Help Bought Village Season 04 Episode 30

Name: Help Bought Village Season 04 Episode 30
Uploaded: 2025-10-11T03:11:57+00:00
Duration: 45 min
Channel: Cineva usa
Description: Help Bought Village Season 04 Episode 30<br />#Cineva USA<br />https://www.dailymotion.com/Cineva

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Help Bought Village Season 04 Episode 30
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00:00Your sense of history, and you can feel it.

00:02We rediscover the settlement's time left behind.

00:06Like ten people living in the hole of Rabatana now,

00:09where once it would have been thriving with schools and shops.

00:13And meet the intrepid Brits...

00:15Trying to get this board in the hole without falling through.

00:19...who are trying to save them.

00:21It is more tricky than you imagine.

00:25But can they turn these crumbling villages...

00:28This is going to be a big crash.

00:30Into beautiful homes...

00:34This is no longer a ruin. It is now a chateau.

00:38...and successful businesses.

00:40What are gorgeous.

00:43Or will it all prove to be...

00:45That was a close shave.

00:46...beyond their grasp.

00:48As it stands at the moment, in two years' time, it might collapse.

00:51...as they restore the past to build their future.

00:55The village has come back to life, and that's exactly what we set out to do.

00:59Today, in central France...

01:07Oh, I can feel a swim coming on.

01:09...as Sussex couple dig deep as they unlock their village's money-making potential.

01:15It's been one of those dreams, hasn't it?

01:17We've had so much work to get to this point.

01:19You know, three years of just building.

01:21And this is kind of the finale, really.

01:24And teamwork makes the dream work.

01:26I think it's going to be mostly out of the window, to be honest.

01:30As an army of workers mobilises to restore a fire-damaged chateau.

01:34I'm surprised at how many other people have got on board and have shared this dream with me.

01:40You know, and people who work here now, who are as passionate about it as I am.

01:44And amazing discoveries in Transylvania.

01:50It stays from 1532.

01:52It's always amazing when you find something like this, mostly 500 years old.

01:58As two village saviours look to resurrect one of Romania's oldest Saxon-era churches.

02:04So, obviously, everybody is very excited today to see how we can restore this, bring it back to life.

02:24In the heart of the Vienne department in central France,

02:2715 generations of farmers cultivated the land and tended to their herds.

02:34Over five centuries, these industrious settlers lived through feast and famine, war and plague.

02:41Until industrialisation ultimately signed to the death knell for the village of La Galisserie.

02:50Now, decades after this settlement was left to rot, it's been born again as a holiday village.

02:56Thanks to the passion and dedication of Brits Lolly and Sean.

03:00This is a crucial time for La Galisserie because you drive through France,

03:07there's a lot of properties that are just being left, just to fall apart.

03:13So, it was getting to that point.

03:15Yeah, it's... I think we came here at the nick of time, really.

03:19Yeah.

03:22Since buying the village three years ago,

03:24Lolly and Sean have made deceptively light work of gutting the manoir

03:28to create both a home and a bed and breakfast business.

03:32And with the aim of launching yoga retreats this year,

03:36two former feed stores have been converted into a yoga studio and a holiday let.

03:41And as the couple prepare for a busy summer, entertaining holidaymakers,

03:48the village has another permanent resident, Lolly's brother, Greg,

03:52who's working to create a home in this former warehouse.

03:56He's going to be investing some of his money in this property.

04:00And, yeah, he's going to be our head gardener, which is epic for us

04:06because what he doesn't know about plants is not really worth knowing.

04:11So, yeah, very exciting times ahead, really.

04:19It's March, and as the landscape and wildlife awake from their winter slumber,

04:24the grounds of La Galisserie are also a hive of activity.

04:30Today, the seam of limestone-rich soil that carries the weight of the village

04:34is making way for a contemporary addition, a swimming pool.

04:40It's been one of those dreams, hasn't it?

04:42It's been in the planning for... Since we got here,

04:44we always knew that we were going to have, hopefully, have a pool.

