Help! We Bought a Village Season 4 Episode 34

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Transcript

00:01Buying a home abroad is a big step to take.

00:05This is my piece of heaven now.

00:08But imagine taking that to a whole new level.

00:11I'm down! Amazing.

00:14The ghost villages of Europe are crying out for help.

00:17It's just like Battle of the Somme, innit?

00:20And a strong-willed few have answered their calls.

00:23Our whole world, our whole life and belongings are now in Ichaka.

00:28In this series...

00:29There's a real sense of history and you can feel it.

00:32..we rediscover the settlement's time left behind.

00:36Like ten people living in the whole of Rabatana now,

00:39where once it would have been thriving with schools and shops.

00:43..and meet the intrepid Brits...

00:45Trying to get this board in the hole without falling through.

00:49..who are trying to save them.

00:51It is more tricky than you imagine.

00:55But can they turn these crumbling villages...

00:58This is going to be a big crash.

01:02..into beautiful homes...

01:05This is no longer a ruin. It is now a chateau.

01:08..and successful businesses.

01:10..what are gorgeous.

01:13..or will it all prove to be...

01:15That was a close shave.

01:16..beyond their grasp.

01:18As it stands at the moment, in two years' time, it might collapse.

01:21..as they restore the past to build their future.

01:25The village has come back to life and that's exactly what we set out to do.

01:36Today...

01:37It's super thick, this stuff, isn't it?

01:39..excitement at a ghost village in Normandy

01:42..as a once abandoned cottage begins to wake from its slumber.

01:47The more that gets dirt, the more I get excited about the possibility of moving in.

01:51Elsewhere in Normandy...

01:53It's a bell buckle.

01:55..I believe it's from the Napoleonic period.

01:58A village saviour unearths a treasure trove from the past.

02:02That was a lovely little find and that's definitely going to go in my man cave.

02:06And in northern Spain...

02:08If the bottom part of the village is the after, then this is the real before.

02:13We're back with a couple who, having completed one part of their village,

02:16..are moving on to an entirely new phase.

02:19This is dangerous to go into right now because the roof is collapsing.

02:22And if we don't do some controlled demolition in the next few months,

02:25then the walls will fall out as well.

02:39Over the centuries, the ghost settlements of Europe

02:41have had a front row seat for some of history's most pivotal moments.

02:46Through the course of their stewardship of these places,

02:49our saviours often feel a strong connection

02:52to what was, in many cases, a turbulent past.

02:57Located in northwest France is the 17th century village of Le Hou.

03:03Falling into disrepair by the latter half of the 20th century,

03:07the village's chequered past is not lost on its current custodians,

03:11Louise and Paul, who purchase Le Hou in 2020.

03:19When this place was originally built,

03:22it was the Ancien Regime, kings on the throne,

03:26peasants in the countryside.

03:27Yeah, yeah.

03:28And it's been through a revolution, another revolution.

03:31Yeah.

03:32Second World War, yeah, this was in the occupied zone.

03:35Yeah.

03:36Been through a lot.

03:37Yeah, it's been a lot.

03:38It's just nice to sort of make it last.

03:40So it's nice for us inside,

03:42but outside it looks and feels like a proper French village.

03:46It's October, and builders Kelson and Stuart

03:52have completed the underpinning work

03:54on the walls of the old farmhouse,

03:57Louise and Paul's soon-to-be-forever home.

04:00This is looking great.

04:02It's brilliant.

04:04I defy these walls to fall down now.

04:07Although the unexpected and expensive extra work

04:10has delayed the project, everything is now back on track.

04:13The fact that they've now made the house safe is, well,

04:20you know, I'm walking two feet above the ground really

04:22because it was such a worry.

04:25Words can't express how pleased I am that they've done it now.

04:29Now we know the house is not going to move anywhere

04:33and no walls are going to fall down, which is brilliant.

04:36I can't believe the size of the rocks that are coming out of the floor here.

04:45It's amazing.

04:46Today, Kelson and Stuart are excavating the concrete floor of the farmhouse

04:51with an able assistant on wheelbarrow duty.

04:53Oh, that'd be me for the day.

04:58I can say I helped out. I've contributed.

05:03Phew. I need to go and have a lie down now.

05:08In the past, heat was generated by burning wood.

