Help! We Bought a Village Season 4 Episode 31

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Transcript

00:01Many Brits have made the journey to foreign shores

00:05To find the perfect home.

00:09It's rather delicious.

00:11But a rare few are deciding to take a path less well-trodden.

00:15Believe it or not, there is quite a large building under that.

00:19They're embarking on a bold mission

00:22to preserve the past and save Europe's lost villages.

00:27800 years of history is a lot to be responsible for.

00:31Sawyer coming to help!

00:33In this series...

00:34Keep clear.

00:37We step into the forgotten villages...

00:40On this beam here, there's some medieval writing.

00:43To meet the brave new visionaries...

00:46This is gonna be fun.

00:48...and seasoned saviours...

00:50On top of the world.

00:52...who are fighting to bring these abandoned settlements back to life.

00:56We're just trying to pick up the pieces, really.

00:59And hope they somehow go back together.

01:01As they turn ruins into homes...

01:03...and rubble into extraordinary businesses.

01:06And you can just lay down and sleep under the stars, literally.

01:10But will they buckle under the strain?

01:13One way to get it out!

01:15Or find the strength to see it through?

01:18That way's a ton.

01:20As they restore the past to build their future.

01:25I can't believe it!

01:27I bought a village!

01:36Today, we meet the new custodians of a hamlet in France.

01:40This is the big barn.

01:42This was used in the medieval times.

01:44It's all made of oak.

01:46It's just so fascinating to have all this history in our village.

01:51Meanwhile, another set of saviours...

01:53Preserving the history of Lahu is important.

01:55This thing's been here over 300 years.

01:58...fight to give their own settlement a new purpose in life.

02:02I think that there is a certain amount of pride in making it a useful place again.

02:10And we're back with Neil in north-west Spain...

02:13...as his battle to save his village continues...

02:16OK, test time.

02:18...the modern age finally arriving with his new water system.

02:22Whoa, yeah, there's plenty of water.

02:25It works.

02:32When our village saviours first purchase one of the many abandoned settlements of Europe,

02:43it's often the case that they never fully understand just what it is they've bought.

02:48That is, until they start to peel back the layers.

02:53Such is the case with the French village of La Cloutière,

02:5680 miles north-east of the city of Rennes.

02:59While the main farmhouse dates to the 17th century,

03:04the village's barn is thought to have been constructed in the Middle Ages.

03:12The settlement was once home to a thriving agricultural community.

03:16The residents primarily making their living from dairy farming.

03:20The battle to bring La Cloutière back to life began in 2021,

03:33when Budo, a joiner and carpenter, and his retired retail manager wife, Tracy,

03:38bought the settlement for 47,000 euros.

03:41The condition of our property when we first arrived was in a derelict state.

03:46You know, it was unlivable.

03:49We had to literally cut through the brambles, pull our caravan in, clear a space,

03:54and then we started to live in the caravan.

03:56It was very difficult.

03:58First winter was horrendous.

04:01Waking up in the morning with ice inside the caravan.

04:04We were living in it permanently for just over a year.

04:09Many crumbling structures are dotted across La Cloutière's four acres,

04:14relics of the village's previous existence.

04:17And even three years on, the couple are still unsure what they actually own.

04:22We had the cadast, what they call a cadast.

04:25And it gives you a plan of what you're buying.

04:27It marks it out for you.

04:28All the plots.

04:29And it just showed you these buildings here and there.

04:32And we couldn't even fathom where they were at first,

04:34because the land was so overgrown.

04:37What they have uncovered, though, is remarkable.

04:43An empty doorway is the only part of the old milking shed that remains standing.

04:47Elsewhere, a bakery, once home to a huge bread oven,

04:52which would have served the settlement's residents, sits in ruins.

04:58And an abandoned 19th-century cottage lies empty, devoid of life.

05:05There was six foot, maybe seven foot, of bracken and brambles.

05:09And we had to go and investigate, and it took us months.

05:12I mean, we've had the cottage, and we've been in it four times,

05:16and we've been here for three years.

05:20There's so much...

05:21There's so much to go at.

05:22...to look at, to investigate.

05:24I mean, a couple of weeks ago, I found an outside toilet building,

05:28just over in the woodland, and I've only just found that.

05:34The couple are also uncovering fascinating facts

05:37about the old barn on their land.

05:39This is the big barn.

05:40I'm going to prepare it for a workshop, and it's a good space to work in for me.

05:54And we've got some history in here.

05:56We think this is old, older than the house, even.

