have 5'20".

25:46So let's check.

25:48It's 5'20".

25:50The ladies ask me if that's okay and I'm like, is that okay with planning?

25:54Because they were quite specific.

25:56So the owner's daughter is now phoning the planning department just to ask the question.

26:00We don't mind it being 5'20".

26:02We just don't want someone to come out and measure it one day and go, it's wrong.

26:08But the team are quickly given the green light and can begin to fill the sides and fit the pipework.

26:13With the pool instal in safe hands, Lolly and Sean slip away to finish the last item on their gite snagging list, ahead of this weekend's arrivals.

26:26We've been waiting on this extractor hood for the induction.

26:31So that's here finally.

26:33Yeah, these sort of things are quite simple to do.

26:36I feel, yeah, I feel a bit organised and a bit calm.

26:40Lolly and Sean have every reason to feel at ease.

26:47After all, it's not every day that you become the proud owner of a swimming pool.

26:54And with accommodation bookings for this summer exceeding their wildest dreams,

26:59these village saviours have plenty to be cheerful about.

27:04Guess what we did today?

27:06What did we do?

27:08Put a pool in.

27:09We just dropped in.

27:10We were like, what should we do today?

27:11Oh, we just dropped a pool in.

27:13Great team.

27:15Really great team.

27:16And, yeah, we've got to swim and pool.

27:19Wicked.

27:26140 miles away in Chemin, it's November.

27:31And Dan and his team are racing to get the roofs of the Chateau watertight in time for winter.

27:40So because we've already got the structure up, we basically got to drape over these tarps just to stop water coming in and get everything waterproof.

27:49The difficult thing about this whole project is we haven't got a huge scaffolding around the building.

27:53So everything we're doing is from ropes and harnesses, which makes everything that much more difficult.

28:00Obviously, the weather's not too bad at the moment, but if the wind or the rain picks up, we're holding these big sails up in the air.

28:06So if it does pick up, we're going to have to stop.

28:10A lot of people look at the stuff we do around here and they think us swinging off the rope, off ropes on the roof is really dangerous.

28:16But it's probably one of the safest things we do, actually, because it's everything we're wearing and using is designed to keep us safe.

28:21Brian, Nick and Dan are starting with the highest point of the Chateau, the turret roof.

28:31This waterproof membrane will hopefully shield the structure from the elements until it's reslated in the spring.

28:38And for once, the weather is not conspiring against them.

28:41You know what, actually, it's one of them jobs, weirdly, that went better than we expected it to go.

28:49It's a little bit awkward, but not windy, not raining.

28:53Well, because we got that done so quickly, we can actually now do the next roof, we've got time.

28:58So that puts nearly the whole building waterproof for winter, which is really cool.

29:04But the next roof is a little less straightforward.

29:07All right, so what can I stand on?

29:09Not that.

29:10Not that.

29:11That.

29:12Yeah.

29:13Just stretch as far as you can.

29:15And calls for an inventive rig, courtesy of former tree surgeon Nick.

29:22It's like when Tom Cruise abseiled in for the Olympics, this.

29:26That's just what it was reminding me of, yeah.

29:29Just less finesse.

29:32But once again, they're soon making swift progress.

29:36How's that?

29:37Good.

29:39The restoration of Chamon began as a solitary journey for this village saviour.

29:45God, I hope this is waterproof.

29:48But this year, it's teamwork which has helped him reach new heights.

29:52I'm surprised at how many other people have got on board and have shared this dream with me, you know.

29:59And people who work here now, who are as passionate about it as I am, that really surprised me that everyone else bought into the view, you know.

30:06And in the weeks that follow, that commitment pays off, pushing the restoration to a remarkable milestone.

30:15Everything's hard to envision when it's all kind of on paper, but when it comes together, it looks so different.

30:26But the main thing is, for the first ever time in over 40 years, Chaumont has no water coming in it.

30:37It's all completely inside now.

30:43It's taken 12 months of dedication, which has seen Dan and his team battle every element.

30:48And already the transformation is breathtaking.

31:00I think the biggest achievement has got to be the roof.

31:03Not only have we replicated it how it was, I've also done all the calculations myself and we actually got the thing up there was a big challenge.

31:12So getting that roof on has been the most prominent part of the project.

31:18But this is only the beginning.

31:21Now the building is watertight, the real work can begin inside.

31:25Restoring this sleeping giant from the ground up.

31:28And with it, a whole new challenge for Dan.

31:33At times, this project is super draining, but I never dread coming into work any one day.

31:40I always come with excitement and want to do the next stage.

31:44You know, every single day I want to be here because the progress is just so fast now.