05:11But Louise and Paul want to bring the home into the 21st century

05:14by installing a more sustainable underfloor heating system.

05:19So, the builders need to dig deep.

05:30Whack.

05:35Oh, take that.

05:36It reminds me of like a bar of chocolate.

05:38It's just breaking up like a bar of chocolate.

05:51I will be really glad when this is totally out

05:55because the only way we can get it out

05:57is with a small dig around a wheelbarrow.

06:00So, I was Mr. Wheelbarrow today.

06:02So, yeah.

06:03I'm glad when it's done.

06:06Two months later, the underfloor heating and new concrete floor are down.

06:17Framing for partition walls has been installed,

06:20as have First Fix Electrics.

06:22I'm extremely happy with the rate of progress at the moment.

06:26And they've really done a lot of work up until now.

06:30They're cracking on with the inside.

06:33So, I couldn't be happier, really.

06:34I absolutely couldn't be happier.

06:39We're currently insulating the upstairs at the moment.

06:43So, we're putting in 200ml of insulation

06:45to keep it nice and toasty and warm.

06:47We put these rails on and we can fix the plasterboard to it then.

06:52Great stuff, isn't it? Look, wow.

06:57It all feels a lot warmer.

06:59That's amazing.

07:01It's super thick, this stuff, isn't it?

07:04Yeah, it's 200mm.

07:05200, 200mm.

07:09It's funny, isn't it? Because the more that gets done,

07:11the more I get excited about the possibility of moving in.

07:14And now when I'm seeing, like, this stuff going in,

07:17and, you know, and the little, and the walls going in,

07:20and the electrical cables, I'm thinking,

07:22well, maybe it will be real.

07:24You know?

07:26Although the journey to get to this stage of the project

07:28hasn't been an easy one,

07:30for Louise and Paul,

07:31the dream of bringing this former farming hamlet

07:34back from the brink is finally within touching distance.

07:37In another part of Normandy, another English couple are also invested

07:50in restoring a once-lost village with a deep connection

07:53to the region's past.

07:55La Cloutière is a historic settlement thought to date back

07:59to the Middle Ages.

08:02I love the history here.

08:04I love the medieval stuff.

08:05And then even going back to the Viking stuff, which is Normandy.

08:08I love all that as well.

08:09So that was one of the big factors for us to move here.

08:13Originally from London,

08:15husband and wife Budo and Tracey are three years

08:18into the renovation of their historic village.

08:26We didn't want to be where it's too hot, Eva.

08:29It's lovely if you're on holiday,

08:31but if you're doing a renovation

08:33and you're constantly in the heat,

08:34we'd be having a lot of sit-downs.

08:37A lot of siestas, as they say.

08:39A lot of siestas.

08:41We love the seasons, don't we?

08:43And we love seeing the changes,

08:45the winter snow, the summer heat,

08:48and the rain in between.

08:50And it's just a beautiful place to be.

08:52You know?

08:57It's August, and today marks the start of another new project.

09:01Budo is about to breathe new life into this very old and abandoned building.

09:05This is what we're up to, and believe it or not, this is a day's work we've done already.

09:11The earth was up to this here.

09:14While we're bringing it down, the reason is, is water is penetrating inside the building.

09:18This level that I'm standing on now is slightly below the inside level of the floor.

09:25But we wanted to pull this back so this building can start to breathe properly again,

09:30and not sitting in water all the time.

09:32Why we're doing this is, this barn is a game changer for us.

09:36I am a joiner, I'm a carpenter, and I work making things.

09:40I make windows, doors, staircase, kitchens, whatever it be.

09:43This is going to be my new workshop,

09:46and this will help me repair and rebuild the whole of the village.

09:51Because we're working out of a little room in the house at the moment,

09:54and it's really going to change things for me.

09:56I'm going to be able to move along a lot quicker.

09:58It's got a roof, it's got good walls, all the prettiness of it, if I need it, will come later.

10:06Helping Budo is son James, a landscaping contractor,

10:10who's out in France visiting his parents and enjoying a working holiday.

10:15Using heavy machinery certainly speeds things up.

10:18But it's not long before History Buff Budo spots some interesting artefacts hidden under the earth.

10:41Found some more pottery.