05:58And the reason I say that is if you look on this beam here,

06:05there's some old, we believe, medieval writing.

06:08So we've had a French person come in here, and he can't read it.

06:11So we believe it might be Latin or some other language.

06:15We don't know.

06:16We do know that in the local area there was an old castle,

06:19and it fell into ruin.

06:22And then the local people took parts of that castle to build their houses.

06:28The other element of this is a door.

06:31So this is what we call in the trade peg joinery.

06:34This was used in the medieval times.

06:36It's all made of oak.

06:37It was held to the bracings with pegs.

06:40There was no nail fixes as such.

06:42So this was what makes us think this barn is very old.

06:45It's just so fascinating to have all this history.

06:54Since taking ownership, Tracy and Budo have created a stunning bedroom in their farmhouse,

07:00established a substantial kitchen garden,

07:03and they also have the beginnings of a small lavender retail business.

07:07The farmhouse kitchen is Budo's current big project,

07:10which he is lovingly crafting by hand.

07:15In front of us we have a lot of work, but we knew this.

07:18This is part of the plan.

07:19We are very fortunate that Budo has got a lot of experience as a master craftsman,

07:25so we will not be waiting around for workmen.

07:29We will do it ourselves.

07:31While Tracy and Budo are still very much at the beginning of their village restoration journey,

07:44others have been carefully piecing their settlements back together over a much longer timeframe.

07:49Just under 100 miles west of Gijón, in the Asturias region of Spain,

07:55lies Arruñada, a hillside hamlet dating back to the mid-19th century.

08:01Once a bustling farming community, the settlement fell into disrepair some 50 years ago

08:07and slowly began to crumble.

08:11Until 2005, when former boatbuilder Neil Christie from Newcastle

08:16began the long task of saving the village.

08:19That was a rather daunting sort of appearance to start with.

08:24I couldn't actually see much of it, to be honest, because it was covered in brambles and trees and everything else.

08:30Well, it's always potential.

08:39Neil paid just 45,000 euros for four collapsing stone buildings,

08:44a small forest, a mountain stream and eight acres of land.

08:50His first job was to breathe new life back into the main farmhouse,

08:54which is now his family home.

08:56It's actually gone on a few years more than I anticipated

09:00because there's always more and more to do.

09:08We met Neil in 2022 when he began renovating some of the village's other abandoned buildings,

09:14transforming them into holiday homes.

09:17I'm trying to use as many of the traditional ways as possible.

09:22It looks more, I don't know, in keeping, to my point of view.

09:26Neil also needed to secure a reliable water supply.

09:31Set on a hillside, a number of springs passed nearby to the property,

09:35once utilised by the farming families who previously lived at Arunada.

09:40So, Neil began building a water pumping system to bring the village into the 21st century.

09:47Now that water there is coming from 120 metres down underneath the ground where the pump head is.

09:56While some plans were progressing, a long-standing legal issue threatened to drastically alter Neil's vision for the village.

10:07Four of the crumbling buildings he believed he owned were found not to be recorded on the deeds for the village.

10:13Neil was forced to halt any plans to renovate them until the matter could be resolved.

10:18The buildings are deteriorating rapidly at the moment.

10:22This gets to a point where even I would think twice about having a go at this.

10:32It's August in Arunada.

10:34The holiday cottages are still a work in progress.

10:37With good weather over the summer months, Neil has been focused on his outdoor projects,

10:42but is keen to complete the work on his potential rental properties.

10:47The shell's more or less finished.

10:49I've got to put new doors on the upper floor.

10:52There's stairs to go in, floors to go in, plumbing, electrics, various things like that.

10:56There's lots of bits and pieces inside.

10:58In itself, it's not a huge project, but it takes time.

11:01The remaining abandoned buildings continue to have an uncertain future.

11:05Their legal status still wrapped up in Spanish bureaucracy,

11:09leaving Neil to watch on helplessly as the structures crumble.

11:13This is the Oreo, which was a grain store.

11:16Won't be there for much longer looking at the trees growing through the roof.

11:19Then you've got a rather large building as well,

11:22which when we came here, it had a roof on it.

11:25But in the last five or six years, it's gradually just in.

11:31I'd hate to say the whole thing in a hole in the ground, because that's the way it's going.

11:36For now, Neil can only deal with those matters within his immediate control.

11:41The modernisation of the village's water system is nearly complete.

11:45It's certainly a far cry from how villagers used to get their water.

11:49In centuries past, with the aid of their livestock, water would have been collected from the stream

11:56and then carried home and stored.