04:47And we've had so much work to get to this point,

04:50you know, three years of just building.

04:53And this is kind of the finale, really.

04:56If we'd had it built or put in the first year,

04:58I don't think we'd be as far forward as we are, to be fair.

05:02I think I'd have found you going,

05:03Champagne in the pool, please. Yeah.

05:06The nine-by-four-metre pool is being prefabricated off-site.

05:10And with a specialist team at the helm,

05:13it should be in the ground within 48 hours.

05:17He's doing his dick now,

05:19prepping for the pool to be inserted tomorrow.

05:22He's got to then put all his gravel footings in

05:25and do all the trenches for the pipe work.

05:27He's making light work of it in that machine, I've got to say.

05:31But elsewhere in the village,

05:32there's been a challenging lack of progress.

05:35This old warehouse is set to become Greg's forever home.

05:42But it's taken him two months to find specialist tradesmen

05:45capable of making this wreck watertight.

05:48As you know, most of these buildings were agricultural buildings.

05:53So because they're agricultural buildings,

05:55they're not fit for purpose in relationship to people living.

05:58The roof, for instance, isn't fit for purpose

06:00because it hasn't got any installation.

06:02But the nice thing now is I've got pretty much all the trades in tow.

06:07This is specialist stuff, so I would rather get somebody in to do that

06:11rather than making a complete cock-up of it myself.

06:14But the pause in putting a roof over Greg's head has served up a problem.

06:19For three months, he's been living in Lolly and Sean's jeet.

06:23But with accommodation bookings flooding in for spring and summer,

06:26Greg is on the move.

06:31Today's Thursday. We've got guests coming in a couple of days.

06:34So we vacated him yesterday,

06:36and we've just been clearing the rest of his stuff out,

06:38and he's going to be in a small B&B room for a couple of weeks.

06:41I feel like we're at that point where the jeet is finally ready for our season.

06:48And it's at a point where I'm really happy with it as well.

06:52Three years ago,

06:54it was hard to see the buildings of La Gelisserie for the weeds.

06:58But now its rebirth as a holiday village is tantalisingly close.

07:03The pool is arriving tomorrow.

07:06Oh, I can feel a swim coming on.

07:08Some of Europe's ghost villages are quietly coming back to life one building at a time.

07:23But in Transylvania, the village of Kund has been undergoing an inspiring transformation for over two decades.

07:30Once a thriving Saxon community, its streets were shaped by centuries of German-speaking settlers,

07:40until the fall of communism saw most of them leave.

07:43But Jonas and Enrica saw a place not to forget, but to bring back to life.

07:56For us, it was very scary to see in Romania so many empty villages.

08:02So our work, so the project is very important.

08:05I think this village has possibly seen an investment of more than three million in the last 20 years

08:14in its infrastructure and restoration and preservation.

08:19Thanks to their efforts, the village is now a thriving tourist destination.

08:27Ancient Saxon homes have become guest houses,

08:30and their fine dining restaurant and luxury retreat draw visitors from across the world.

08:37It's not only keeping the village alive,

08:39it's helping preserve a vital chapter of Romania's heritage.

08:45It would be so easy.

08:47And cheaper.

08:48And cheaper.

08:49And cheaper to build from scratch, to do new buildings.

08:53But for us, it's a matter of the heart,

08:56preserving what makes this community so special to us.

09:00Yeah.

09:03This year, they've embarked on their most ambitious project yet,

09:06restoring the village's 14th century fortified church.

09:13It's February.

09:14And keen to uncover the building's forgotten stories,

09:17Jonas and Ulrike have travelled to Sibiu, the cultural heart of Saxon Transylvania.

09:24For me, a very important part of the new church will be our little village museum.

09:31So we are meeting here at the Torch Archive, our project manager, and we will have a look together at the history of our village.

09:44The Transylvanian Saxons were organised communities and prolific record keepers.

09:50Many of these records are preserved here, in the state archives.