31:49It's really, really pleasing to see every day.

31:53Chaumont is well on its way to salvation thanks to one man who dared to believe it was possible.

31:59Who dared to believe a place that once protected so many lives deserved to stand with pride again.

32:08I didn't start it because I wanted this big fancy house.

32:12You know, I started it because I wanted kind of the adventure of doing it.

32:16I wanted the purpose of doing it as well.

32:20You know, what's important for me is that the chateau lives on.

32:24So it's about reclaiming the purpose the chateau had back then and using it again for the same thing.

32:30Coming up.

32:39Another one.

32:41Jonas's historical salvage mission reaps more rewards in Transylvania.

32:47Every little item tells its own story and gives us more insight in how life was here 750 years ago.

32:55And Lolly and Sean celebrate...

32:59Oh, he's in as well.

33:01..three years of restoration landmarks.

33:05Pinch ourselves that actually we've been here for three years

33:08because in some moments it feels like we've been here five minutes.

33:11Back in Romania, Jonas is still taking in the discovery of a crown of a rare 16th century pew

33:29that's been hiding in plain sight in his carpentry workshop.

33:32We were not aware of the significance of the age and historic value of this crown until now.

33:41So obviously everybody is very excited today to see how we can restore this head crown, bring it back to life.

33:49Hopefully the village still holds the missing pieces of this ancient relic.

33:54And Sebastian's on a mission to find them, leaving no stone unturned.

34:01So we're on a journey of discovery.

34:03Twelve years ago we stored some benches in here.

34:06And now it's going to be interesting what's left of them.

34:09So this is the old school building.

34:12But it all looks relatively good.

34:14But with no sign of missing fragments from the pew crown, the hunt continues.

34:25As Jonas and Ulrike ask around the village, Sebastian returns to the altar room where the pew once stood.

34:34We know where it was standing. It was standing on this wall.

34:37You can see even the shape from the wall.

34:40You see where the colour is different.

34:43So it was like this whole part was it.

34:47The historian is determined to find some clues hidden within the walls.

34:52And after digging a little deeper.

34:55Yeah, this is amazing.

34:58History begins to reveal itself.

35:04Another one.

35:06Buried under the rubble for decades,

35:08the missing pieces of this sacred puzzle.

35:13So this is the corner part.

35:16So we had this front part, this long one with the inscription.

35:20One side we had and this is the other side.

35:23Suddenly the restoration of this church's crowning glory feels within reach.

35:28Probably to restore the whole part, it's not possible.

35:31But at least for exhibition or for museum, we can restore the corona, the coronament.

35:41It's amazing news for Jonas and Ulrike.

35:44How cool!

35:45The upper part.

35:46The upper part.

35:47The upper part.

35:48The upper part.

35:49The one part.

35:50Yeah, I know.

35:51I've seen it.

35:53We found it here.

35:54And this is the other side.

35:55The other side that is fixed.

35:56Yes, exactly.

35:59Not only could this be a focal point of the church museum,

36:02it will give Sebastian's restoration team a powerful guide of what's still to come.

36:12Every little item tells its own story.

36:15And it's exciting for us to see that these little items connecting leads to a storyline

36:23and gives us more insight in how life was here 750 years ago.

36:32This is just the beginning of a new chapter for this incredible building.

36:37Jonas and Ulrike have big dreams,

36:40but one day it will become Romania's first inter-religious place of worship.

36:45And with their conservation team now on board and the support of the whole village,

36:50that dream is closer than ever.

36:55So I look very much forward to see historians to come.

36:59So we will have diggings in and around the church.

37:04And I am so optimistic that we maybe find something interesting.

37:10Then I hope until the end of this year,

37:14we will manage to get all the authorizations needed

37:17and construction would start.

37:26One day the church will rise again,

37:29not just as a monument to the past,

37:31but as a symbol of hope for this community.

37:35Three decades after Romania turned its back on communism,

37:39Jonas and Ulrike have helped this village look forward.

37:43Their hospitality business has brought jobs, pride and purpose

37:49and put this once forgotten village back on the map.

37:52And now with their cookery school nearing completion,

37:56it's clear their vision for Kund is ever evolving

38:00and their work is far from finished.

38:02One of the main challenges we have in our day-to-day lives is juggling the balls,

38:07keeping them in the air, all of them.

38:10And sometimes the load feels heavy on one's shoulders.

38:13But for us and for the village to grow and thrive,

38:19we've never doubted that it's worthwhile.

38:22And I think we still got a lot to give and still have a lot to contribute.

38:27And I just fear sometimes that one lifetime is not enough.