11:58But those days are long gone.

12:02Neil's new system features a huge water storage vessel filled from an underground well

12:08that will pump fresh water to the various houses around the village.

12:12OK, test time.

12:15When it gets down to here, it will start the borehole pump up to pump the water into the tank.

12:22When it gets to the top, it'll stop it automatically.

12:25With the system only recently completed, Neil is keen to make sure it works.

12:31Still on rudimentary electrics, but the other end's connected.

12:36So now we can actually do a test run to see if the water actually does get down there.

12:42Stage one is to fill the tank.

12:44Well, it's definitely filling. I can hear it.

12:48Next, Neil goes to his plant room.

12:51Time to test.

12:53To check if the system's pressure is high enough to distribute water to the village's various buildings.

12:59Whoa, yeah, there's plenty of water.

13:03It works.

13:06I'm super pleased to see this.

13:09Now that water is coming from 120 metres at the bottom of the borehole,

13:15plus another 30, 35 metres above to the tank,

13:19and all the 130 metres back down again to here.

13:22So I'm quite pleased with that.

13:24A vital part of the infrastructure to bring the village into the modern world is now complete.

13:29But with his holiday accommodation renovations still a work in progress, it's clear Neil's battle isn't over yet.

13:40Coming up...

13:41The house behind us has been empty for about 20 years.

13:44Village owners in France embark on their next big project.

13:48It's a messy job, it's a smelly job, but it needs to be done.

13:52And in La Cloutière...

13:54To have this here, it's just, it's like a dream come true. It's just so magical.

14:00Tracy and Budo have big plans for their land.

14:04The beginnings of our lavender empire.

14:06While the ghost villages of Europe have lain empty for generations, in their pasts, many have borne witness to pivotal moments in world history.

14:30Such as the hamlet of Le Oud, 70 miles from Caen, in northwest France.

14:42Le Oud dates back to the 17th century.

14:45Originally a farming community, livestock and families would have lived and worked side by side.

14:51But during the Second World War, with this part of France under German control, the farm was occupied by the forces of the Wehrmacht.

14:59There were Germans, Nazis, if you like, coming through here.

15:05I think there would have been quite a lot of hardship during that period.

15:10It's been through a lot, and I think that there is a certain amount of pride in making it a useful place again.

15:19Although it survived the war, not long after, Le Oud fell into steep decline.

15:24Ant might have been lost forever if Paul, a finance director, and his wife Louise, hadn't been overwhelmed by a desire to save it.

15:37Preserving the history of Le Oud is important. I mean, we know this thing's been here over 300 years.

15:43We'd like it to be here another 300 years. I think if it wasn't for us, it would have all fallen down.

15:49It's us crazy Brits are the ones that sort of go along and go, oh, we'd like this stone thing.

15:54It's falling to bits. It's falling to bits, but worth spending a lot of money and put it back together again.

15:59The couple purchased this special hamlet in 2020 for 160,000 euros.

16:07As the latest custodians, they became the owners of seven buildings, including two farmhouses and three rental sheets, as well as a hectare of land.

16:17I mean, the place needed quite a lot of work just to be able to inhabit, never mind living.

16:24We wanted a kitchen that worked and some heat.

16:28So our initial planning was get the basics in there so we can live in the house and then get a couple of sheets up and working reasonably quickly.

16:37That was a plan. Yeah, that's what we did.

16:39We've now been following Paul and Louise's journey for a year and a half, joining them as they began to build an impressive new guest facility.

16:52What you can see here is the land where we're intending to do the next big project in the next 12 months, which is our swimming pool.

16:59The couple hoped that a pool would attract even more guests to book with them in the future.

17:05But ultimately, they intend to reinvest all new profits into saving Lou's remaining abandoned farmhouse.

17:14At the moment, it doesn't look like a great deal, but this is going to be the place where we're going to live and where we're going to make our little corner of paradise for us.

17:23If Louise and Paul were ever to call the farmhouse their forever home, the first piece of the jigsaw was to build their pool.

17:36It's exciting because, you know, they're finally breaking ground.

17:39It's going to be amazing. I'm so excited about it.

17:44And while the contractors got on with the construction of the pool, Paul and Louise pulled up their sleeves

17:50and began to demolish some of the centuries-old internal structures of the farmhouse.

17:55It's quite hard work, this.

17:57Whew!

18:04By October 2023, their outdoor swimming pool was finally complete, leaving Louise on cloud nine.

18:12It's something that makes me happy.