10:42We're seeing lots of shards coming up, but these more significant parts.

10:48This looks definitely medieval.

10:50This looks like a leg of a pot.

10:53And then we found a bit of glass, a neck, but you can tell it's old,

10:58because the top is not symmetrical, it's just roughly blown.

11:04And this is the sort of thing you find all around this village.

11:08These aren't Budo's first vines.

11:14He's been amassing quite the collection, painting a fascinating picture of La Cloutière's former life.

11:21We keep bringing up little items from the past.

11:25We've got some sort of a neck of a vessel, maybe a round pot of some sort.

11:30Looks quite old to me, a bit medieval looking.

11:36This one is a little cotter bell.

11:40Still got the pip in it.

11:41I looked into it and I believe it was made between 1500 and 1700.

11:48And it's still going today.

11:49And I found this in two halves, believe it or not.

11:52And what I believe that is, is a stopper for maybe a decant or for maybe wine or sherry.

12:02And then what I like, because it's related to military, still investigating what it is,

12:09but we believe it's a belt buckle.

12:11I believe it's from the Napoleonic period.

12:16This armour, it is famous in France.

12:19This chest, breast armour they wear.

12:22But that was a lovely little find and that's definitely going to go in my man cape.

12:27And then we're finding quite a lot of these.

12:29Loads of little sort of bottles.

12:31I like, you know, keeping things like this back because they give a bit of history to the village, if you like.

12:38And when you hold something like that, if that is 100 years old or more,

12:43you know that someone else was holding it a long time ago.

12:46So, I don't know, it's just got a bit of nostalgia for me.

12:49You know, I like to keep old things.

12:51And because they're coming out of the ground not broken, they're worth keeping, you know.

12:56This area is full of history, you know.

12:58And to be part of that, you know, we're a part of that now because we're putting our mark on this place.

13:04And when we find things, it's just respectful to keep them and just, you know, put them by.

13:10And just something I like about it, you know, history.

13:13Unearthing secrets of the past is part of the charm in restoring lost villages.

13:18And for Budo, it's definitely giving him the motivation to continue with his mission.

13:29Coming up...

13:31We've got a lot of good preparation and we've got people in place who are really good.

13:34Village saviours in Spain take a leap into the unknown.

13:38Have we managed and opened a restaurant before? No, but that's okay.

13:42While in France...

13:44I'm going to paint one of the walls here blue.

13:46Are you? Yes.

13:47Why? Because I want to.

13:49Louise and Paul's decorating visions are miles apart.

13:53It's not going to match the floor in.

13:54We'll see who wins the battle of colours in this room.

13:56Yeah, yeah.

14:09Purchasing one of the abandoned villages of Europe can be fraught with risks.

14:14Centuries old crumbling structures are not the best place to put your life savings,

14:19particularly if seeking a quick return on your investment.

14:21Nestled within the misty mountains of Galicia in the northwest of Spain lies the tiny village of La Brada.

14:31Once abandoned and left to crumble, large parts of it have now been lovingly revived.

14:40La Brada shows just what a ghost village can become.

14:43Good boy. Welcome.

14:47For generations, farmers cultivated cereal crops and grazed cattle on these lands.

14:55But today, thanks to Ben and Susanna, its once ruined structures have been transformed into a stunning contemporary bed-and-breakfast complex.

15:04All achieved without losing its historic charm.

15:14It is a responsibility.

15:16The village was all but abandoned when we first came here.

15:19When we first came here.

15:20And it's just, we're, let's say, saving it for the next generation, we're reforming it.

15:26But it's like, you don't own these things, you just look after them for a generation and that's what we're doing.

15:32Ben, originally from Newcastle, and his Spanish wife Susanna, began their journey with La Brada in 2008, when they purchased and renovated a dilapidated farmhouse to use as a holiday home.

15:47Falling in love with the village, they then purchased more of the abandoned buildings and set to work breathing new life into them.

15:53It's been a challenge and we thought, is this the right thing to do, et cetera, but because we've done it bit by bit.

16:03We've done one building by one building, one floor by one floor, one brick by one brick.

16:09Be perseverant. It's as well attitude and really what it gives you all the strength to go on.

16:17We first met Ben and Susanna in 2023, as they looked to expand their business, turning one of La Brada's previous ruins into a restaurant.