09:56Hi, Sebastian.

09:57And their project manager and Saxon historian, Sebastian, has already found documents that speak directly to their village's past.

10:06So what we are researching here are documents related only to our church in Kunt.

10:13So it's a ledger from 1846, which details all the possessions of the church.

10:20And interesting for us, we found out that the school building had several different plots.

10:25We only know one plot, so it's interesting.

10:28We're going to have to go into more detail on this one to find out more about this.

10:34Each document is a clue to what life would have looked like in the 1800s for this unique group of German settlers.

10:42In Saxon villages, all children received an education through the Lutheran church, and were among the first in Europe to introduce compulsory schooling.

10:54But this closed community preserved their heritage through strict social boundaries.

11:01There's a diary of a priest.

11:04Here's a rule from 1859, how to deal with mixed marriage.

11:10So I think in our village, we are talking mainly about Saxon and Hungarian marriage.

11:18Romanian was impossible.

11:21For me, it's really interesting.

11:24And the detailed inventory of church possessions dates back even further in time.

11:31This ledger also mentions the Bible from 1633, which we don't know where it is.

11:37It could be in the state archive, or perhaps somewhere in the village, something to explore when we come back.

11:45This 400-year-old Bible is a rare piece of Saxon spiritual heritage, and it could still be hidden somewhere in their village.

11:53After two decades, Jonas and Ulrika are still uncovering the secrets of this unique community, and perhaps his past has more to give.

12:07Coming up, two volunteers get more than they bargained for.

12:15This would be a hammer either side job.

12:17As they join the fight to restore a fire-damaged chateau roof.

12:22Nick and Brian have got an abseil over the front of the chateau. It's a little bit sketchy.

12:28And Jonas and Ulrika go on a voyage of discovery.

12:32We're very happy to have uncovered this, and this is a really great find for today.

12:37For many village saviors, the reason for taking on such monumental challenges goes far beyond building a business or dream home.

12:55In central France lies the settlement of Choumont.

13:00At 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.

13:15During the war, it was host to Jewish refugee children around France and different areas.

13:21And about a thousand children passed through the gates of Choumont and were given refuge and schooling and food and a safe place to hide.

13:30Everyone that was involved in the chateau that helped people, their story is immortalized with the renovation.

13:37Dan is funding this extraordinary project by sharing every step of his journey on social media, with the hope that one day Choumont won't just be a home, but will echo once again with the sound of children.

13:54So the main plan has always been that we're going to host children here.

14:00We'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.

14:10It's October. Dan is about to reach another milestone. The turret canopy, once the proud crown of the chateau, is finally being rebuilt.

14:25So we're basically creating a little canopy here. It'll be a wooden frame, which holds the rest of the roof.

14:31So the roof will flare out and create like a little canopy around the bottom of it. That's in theory. It's exactly how it was when it was built.

14:40Old photographs are Dan's only guide for reconstructing the turret's intricate design.

14:46It'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.

14:57Basically, we're just trying to work out, we've got to put this plate on the wall. I'm trying to work out how high we need to do it.

15:03And the same with all the roofs. We break it down into little triangles. And then when we start working out all the angles, it gives us magically all the other measurements.

15:12What 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. So it's a little bit sketchy.

15:27With the team relatively confident, the first task is to install timbers around the tower to create a base for the canopy frame.

15:37I think it's going to be mostly out of the window, to be honest.

15:41Eventually, this structure will support the full weight of a tiled roof, so even the slightest error could throw the whole thing off.

15:50It'll just be a hammer either side job on the level.

15:55It's crucial the timbers are perfectly level.

15:59Let's see, 20, 15, stop, 10.

16:03And 25 metres above ground level, that's no mean feat.

16:06Perfect.

16:09Yes, I just came down here to get kind of a full view of it to make sure it's all going right.

16:15And so far, so good.

16:17It's not easy, obviously, with them guys on ropes lowering wood down to them.

16:21This one, the hardest bit's done.