18:15And it's staffed, really, because it's the swimming pool, you know.

18:19But I guess it's something I never thought I'd have, especially not in such a beautiful setting.

18:24So, it's quite emotional.

18:36It's now June 2024, and the couple are feeling confident about their future.

18:42The pool was a big investment. We're talking about 55,000 euros. Ouch!

18:47However, is it worth it? First signs are good.

18:51We've had our best spring ever. It's certainly helped bring people in.

18:54Yeah.

18:55And our summer bookings at this stage are well ahead of past years.

18:58Yeah.

18:59So, we'll see at the end of the year, but so far the signs are good.

19:02July and August time in the high summer, we'll roll it back.

19:06People will be sunbathing, people will be swimming.

19:10It will be like a proper holiday resort.

19:13And we will be sitting down there watching going, mission accomplished!

19:18With the pool now complete, Louise and Paul can fully focus on the renovation of the old farmhouse,

19:24which will eventually become their dream home.

19:27Rose Cottage, the redevelopment is the last big project.

19:31It's going to cost us about 100,000 euros.

19:33We'll do all the work we can ourselves, but it can't go with a budget.

19:37So, Louise can't have a marble ceilings and grand tiles.

19:40We've had to make some choices already for the budget.

19:42Yeah.

19:43But it should work.

19:44After that, we'll be heads down, running the business for the next few years.

19:50Until then, it's time for the couple to roll up their sleeves.

19:54The house behind us has been empty for about 20 years.

19:57What we're working on now is the demolition we've agreed to do before the builders come in.

20:01Upstairs now, mattresses, waste, straw, goodness knows what.

20:06So, we need to clear it out a bit.

20:08It's a messy job, it's a smelly job, but it needs to be done.

20:1117 miles away at the historic farming settlement of La Cloutière.

20:23As Tracy and Budo lovingly bring their village's farmhouse back to life,

20:27they're also breathing new life into the land.

20:30As well as farming dairy cattle, in the past, La Cloutière would have also fed itself,

20:36working the land to grow vegetables and feed all the families who lived here.

20:41Returning their village to a self-sufficient way of life is a big part of Tracy and Budo's dreams.

20:47At the minute, we're growing for ourselves.

20:50The long-term plan is for us to grow enough food and selling the produce.

20:57We are also growing our own lavender.

21:01I actually dry the lavender and sell it online.

21:04And having this extra bit of income will obviously help us put it back into our renovation.

21:12Today, Tracy is readying the soil with lime fertilizer before planting this year's lavender crop.

21:22It doesn't actually take long.

21:24It's actually quite a quick process really.

21:27And I get to smell the lovely lavender as well.

21:31We just love lavender and there is just so much products we can make.

21:38And also, because it connects us to the bees, we want to encourage the bees to pollinate the flowers.

21:46Budo is an avid beekeeper and we are looking to make candles.

21:50So we'll incorporate the beeswax with the lavender as well.

21:57So, we'll roll this out.

22:00With the soil fertilized, Budo and Tracy lay a membrane along the full length of the planting area.

22:06I'm sure they have tractors that can do this sort of thing.

22:15You grab that side.

22:17And we'll work our way up.

22:20There we go.

22:21Yeah, that's lovely.

22:25There we go.

22:27So, what we'll do now is we'll peg it down all the way through.

22:33And that's the system we'll have.

22:34All the way.

22:35All the way down.

22:39And this is absolutely fantastic for stopping the weeds coming through.

22:46This is essential, I would say.

22:47Yeah.

22:48I'd recommend anyone having a lavender field, do this.

22:50It's safe to come in here, keep using the, uh, shimmer in between and damaging the plants.

22:57Well, that was a good look.

22:58That nearly worked on there, didn't I?

23:02Next, Budo marks out a suitable distance for each new plant, while Tracy burns a hole in the membrane.

23:08Great job, Trace.

23:13Finished.

23:14We've got 30.

23:1530, okay.

23:16We'd only have 25 in a row.

23:17Yep.

23:18But we're gonna...

23:19Because the rows are getting longer.

23:20Yep.

23:21Because of the angle of the road going away.

23:22We'll just add more.

23:23We're gonna get more plants in.

23:24Yeah, that makes sense, doesn't it?

23:25If I give you these, Budo.

23:27Yep.

23:28I'm just trying to pick out the more mature plants.

23:36The seedlings Tracy is planting were created from cuttings from last year's lavender.

23:41This self-sustaining farming method keeps costs low and increases the profitability of their harvest.