16:33The beauty, obviously, is this stone.

16:36So these are coming from houses in the area which are demolished or in ruins.

16:41But this is real, this is really a craft which doesn't exist anymore, like thatching roofs, I guess.

16:45The specialist nature of the stone craft work meant the restaurant renovation fell behind schedule.

16:57Pushing back the chefs, et cetera, we can't hire them.

17:02Could take two or three weeks, but really in September.

17:07There we go, so we'll miss Summer Peak, but we are where we are.

17:11We are where we are.

17:13Despite setbacks, they did finally manage to open, but were only licensed to serve their B&B guests.

17:22We need to move on, and the important thing is when we open, we are ready, everything is perfect.

17:27Always, always, always, we see the positive things out.

17:36It's now July in La Brada, and with the stonework complete, Ben and Susanna have finally got permission to open the restaurant to the public.

17:46So we opened the restaurant at the beginning, just for our guests for dinners.

17:53It's like opening the restaurant progressively, and we are planning to open the restaurant to the public for lunches next week.

18:00They've hired head chef Noelia, who has big ambitions.

18:04Who has big ambitions.

18:08We have prepared a cheese plate using one of our regional and local cheese, which is the Cebreiro cheese.

18:19We respect the proximity and local product.

18:24So in our dishes, we always try to use the close product.

18:30That's why we always use the best products in the area.

18:37The restaurant has been a big investment.

18:40And while they have experience hosting B&B guests, neither of them has ever run a restaurant before.

18:46I mean, I think we've got a lot of good preparation, and we've got people in place who are really good and experienced and know what they're doing.

18:54If you've got a good team, then things are going to work.

18:57We managed and opened a restaurant before.

18:59No.

19:00We're expecting teething problems, but that's okay.

19:03We'll overcome them.

19:05The proof really will be in the pudding.

19:09Ben and Susanna's restaurant will need bookings if they're to see any kind of return on their investment.

19:14Back in France at the 300-year-old village of L'Eau.

19:26This is the last piece of studying and insulation to go in downstairs.

19:33There's light at the end of the tunnel.

19:36It's January, and after four months' hard work, the farmhouse renovation project is edging ever closer to completion.

19:44We've got full insulation, all the walls are straight inside.

19:49It's amazing.

19:51And this is where the kitchen will go.

19:53It's going to be black, with gold handles.

19:57How posh am I?

19:58And it's going to have a marble effect worktop.

20:04So it will, I think it will be very modern, but at the same time, kind of in keeping with the surroundings.

20:12With the majority of the farmhouse now boarded and insulated, Louise and Paul are keen to retain a feature fireplace wall as a nod to the building's past.

20:23The original fireplace would have provided much needed warmth against the harsh Normandy winters.

20:30The farming family who lived here would have kept it lit day and night to provide both heat and a means to feed themselves.

20:37At one time, I think it would have had timber coming out to create a hood, essentially, over the top of the open fire.

20:47Yeah, yeah.

20:48But it's long gone.

20:50With only the stone supports for the original mantel remaining, builder Stuart has a plan for a replacement in keeping with the building's historic character.

21:02Because you're having a wood burner, timber's not an option.

21:05No, OK.

21:06It would be too close to the flue.

21:07Yeah, yeah.

21:08So I think what we've decided to do is to shutter this off and cast it in concrete.

21:13OK.

21:14Up to the ceiling.

21:15Yeah.

21:16And then it comes to render it in the same colour as the pointing.

21:19So it'll all blend in.

21:20So it'll all blend in.

21:21Yeah, yeah.

21:22That would be lovely.

21:23I think that's the option we come up with.

21:24Yeah, yeah, yeah.

21:25That'd be lovely.

21:27Upstairs, there's another room that's coming to life.

21:31So this is going to be my office.

21:33I'm a book person, so bookcases, bookcases, bookcases, bookcases,

21:39web systems, ,, probably filing cabinet, my plan is desk, probably under the window,

21:46It's coming together nicely.

21:47I mean, it's actually going faster than I thought it would appear.

21:51All that's left to do now is choose a colour scheme.

21:55Oh, I'm going to paint one of the walls here blue.

21:57Are you?

21:58Yes.