16:22Once the rest of the timbers are in place, the team begin to assemble the wooden turret frame.

16:30And over the next few days, Dan's innovative structure becomes stronger, and Chaumont's original silhouette begins to take shape.

16:45The new structure remains faithful to Chaumont's original elaborate facade, designed in the ornate Second Empire style, which embraced the opulence of the late 19th century.

16:59And with every nail and timber, that long-lost splendor begins to return.

17:07It's something else.

17:09It's always like, we know what we're trying to achieve, we've seen the photo, but, you know, when it all starts coming together, it's just so surprising, the dramatic difference that takes place.

17:19There's still a little bit to go on the bracing, but every brace we add is strengthening it all.

17:28Now, the race is on to finish before winter sets in, to seal and protect what's been so carefully brought back.

17:36But day by day, beam by beam, Chaumont is rising from the ashes.

17:49Back in Transylvania, it's March, and Jonas and Ulrika continue their mission to uncover the secrets of their 14th century church.

18:01Four weeks ago, they discovered an inventory of the church's possessions in the state archives.

18:07Today, along with their project manager, Sebastian, they're searching properties in the village in the hope of unearthing some of those lost Saxon relics.

18:16This is an old Saxon house in here, which is out of use and just being used for storage.

18:23The idea was to have a look if we find still something church-related in here as well.

18:28When the Gothic ceiling of their abandoned church began to deteriorate 12 years ago, villagers rallied to protect its most precious items.

18:38Only, unlike the organised Saxon communities before them, they didn't make an inventory.

18:44As people had such close relationship to the church as a place of worship, everybody felt responsible, and this means we can find stuff in many different places.

18:57One such caretaker is Istvan, the local cheesemaker.

19:02Das ist doch geil.

19:04Born and raised in Kund, and baptised in the church when it was still the beating heart of the village, and he's been looking after a piece close to his own heart.

19:13Ishti is the custodian of this baptism font, which is not 100% intact, but I think Sebastian can still be restored.

19:25The actual reservoir for the water, which was used to baptise children, is in Sighishwara, in the main church, because it's quite valuable, made of some precious metals.

19:37And so, we're very happy to have uncovered this, and this is a really great find for today.

19:43For 200 years, thousands of newborns were formally welcomed into the village fold using water drawn from this oak-carved font.

19:53And it's Jonas and Ulrike's hope that it will be used to wet the heads of future generations of villagers.

19:59To be able to have proper services again, I don't think we can even estimate what it means to them.

20:11But as the search draws to a close, it's in Jonas' own carpentry workshop where a remarkable discovery is made.

20:19An altar pew crown, dating back to the 16th century.

20:23We 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.

20:38And this was a crown, who actually on the top, was on the top of it.

20:43In the 1500s, this hand-carved crown would have sat atop the pew in the altar room.

20:50A seat reserved for the most honoured members of the Saxon community.

20:55It's a valuable insight into Saxon spiritual culture, and an exceptionally rare find.

21:05It's very seldom that we find it, generally in Europe.

21:09Here in Romania, we find from time to time these kind of pieces.

21:13But it's always amazing when you find something like this, when it's mostly 500 years old.

21:18If Jonas hadn't salvaged it, this crown could have been lost forever.

21:23But saving it now may be Sebastian's greatest challenge.

21:27It's a very bad shape. It's quite broken.

21:31But we have few pieces, so we theoretically could reconstruct it.

21:35A lot of things are missing, but it's important to preserve it and to conserve it.

21:39If those missing pieces can be found, this ancient relic might stand a chance of being brought back to life.

21:52Coming up, a giant move...

21:53A giant move...

21:54Oh, my gosh.

21:55It's going to slow the whole village down now.

21:57...raises the stress levels at La Galisserie.

22:01Feeling the pressure. These poor guys that have got to manoeuvre this.

22:06It's a lot of responsibility.

22:08And there's Hollywood-level drama for Dan in Chamon.