23:49Watering teams here.

23:50Mercy, Budo.

23:53These seedlings are just from last September, aren't they?

23:56And look how lovely they are.

23:57Yeah.

23:58They soon grow.

23:59Yep.

24:00The lavender definitely likes it here in Normandy.

24:02The beginnings of our lavender empire.

24:05I can smell the lavender.

24:08Yeah.

24:09How beautiful is this, though?

24:10Yeah.

24:11Just wonderful.

24:12Magical.

24:13And in, like, one year they'll be like that.

24:15That was last year, wasn't it?

24:16Yep.

24:17When this whole field is turned purple from end to end, the people going by on the road,

24:23they'll just love it.

24:24And they come and buy our products?

24:26Yeah.

24:27Budo?

24:28Yeah.

24:29Give me a high five.

24:30There we go.

24:31The first row of 2024.

24:3330 lavenders planted.

24:34To have this here is just, it's like a dream come true.

24:36It's just so magical.

24:37And just today, planting, I just love being out here.

24:38I just get so much joy.

24:39For our village saviours, bringing settlements back to life is not just about saving crumbling buildings.

24:46It's also about bringing back nature and the wildlife that would have once thrived.

24:53For Tracy and Budo, every day marks a big step forward for La Cloutier's future.

25:00Coming up, Neil makes a geological discovery.

25:01It's a small chunk of quartz stone.

25:03They used it to hold the top of the top of the chimney pots on it.

25:04And in France…

25:05We're down there.

25:06We're down there.

25:07…Louise and Paul's demolition proves exhilarating.

25:08Well done, you.

25:09Thank you, babe.

25:10We're down there.

25:11…Louise and Paul's demolition proves exhilarating.

25:12Well done, you.

25:13Thank you, babe.

25:14Welcome back.

25:15You're done, you.

25:16It'splane.

25:17…ienna.

25:18The啦.

25:19There's an amazing cough for Quartz of the

25:43Back at the village of Arruñada in northern Spain,

25:53Neil is continuing his work to bring modern-day amenities

25:56to his ancient village.

25:58Next, hot water, powered by the sun.

26:02By installing these, it's going to give us more than enough hot water

26:06to cover the entire summer period, in fact, probably most of the year.

26:13The panels themselves are going to be going on top of here.

26:17There's going to be a frame system built all the way along here.

26:22I've got ten panels, and they're going to be level,

26:25facing almost due south, so it gets the benefit of the sun,

26:30which will be around here in about an hour's time.

26:35Before the panels can be installed,

26:37Neil needs to level the area with his digger.

26:43And it's not long until his settlement reveals more hidden history.

26:58As you can see, it's a small chunk of quartz stone.

27:01As I said, it's absolutely everywhere.

27:04They're used in construction.

27:06In fact, most of the buildings in this area

27:09have actually used a chunk of quartz on the top of the chimneys

27:13to hold the top of the chimney pots on,

27:15like a stabiliser for the roofs.

27:18With enough earth shifted,

27:20Neil moves on to building a frame for the panels.

27:22Very simple.

27:26Water goes in, the cold water goes in the bottom,

27:28heats it up, pumped up through the top,

27:31takes the water out, hot water out.

27:32They're all linked together in series,

27:35and then it's pumped up to the storage tank

27:37and transferred to the other tanks.

27:39The plastic, pretty robust,

27:41but I'm building a decent frame

27:43so that they are stable

27:47so that the wind get behind them

27:48or anything like that.

27:50I'm not sure how long they would last

27:51with full of water as well.

27:55So I'm just, er...

27:57At the moment, just marking out

28:00exactly where the cuts are going to have to go.

28:02So far, so good.

28:17Just double-check my measurements.

28:21That should be 50 inches,

28:23which it is exactly.

28:29That, theoretically, now...

28:32should sit exactly as it does.

28:35One down, only 19 to go.

28:41If you look at the overall costs,

28:43including all the plumbing and everything else,

28:46round about 2,000 euros or thereabouts for everything.

28:49So if you calculated the amount of electricity

28:53in equivalent,

28:55you may be talking about two or three years in reality.

28:58It'll last at least 10 years, I would think.

29:00I mean, it's pretty solid stuff, yeah.

29:03As with everything at Arunyada,

29:06completing the project is still a while off yet.

29:09No sooner does Neil begin work on one project

29:11when something more pressing demands his attention.

29:14Having discovered water ingress to one of his properties,

29:17he needs to create some new drainage

29:19to solve the problem.