21:59Why? Because I want to. Okay, it's not going to match the floor in? Likely. It's not

22:06going to match the floor in? We'll see who wins the battle of colours in this room.

22:11Yeah, yeah. Well, no, it's up to you, obviously. It's your room, but the rate

22:18that it's come along is amazing, really, and this now it's all plastered. It just

22:24is a completely different kettle of fish, you know. It's amazing. It looks like a

22:28modern home already inside. Study it and see it getting there. Bathroom, it's

22:33going to get there. Here, once the window is delivered, that bit will get sorted and

22:38it won't take long. No. We need to get carpet in here. Do you still want carpet? Yeah, I do, yeah.

22:43Yeah. I still keep trying to talk Louise into laminate, but she wants carpet.

22:48I've already surrendered on this one. Yeah. In my professional life, I pick my

22:51battles I can fight so that I can win. This one... No. I'm not going to win it, so... No.

22:57Carpet.

23:05A month later, and with a new staircase in place, both floors of the farmhouse are finally connected.

23:11We were kind of limited with where to put the staircase because upstairs, the roof immediately

23:18starts, you know, going into sort of like an apex situation. So it had to come up in the middle,

23:25otherwise there wouldn't have been headroom. The way that it's fitted in with the plan discreetly,

23:31and yet still looking a little bit country-fied and, you know, really pleased with it.

23:38And we've got doors. We've got a window. We've even got a window sill. It's amazing.

23:44And seeing this, you know, it feels like we're almost ready to move in. You know, it really

23:51does... It looks absolutely stunning.

23:57Nearly five months since the renovation began, the once abandoned farmhouse is slowly coming

24:03back to life. And with decorating about to begin, Louise and Paul can get their hands dirty,

24:09helping push the project forward to finally being complete.

24:17Coming up...

24:19You see him going backwards and forwards with a digger, and he's tracking it and compacting

24:23it down.

24:24An extra pair of hands helps Budo rattle through his to-do list.

24:29Well, where James is here, we can flow and get things done very quickly.

24:33While in Spain...

24:35He's found a pipe, and he's cut the pipe.

24:38Ben and Susanna are keen that their renovations don't create a neighbourhood dispute.

24:43But what we don't want is to find out that there's somebody down there in the valley who

24:47now doesn't have water.

25:01Back in France, at the historic farming settlement of La Cloutière, it's August.

25:05And Budo, along with son James, are excavating earth to help the walls of the village's medieval

25:11barn become moisture-free.

25:13James being here just pushes me on days ahead.

25:16Because ordinarily, if I was doing the digging, I would have to stop the digger, jump out,

25:21start the tractor up, move it into position, and it just takes so long.

25:26Well, where James is here, we can flow and get things done very quickly.

25:30And Budo hopes the removal of centuries of accumulated soil will allow the building structure to dry

25:40out.

25:41And Budo is ensuring nothing goes to waste, using the earth to level the track that runs through

25:47the village.

25:49The soil that's coming out there, ordinarily, you would normally, say, fill up a couple of

25:58skips, and that would be towed away to a landfill.

26:01And it's all energy, wasted fuel.

26:02We've got the land here to reuse the soil, so nothing has to leave our village at all.

26:08We'll make sure that it's used in the right way, so we're using the subsoil, if you like,

26:14to bring up the land.

26:18Helping Budo with this big project is his vintage tractor.

26:21She's the same age as me, so dare I say, my age is 1965.

26:30And this tractor was born then as well.

26:33And she's been going all that time.

26:35Beautiful tractor, four-wheel drive, air-cooled engine.

26:38She's a little bit temperamental, but she's still going, and if you maintain them and look

26:46after them, like Tracy maintains and looks after me, we keep going.

26:52With a load of earth moved to the dirt track, Budo needs to change the digger's bucket for

26:57its next job.

26:59So this is an old-fashioned way of doing the digger, because it's an old digger.

27:03This is 20 years old, this digger.

27:04I'm just going to drop out this one first, James.

27:12Despite being semi-retired, Budo's zest for rejuvenating the village never wavers.

27:22Mum and Dad are very impressive at what they do, considering their age.

27:26We're not going to say they're too old, but they do a lot for how old they are.

27:30We ain't spring chickens anymore, you know.