22:11Just like when Tom Cruise abseiled in for the Olympics.

22:16It's a misty March morning in central France.

22:31But today, Lolly and Sean's vision for La Galisserie as a desirable holiday destination has come firmly into focus.

22:40Today's going to be crazy to see a swimming pool in the ground.

22:44I think the pool is going to arrive in the next hour.

22:48So everyone's on high alert and the guys are rushing around trying to get the sub-base ready for the pool to come in.

22:54At a cost of 85,000 euros, the below-ground pool didn't come cheap.

22:59But Lolly and Sean are convinced that high-end amenities like this will boost accommodation bookings now and well into the future.

23:08This is where the pool house is going to be.

23:11It's an area that we weren't really sure what we were going to do with anyway, so it kind of really suits to have the pool house here.

23:16So the pump, the electrics and everything will go there.

23:19The pool has been prefabricated off-site and is being delivered today on the back of a lorry.

23:26Oh, my gosh.

23:27It's going to slow the whole village down now.

23:30And we've got lots of people coming to stay with us this year.

23:34Lots of guests coming.

23:36Even the ones renting our jeep next week, they've already said, is it going to be ready for them to swim in?

23:40And we're like...

23:41Well, they can.

23:42Getting to the front gate was easy, but the other side of the village can only be accessed by a narrow lane.

23:52But winching the 36-cubit meter pool into position will require nerves of steel.

23:57Feeling the pressure, these poor guys that have got to manoeuvre this. It's a lot of responsibility, isn't it?

24:04Metre by metre, the pool is navigated across the village.

24:12The building crew only arrived an hour ago, and their swift progress has stopped Sean in his tracks.

24:19You're watching the pool coming in, and then you realise they've dug a trench.

24:25They're starting to get all the pipes ready to run through.

24:29They've got electrical cable that's going to be pulled through as well.

24:32So they're a super team.

24:37Of course.

24:38I know.

24:39Where did that come from?

24:41Progress is rarely this rapid for Lolly and Sean.

24:44But as the pool sinks into the ground, Lolly's worried they may yet be tripped up by red tape.

24:51You know, with the planning?

24:53Yes.

24:54With the French...

24:55Yes.

24:56...planning.

24:57Planning regulations dictate that the pool must be five metres away from the house.

25:01So we have 5...520.

25:04Yeah.

25:05But a quick measurement finds it 20 centimetres further away than planned.

25:10Sank.

25:11Yes, but minimum from the house.

25:14So you have 520.

25:15So let's check.

25:18It's 5.2.

25:20The ladies ask me if that's okay, and I'm like, is that okay with planning?

25:23Because they were quite specific.

25:24So the owner's daughter is now phoning the planning department just to ask the question.

25:31We don't mind it being 520.

25:32We just don't want someone to come out and measure it one day and go, it's wrong.

25:38But the team are quickly given the green light and can begin to fill the sides and fit the pipework.

25:45With the pool installed in safe hands, Lolly and Sean slip away to finish the last item on their jeet snagging list, ahead of this weekend's arrivals.

25:57We've been waiting on this extractor hood for the induction. So that's here finally.

26:03Yeah, these sort of things are quite simple to do.

26:06I feel, yeah, I feel a bit organised and a bit calm.

26:10Oh.

26:14Lolly and Sean have every reason to feel at ease.

26:17After all, it's not every day that you become the proud owner of a swimming pool.

26:21And with accommodation bookings for this summer exceeding their wildest dreams, these village saviours have plenty to be cheerful about.

26:34Guess what we did today?

26:36What did we do?

26:37Put a pool in.

26:38Just dropped in.

26:39We were like, what should we do today?

26:41Oh, we just dropped a pool in.

26:43Great team.

26:44Yeah.

26:45Really great team.

26:46And, um, yeah, we've got a swimming pool.

26:48Wicked.

26:56140 miles away in Chamon, it's November.

27:01And Dan and his team are racing to get the roofs of the Chateau watertight in time for winter.