29:21As far as finishing jobs round here...

29:24Difficult, very difficult.

29:27There's so much...

29:29So many parallel tracks going on at the same time,

29:31and I sort of jump from one thing to another.

29:33Much to the annoyance of my wife, of course.

29:35I'm sure she wants to think finished and done with.

29:39I've only got 24 hours in a day.

29:40I work about 12 of them already,

29:42so I've got to sleep sometime.

29:44To begin the rebuild of a lost village,

29:53you often first need to demolish what was already there.

29:57And in Normandy,

29:58that's exactly what Louise and Paul are doing

30:00to their old farmhouse.

30:01Now, I can go up and move the mattress,

30:05which is the tricky bit,

30:06because I want to make sure

30:07I don't come through the ceiling as well.

30:09You always do the fun bits.

30:11Well, you can do them if you want to, Lou,

30:12but I don't think you want to do this bit, do you?

30:14No, probably not, actually.

30:17Let's see, can I move it?

30:18It's the first question.

30:21Ew.

30:23Oh, my God.

30:25Hello, Smokey.

30:27Oh, there's a cat up there.

30:28Yes, there was.

30:29It's the cat's alternative residence, I think.

30:31Right, Lou, this is a box-frame mattress,

30:35so it's heavier than I thought it was going to be.

30:38So we stand well clear, because it's full of wood.

30:40OK.

30:42Oh.

30:44Well, thank goodness they don't make mattresses like this anymore.

30:47Exactly.

30:48I mean, anything could be living in it.

30:53Lots of things probably are living in it.

30:54Lots of things are living in it.

30:55Including one of the cats was.

30:57Yeah, oh, the cats aren't going to be very pleased with us, are they?

31:00No, they're not.

31:01Yet another box-spring is waiting to be removed from the upstairs.

31:05They first became popular in the mid-19th century,

31:08and given this one's location, it could be that old.

31:11I'm actually going to have to cut the floorboards to get to this mattress to put this floor down on top of the mattress.

31:17So this is the insulation layer between the animals, who are downstairs, and the people who are upstairs in this part of the building.

31:23Interesting.

31:24Paul's discovery is a fascinating peek into the past usage of this building.

31:31It wasn't unusual for farmhouses like this to be inhabited by both families and their livestock.

31:37As they slept, they would have drawn warmth from the animals below.

31:41What we'll need, Lou, is I'm going to rip the mattress to pieces by hand.

31:57OK, I'll go and get some bags.

32:00Yes, please.

32:03With the dirty old mattress filling removed, Paul needs to draw on all his reserves of strength

32:08to heave the heavy wooden frame to the edge of the upper floor.

32:12Oh, my goodness.

32:15Oh, do you need me to come up and help?

32:16Oh, Lou, I'll just need you not to say anything for a minute.

32:19OK.

32:19OK, let's see if I can get this down.

32:22Stand well back, Lou.

32:23We're back, we're back.

32:24This is going to be a big crash.

32:32We're down.

32:33Oh, my God.

32:34Thank God for that.

32:36Well done, you.

32:37Thank you, babe.

32:39Thank you, babe.

32:40That's amazing.

32:42With the big objects like the mattress now dealt with,

32:44there remains decades' worth of old timber and junk still to remove.

32:50He's got stuck in now, that's it.

32:51He's got a bit between his teeth.

32:53He's not going to stop now till he's finished.

32:54He likes to see it through to the very end.

32:57Exactly.

32:58I'm going to put through a bit of wood down, Lou, if I can.

33:02Yeah.

33:04Watch out there.

33:05Oh, I get very nervous when he's doing this stuff and it's dangerous.

33:08Yeah, and then she says to me about it and makes me nervous.

33:11I know, exactly.

33:12I've got to try and keep quiet because it makes it worse if I keep going on about it.

33:16I just want him to come down now.

33:18Right, I'm coming down now.

33:19He's done as much as he can.

33:20Good job!

33:22Thank you, boo-boo.

33:25I think we're going to bite to eat, don't you?

33:28I think we are, yeah.

33:28I'm hungry now.

33:30Good job.

33:31Thanks, Luke.

33:31Thanks for your help.

33:32No, it's all right.

33:33I don't feel like I did much.

33:34Let's get some lunch.

33:35Let's them have lunch.

33:36I'm tired.

33:37Lunchtime.

33:40Yeah.

33:47Coming up, Budo uses an ancient material to build a modern kitchen.

33:52Wow.

33:53Wow, look at that.

33:54That's why I love wood.