38:30Back in La Galisserie, it's late April,

38:45and Lolly and Sean are fast becoming victims of their own success.

38:50Their holiday accommodation has experienced a spring surge,

38:54but work to finish their swimming pool is still ongoing.

38:59We seem to be a local builder centre most of the time at the moment,

39:03in between guests, so as soon as guests come, everything gets cleared

39:05and we're immaculate as we possibly can be.

39:08And then we had guests leave on Friday,

39:11so we had a massive delivery of bags of sand and stuff like that

39:15and cement ready to do the pool walls and stuff.

39:17And again, we've got guests here Sunday and this will all be cleared.

39:20Balancing the building work with guest stays is the ultimate test

39:25of Lolly and Sean's hospitality skills.

39:28But the juggling act is softened by the prospect of a finished swimming pool

39:33that'll become the centrepiece of their holiday village.

39:39For that view.

39:41So this will be our walk through here.

39:43So we'll have stepping stones and baby sand here, won't we?

39:45Yeah. Going through.

39:46So Charlie is my son and he's just been amazing.

39:51You know, we call on him when he's not working back in the UK.

39:54He's a great general builder.

39:56So he is now doing the pool terrace.

39:58So footings have gone in all around the walls, the side of the pool,

40:04the raised beds.

40:06And then as you can see, this one here is going to stay that height

40:09because this is where the sun sets and it's phenomenal.

40:11Lolly and Sean want to make it easy for both their gite and B&B guests to access the rear gardens.

40:21So under the guidance of an expert stonemason, Sean has been busy elsewhere.

40:27So, yeah, we wanted to have a flow from the cocktail lounge to come out to people to play petonc and then go around and then go for a dip in the pool.

40:36So we opened this all up on Friday with a lot of acros and even acros up in the top floor.

40:41Accommodation bookings for this year are up nearly 50% on last year.

40:48Keen to make hay while the sun shines, the couple recently decided to sacrifice part of their own home to expand their B&B offering.

40:58This is our new B&B room, twin sharing.

41:01And although we had set this up the last couple of Christmases as a snug, it's not going to be our snug going forwards.

41:10It's kind of demand really, which is why we decided to create it.

41:14We take our time really thinking of certain things and it's absolutely right to be a little twin bedroom.

41:19So, yeah, it's exciting.

41:20Lagali Sri may now boast the very best in 21st century luxury, but Lolly and Sean never turned their backs on the village's past.

41:35At every turn, high-end contemporary design lives hand in hand with centuries-old architecture.

41:43Almost as if the village itself has opened its arms and embraced its new future.

41:51Oh, he's in as well.

41:53Woo, nice and refreshing!

41:57It's a bit crazy that we've got a swimming pool.

42:02We have owned the village just over three years.

42:05It's been great, the whole process has been fantastic.

42:08Pinch ourselves that actually we've been here for three years,

42:11because in some moments it feels like we've been here five minutes.

42:15The village's rags-to-riches revival is jaw-dropping.

42:22In just 36 months, the derelict manoir has become a stylish home and thriving bed and breakfast business.

42:30A former hay barn has been transformed into a holiday cottage.

42:39And the couple even found time to create a calming corner where Lolly can practice her yoga.

42:45It's been a hugely successful three years that we've been here, not only just on the development side, but obviously we've opened up the doors on the business side to lots of just genuinely lovely guests.

43:00We've even got a lot coming back, you know, repeat business, so we must be doing something right.

43:08This spring, work will commence to create a second home in the village, where Lolly's brother Greg will enjoy his retirement.

43:15And now, Lolly has her eye on converting the last of their barns into more holiday accommodation.

43:24Well, someone keeps coming up with plans. I've got an idea, someone keeps telling me, so...

43:28No, no, no. The village keeps talking to me.

43:30Oh, is that what is?

43:31The barn is neglected and hasn't been zhuzhed. It's talking to me and it wants to be zhuzhed.

43:37Like all of our village saviours, by embracing and preserving the past, Lolly and Sean have created a sustainable future for themselves and their family.

43:49Here, in this once forgotten corner of rural France.

43:58Best job ever, isn't it?

43:59It is the best job ever. Yeah, we're on tour every day, it's great.

44:02I feel like we're on holiday every day.

44:04Now you've got to fill up half the water again.

44:06Whoa!

44:09Nice and refreshing.

44:10Yeah. You would love it.

44:13But yeah, just absolutely adore it here.

44:26Next time, we meet the new custodians of a hamlet in France.

44:31It's just so fascinating to have all this history in our village.

44:36Meanwhile, another set of saviours fight to give their own settlement a new purpose in life.