27:09So, because we've already got the structure up, we've basically got to drape over these tarps just to stop water coming in and get everything waterproof.

27:19The difficult thing about this whole project is we haven't got a huge scaffolding around the building.

27:24So, everything we're doing is from ropes and harnesses, which makes everything that much more difficult.

27:29Obviously, 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.

27:36So, if it does pick up, we're going to have to stop.

27:39A 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.

27:46But 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.

27:51Brian, Nick and Dan are starting with the highest point of the Chateau, the turret roof.

27:58This waterproof membrane will hopefully shield the structure from the elements until it's reslated in the spring.

28:07And for once, the weather is not conspiring against them.

28:13You know what, actually, it's one of them jobs, weirdly, that went better than we expected it to go.

28:18It's a little bit awkward, but not windy, not raining.

28:22Well, because we got that done so quickly, we can actually now do the next roof, we've got time.

28:27So, that puts nearly the whole building waterproof for winter, which is really cool.

28:33But the next roof is a little less straightforward.

28:36Right, so what can I stand on?

28:38Not that.

28:39Not that.

28:40That.

28:41Yeah.

28:42Just stretch as far as you can.

28:44And calls for an inventive rig, courtesy of former tree surgeon Nick.

28:50Just like when Tom Cruise abseiled in for the Olympics, this.

28:55That's just what it was reminding me of, yeah.

28:59Just less finesse.

29:02But once again, they're soon making swift progress.

29:06How's that?

29:07Good.

29:09The restoration of Chamon began as a solitary journey for this village saviour.

29:15God, I hope this is waterproof.

29:17But this year, it's teamwork which has helped him reach new heights.

29:24I'm surprised at how many other people have got on board and have shared this dream with me, you know.

29:29And people who work here now, who are as passionate about it as I am.

29:33That really surprised me that everyone else bought into the view, you know.

29:38And in the weeks that follow, that commitment pays off.

29:42Pushing the restoration to a remarkable milestone.

29:48Everything's hard to envision when it's all kind of on paper.

29:52But when it comes together, it looks so different.

29:56But the main thing is, for the first ever time in over 40 years,

30:03Chaumont has no water coming in it.

30:07It's all completely inside now.

30:10It's taken 12 months of dedication, which has seen Dan and his team battle every element.

30:21I've had to do this there again.

30:24And already the transformation is breathtaking.

30:27I think the biggest achievement has got to be the roof.

30:33Not only have we replicated it how it was, I've also done all the calculations myself.

30:38And we actually got the thing up there was a big challenge.

30:42So getting that roof on has been the most prominent part of the project.

30:45But this is only the beginning.

30:50Now the building is watertight, the real work can begin inside.

30:55Restoring this sleeping giant from the ground up.

30:58And with it, a whole new challenge for Dan.

31:01At times, this project is super draining, but I never dread coming into work any one day.

31:10I always come with excitement and want to do the next stage, you know.

31:14Every single day I want to be here because the progress is just so fast now.

31:19It's really, really pleasing to see every day.

31:23Chaumont is well on its way to salvation thanks to one man who dared to believe it was possible.

31:29Who dared to believe a place that once protected so many lives deserved to stand with pride again.

31:38I didn't start it because I wanted this big fancy house, you know.

31:42I started it because I wanted kind of the adventure of doing it.

31:46I wanted the purpose of doing it as well.

31:49You know, what's important for me is that the chateau lives on.

31:53It's about reclaiming the purpose the chateau had back then

31:57and using it again for the same thing.

32:07Coming up...

32:09Another one.

32:10Jonas' historical salvage mission reaps more rewards in Transylvania.

32:15Every little item tells its own story and gives us more insight in how life was here 750 years ago.

32:25And Lolly and Sean celebrate...

32:28Oh, he's in as well.

32:30...three years of restoration landmarks.

32:34Pinch ourselves that actually we've been here for three years,

32:38because in some moments it feels like we've been here five minutes.