33:56And it's going to look wonderful in Tracy's kitchen.

33:58While at Lowoo...

34:00That could be quite old.

34:02Louise, found some newspapers.

34:04Paul makes a discovery, opening a window to the past.

34:09We'll try and iron them out and put them away safe.

34:11Oh, it's a surprise.

34:12Back at the farming settlement of La Cloutier in Normandy, Tracy and Budo's caravan days may be behind them.

34:32But for now, that only applies to their sleeping arrangements.

34:36The caravan still serves a vital daily function for the couple.

34:39This is my kitchen.

34:43This is where I do all my cooking.

34:45It's not the ideal kitchen for everyone, but it's served us well.

34:51Budo has been very busy working on our new kitchen, which is inside the farmhouse,

34:58and everything he will be making from scratch.

35:02And I can't tell you, I'm just so excited to get in there.

35:06I'm actually now counting down the days.

35:08Poor Tracy.

35:11She's been cooking away in that kitchen for three years.

35:14I obviously, you know, got on with it.

35:16I adapted with the cooking in the caravan, but I just, I need the space.

35:22Like when I prepare certain things, you're lacking the space.

35:26You have to move everything, and it is a pain.

35:29Pressure's on me now.

35:31She's a very good cook as well, Tracy.

35:34So, you know, she's looked after me and her.

35:37So she deserves a good kitchen, you know, and I'm going to make it for her, and I'm going to finish it.

35:42And it's a dream kitchen.

35:43There's not many people that will have a kitchen like that.

35:48To ask someone to custom build that kitchen for you, you are probably looking, from start to finish, maybe £70,000.

35:56And how much is it going to cost us?

36:02I think from start to finish, maybe €7,000.

36:06If you have the knowledge, you can save a lot of dosh.

36:09I just cannot wait, really.

36:13I'm so excited.

36:15And on that note, no pressure then, eh?

36:20Like the ancient dwellers who would have first lived here, Budo is drawing on materials that are available to him close at hand.

36:28So, that's probably about 170 to 180 years old.

36:33Oak grows very slowly.

36:35It takes time to get to his size.

36:36We carpenters, we use oak, and the reason we use it is its longevity.

36:42It lasts for such a long time.

36:43I mean, there's still buildings standing in the world that are 1,000 years old and made of oak.

36:49Oak will last for hundreds and hundreds of years if maintained, looked after.

36:54But I will shortly be planking this up and getting it ready for the drying process to get it ready to use.

37:01I turn this into a product, you know, I turn this into something.

37:04Whether it's furniture, parts of a building.

37:09And today, mirroring the work of the 17th century craftsman who built the farmhouse, Budo is turning local timber into a product for the new kitchen.

37:18I've got some sweet chestnut here, which is another beautiful wood.

37:22It comes from the oak family, actually.

37:24This wood is going on the interior of the cabinets.

37:27It's not going to be painted.

37:28It's going to be finished in its natural state.

37:30So, you won't see this until you open them doors and then it hits you, this beautiful sweet chestnut.

37:36As Budo skilfully begins to mill the timber, it's clear that his affinity with wood is deeply ingrained.

37:45Give it a little brush.

37:55You can see it's still slightly wet, even though it's been drying for a long time.

38:00Look at that grain pattern, look.

38:01I could make a tabletop out of that.

38:04How beautiful is that, eh?

38:06But this is where you really see it because the light's coming down.

38:09Wow, wow, look at that.

38:11That's amazing.

38:13That's why I love wood.

38:14You know, it's such a beautiful material.

38:17It's never the same.

38:18Every time, it's a different shape, different pattern.

38:22Just so beautiful.

38:24And it's going to look wonderful in Tracy's kitchen.

38:26By drawing on the ancient and natural resources he has close at hand to rebuild La Cloutière,

38:33Budo is helping the village to retain its proud historical identity.

38:44Back at the 300-year-old village of Le Houl in northwest France,

38:48where Louise and Paul are continuing their interior demolition work on the old farmhouse.

38:53With nearly all the existing upper floor now removed,

38:56Paul is able to visualise how their new home might look.

39:01We're going to have a nice open-plan living kitchen dining room at the far side.

39:06I'll have a study to do my work down here.

39:09Utility at the back.

39:10Upstairs, an art room for Louise when she has time for her hobbies.

39:14Bathroom.

39:15Then a big bedroom and dressing room just for us.

39:18So hopefully, less than a year from now, we'll be in.

39:21That's the plan.

39:21There's an awful lot of work still to be done before they reach that point.