32:41Back in Romania, Jonas is still taking in the discovery of a crown of a rare 16th century pew

32:58that's been hiding in plain sight in his carpentry workshop.

33:02We were not aware of the significance of the age and historic value of this crown until now.

33:11So, obviously, everybody is very excited today to see how we can restore this head crown, bring it back to life.

33:19Hopefully, the village still holds the missing pieces of this ancient relic.

33:24And Sebastian's on a mission to find them, leaving no stone unturned.

33:30So, we're on a journey of discovery.

33:32Twelve years ago, we stored some benches in here,

33:35and now it's going to be interesting what's left of them.

33:38So, this is the old school building.

33:41But it all looks relatively good.

33:44What say?

33:49But with no sign of missing fragments from the pew crown, the hunt continues.

33:53As Jonas and Ulrike ask around the village, Sebastian returns to the altar room where the pew once stood.

34:03We know where it was standing. It was standing on this wall.

34:06You can see even the shape from the wall.

34:10You see where the colour is different.

34:12So, it was like this whole part was it.

34:17The historian is determined to find some clues hidden within the walls.

34:22And after digging a little deeper...

34:25Yeah, this is amazing.

34:27...history begins to reveal itself.

34:34Another one.

34:36...buried under the rubble for decades, the missing pieces of this sacred puzzle.

34:42So, this is the corner part.

34:46So, we had this front part, this long one with the inscription.

34:49One side we had, and this is the other side.

34:52Suddenly, the restoration of this church's crowning glory feels within reach.

34:58Probably to restore the whole part, it's not possible, but at least for exhibition of a museum, we can restore the corona, the coronament.

35:10It's amazing news for Jonas and Ulrike.

35:14How cool!

35:16The upper part.

35:17The upper part.

35:18The upper part.

35:19The one that we have seen.

35:20Yeah, yeah, I know.

35:21I've seen it.

35:22The other part.

35:23The other part.

35:24The other part.

35:25The other part.

35:26The other part.

35:27Yes, exactly.

35:28The other part.

35:29Not only could this be a focal point of the church museum, it will give Sebastian's restoration team a powerful guide of what's still to come.

35:42Every little item tells its own story, and it's exciting for us to see that these little items connecting leads to a storyline,

35:53and gives us more insight in how life was here 750 years ago.

36:02This is just the beginning of a new chapter for this incredible building.

36:07Jonas and Ulrike have big dreams, but one day it will become Romania's first inter-religious place of worship.

36:15And with their conservation team now on board, and the support of the whole village, that dream is closer than ever.

36:24So I look very much forward to see historians to come, so we will have diggings in and around the church,

36:34and I am so optimistic that we maybe find something interesting.

36:40Then I hope until the end of this year, we will manage to get all the authorizations needed, and construction would start.

36:53One day the church will rise again, not just as a monument to the past, but as a symbol of hope for this community.

37:05Three decades after Romania turned its back on communism, Jonas and Ulrike have helped this village look forward.

37:12Their hospitality business has brought jobs, pride and purpose, and put this once forgotten village back on the map.

37:22And now with their cookery school nearing completion, it's clear their vision for Kund is ever evolving, and their work is far from finished.

37:32One of the main challenges we have in our day-to-day lives is juggling the balls, keeping them in the air, all of them, and sometimes the load feels heavy on one's shoulders.

37:42But for us and for the village to grow and thrive, we've never doubted that it's worthwhile.

37:53And I think we still got a lot to give and still have a lot to contribute, and I just fear sometimes that one lifetime is not enough.

38:00Back in Magalissary, it's late April, and Lolly and Sean are fast becoming victims of their own success.

38:19Their holiday accommodation has experienced a spring surge, but work to finish their swimming pool is still ongoing.

38:29We seem to be a local builder centre most of the time at the moment, in between guests, so as soon as guests come, everything gets cleared and we're immaculate as we possibly can be.

38:38And then we had guests leave on Friday, so we had a massive delivery of bags of sand and stuff like that, and cement ready to do the pool walls and stuff.

38:46And again, we've got guests here Sunday, and this will all be cleared.

38:51Balancing building work with guest days is the ultimate test of Lolly and Sean's hospitality skills.

38:58But the juggling act is softened by the prospect of a finished swimming pool that'll become the centrepiece of their holiday village.

39:08For that view.

39:09So this will be our walk through here, so we'll have stepping stones and baby sand here, won't we?

39:14Yeah, yeah. Going through.

39:17So Charlie is my son, and he's just been amazing. You know, we call on him when he's not working back in the UK.

39:24He's a great general builder, so he is now doing the pool terrace.

39:28So footings have gone in all around the walls, the side of the pool, the raised beds.

39:34And then, as you can see, this one here is going to stay that height, because this is where the sun sets, and it's phenomenal.

39:44Lolly and Sean want to make it easy for both Vergitte and B&B guests to access the rear gardens.

39:49So under the guidance of an expert stonemason, Sean has been busy elsewhere.

39:56So, yeah, we wanted to have a flow from the cocktail lounge to come out to people to play Bretonk, and then go round and then go for a dip in the pool.

40:05So we opened this all up on Friday, with a lot of acros, and even acros up in the top floor.

40:12Accommodation bookings for this year are up nearly 50% on last year.

40:17Keen to make hay while the sun shines, the couple recently decided to sacrifice part of their own home to expand their B&B offering.

40:25This is our new B&B room, twin sharing, and although we had set this up the last couple of Christmases as a snug, it's not going to be our snug going forwards.

40:40It's kind of demand, really, which is why we decided to create it.

40:44We take our time, really, thinking of certain things, and it's absolutely right to be a little twin bedroom.

40:49So, yeah, it's exciting.

40:50Lagalisri may now boast the very best in 21st century luxury, but Lolly and Sean never turn their backs on the village's past.

41:04At every turn, high-end contemporary design lives hand-in-hand with centuries-old architecture.

41:13Almost as if the village itself has opened its arms and embraced its new future.

41:18Oh, he's in as well.

41:23Woo, nice and refreshing!

41:26It's a bit crazy that we've got a swimming pool.

41:31We have owned the village just over three years.

41:35It's been great. The whole process has been fantastic.

41:38Pinch ourselves that actually we've been here for three years,

41:41because in some moments it feels like we've been here five minutes.

41:44The village's rags-to-riches revival is jaw-dropping.

41:48In just 36 months, the derelict manoir has become a stylish home and thriving bed and breakfast business.

41:59A former hay barn has been transformed into a holiday cottage.

42:08And the couple even found time to create a calming corner where Lolly can practice her yoga.

42:15It'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.

42:30We've even got a lot coming back, you know, repeat business, so we must be doing something right.

42:37This spring, work will commence to create a second home in the village, where Lolly's brother Greg will enjoy his retirement.

42:44And now, Lolly has her eye on converting the last of their barns into more holiday accommodation.

42:53Well, someone keeps coming up with plans. I've got an idea, someone keeps telling me, so...

42:58No, no, no. The village keeps talking to me.

43:00Oh, is that what it is?

43:01The barn that is neglected and hasn't been zhuzhed, it's talking to me and it wants to be zhuzhed.

43:06Like all of our village saviours, by embracing and preserving the past, Lolly and Sean have created a sustainable future for themselves and their family.

43:19Here, in this once forgotten corner of rural France.

43:28Best job ever, isn't it?

43:29It is the best job ever. Yeah, we're on tour every day, it's great.

43:32I feel like we're on holiday every day.

43:33Now you've got to fill up half the water again.

43:36Whoa!

43:39Nice and refreshing.

43:40Yeah. You would love it.

43:43But yeah, just absolutely adore it here.

43:55Next time, we meet the new custodians of a hamlet in France.

43:59It's just so fascinating to have all this history in our village.

44:06Meanwhile, another set of saviours fight to give their own settlement a new purpose in life.