39:25Contractors will do the bulk of the renovation,

39:27but to save money, Paul and Louise are quite happy to get their hands dirty.

39:32So, what I'm going to do first,

39:35I'm going to try and rake the stuff off the top.

39:37Paul has invested in an array of power tools to assist him in the demolition.

39:49Okay, so, let's see if I can get through this.

39:52I'm glad I wasn't underneath that.

40:06I just need to clear the junk up, but this bay's done.

40:10It's faster than I thought it was going to be, actually.

40:12I thought that was going to take ages to cut through.

40:14In amongst all the dirt and detritus from the demolition, Paul makes a discovery.

40:22Newspaper.

40:23Ah, interesting.

40:25Any stories on them?

40:27Charles Lindbergh finished his voyage on the 13th of February.

40:31Oh, that could be quite old.

40:35Louise!

40:37Found some newspapers!

40:40Some interesting stuff here, because there's a bit about Charles Lindbergh.

40:44He finished his voyage.

40:46That must be Havana.

40:47La Havana, I guess.

40:48La Havana.

40:49The 13th of February.

40:51The aviator.

40:53Has departed to what?

40:54Yeah, has departed St Louis.

40:57Flight of 1,200 miles.

40:58Flight of 1,200 miles.

41:00To the Latin America.

41:01So it's St Louis to Havana.

41:03Latin America to Havana.

41:05That's interesting.

41:06Well, we'll try and flatten them out.

41:07We'll try and iron them out and put them away safe.

41:09Oh, it's a surprise.

41:11Charles Lindbergh was a pioneering American aviator who famously flew in his single-engine

41:17aircraft, the Spirit of St Louis, from Long Island, New York, to Paris, the first-ever

41:22solo flight across the Atlantic.

41:24This historic article reports on his celebratory flying tour of the Caribbean and the aftermath

41:31of his feat, which Lindbergh used as a way to promote airmail across the region.

41:36Meanwhile, after the excitement of the historical find, it's back to the modern era to bring

41:42down the last section of the upper floor.

41:52Well, that's what I've done.

41:55It's like pulling a tooth out.

41:56Yes.

41:58Whoa.

41:59Right.

42:00I'm going to cut here.

42:01There's probably some pivotal bit you'll cut in a minute and it'll all come down.

42:04Exactly.

42:05So keep hold of the ladder.

42:06Yeah.

42:13Can I wax something?

42:15Which bit?

42:16Well, which bit do you reckon?

42:17That bit, this bit on the end bit.

42:19Try.

42:20It's asking to be one.

42:21Hang on, wait.

42:21Oh, it's quite empowering, this.

42:38Here you go.

42:39Right.

42:40Stand back.

42:45Oh.

42:51Oh, wow.

42:53That's the hope would happen.

42:55Oh, my gosh.

42:57Oh, my goodness.

43:01The good news is the top pea mustn't fall and down.

43:05Yeah.

43:05No, that's good news.

43:15I think that will do for today.

43:18Yeah.

43:19I can taste all this dust.

43:20So can I.

43:23I think.

43:25Time for a break and a shower.

43:26Yeah.

43:27And we'll let the dust settle.

43:28That's excellent progress though, isn't it?

43:30Yes.

43:31We're nearly there.

43:32Absolutely.

43:33And that's what they said to do, is to leave these beams, these supporting beams.

43:38And chop the rest.

43:38And get rid of everything else.

43:40That's exactly what we're going to do.

43:41So it'll be mission accomplished.

43:43Exactly.

43:44It's an amazing building, really.

43:46It is.

43:46Once you take all the gloop and the rotten wood away, the structure's not bad.

43:52No.

43:53It just needs some work to bring it up to date.

43:54It's getting there, there, babe.

43:56Yeah.

43:56Good progress today.

43:57It is good progress.

43:59I'm proud of you, dear.

44:01And I'm proud of you, too.

44:04Having peeled back the layers at La Oue, Paul and Louise are left with a shell, from which

44:10they can derive hope and determination to continue their quest to save their settlement.

44:16Next time.

44:21Stand keep clear.

44:25Louise and Paul peel back the layers at their French hamlet.

44:29And that is why I stand well clear.

44:32Meanwhile, in Normandy, Budo breathes new life into his village.

44:38When we're doing any renovations here, we are trying to keep it as traditional as possible.

44:41And in Spain, Neil battles to free his settlement from nature's grasp.

44:49It's the first one out of the way.

44:50It's about 155 to go.

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