27:32We ain't got time to sit around and whinge and moan about things.

27:35We just get on.

27:36They're very passionate about this, and I'd love to see them succeed, and we can all

27:40come out here and enjoy it in a few summers' time.

27:43Yeah.

27:44I'm glad you're here anyway.

27:46That's all right.

27:48The plan now is James is going to level off what I've put over here.

27:55We're trying to build this up, so he's going to level it off.

27:58Yep.

27:59We're lucky we got the machines to help us, and then James' knowledge, because he's

28:04really good at this sort of stuff.

28:14This track would have been a vital artery when La Cloutière was a working farm, aiding

28:19the movement of goods and produce.

28:24The track would have been compacted and smoothed by the constant movement of animal-drawn carts,

28:31but today it just needs a helping hand.

28:35So, we've made light work of that with the digger.

28:38We'll keep building on this.

28:40See him going backwards and forwards with the digger, and he's tracking it and compacting

28:43it down.

28:44Over 20 tonne there.

28:45There's no cost.

28:46We're reusing materials that are here, and it's coming out really well.

28:51I'm really happy with it so far.

28:54We're happy with today, aren't we, James?

28:57Yes, we are.

28:58As long as he's happy, we're happy.

29:01While today has been a success, restoring a building this old is never straightforward.

29:07Overgrown with ivy, all sorts of hidden problems may still be lurking.

29:13Back in La Brada, in northern Spain, it's November, and Ben and Susanna have finally opened their

29:23restaurant to the public.

29:24This is good.

29:25We're completely fully booked all the weekends, so that helps, that helps a lot.

29:32And customer feedback is immediately positive.

29:35A hillside village, La Brada is set across two levels.

29:46The lower village with the restaurant and B&B is now complete.

29:49However, further up the hillside lies another group of abandoned buildings, all crying out

29:54to be saved.

29:56This includes an old barn, which Ben and Susanna are keen to transform into luxury holiday accommodation.

30:03So this is the romantic barn, fireplace in the middle, a nice bed here, we'll likely have

30:12a hot tub as well, outside.

30:15Nice bottle of wine sitting on the veranda there, in the hot tub, I mean, yeah, what more

30:21do you want?

30:24As well as the barn renovation, Ben and Susanna have also earmarked another building in the

30:28upper village to become their dream home.

30:32This is our place.

30:33We might have seen better days, but basically we have a vision for this.

30:39If the bottom part of the village is the after, then this is the real before.

30:45This is dangerous to go into right now, because the roof is collapsing.

30:48And if we don't do some controlled demolition in the next few months of the roof, then the

30:53walls will fall out as well.

30:55And that would defeat the object a little bit.

30:58With the drawings, you can see the transformation.

31:02And here as well, we have a little piece of land for us to chill out, to have our pockets with

31:09friends and have the sun when we have it.

31:14The architectural heritage of their village is important to the couple, which is why they're

31:19retaining and reusing as much as they can of the original construction.

31:23These are the original doors, made in chestnut, so they are very heavy, very good.

31:31We were chatting already with our carpenter and he's going to restore them and we can reuse them.

31:38It will be a beautiful door when it's finished.

31:44But before any of the renovations can begin, this upper part of the ancient village needs

31:50some vital infrastructure installed to bring it into the modern era.

31:55Right now we're digging a trench from our water to the top part of the village.

32:03The top part of the village doesn't have water.

32:06Suddenly, excavations are brought to a halt.

32:11He's found a pipe and he's cut the pipe.

32:14But what we don't want is to find out that there's somebody down there in the valley who

32:19now doesn't have water.

32:21So the key question is, whose pipe is that and where was it going?

32:26Susanna begins the detective work, phoning a local contact to see if they can help solve

32:32the puzzle of the mystery pipe.

32:34Susanna is speaking to the son of Eleanor who used to live here.

32:38He knows these mountains like the back of his hand, etc.

32:41He knows where all the water fountains are, water sources.

32:43And he's just confirmed that he originally went to this house.

32:48So it's all okay. It's all good.

32:51We didn't affect the water for our neighbours, so that's perfect.

32:55So good. No bad news.

32:59As the digger driver returns to the vital work of bringing utilities to the upper village,

33:04a couple are excited by what this new chapter for Labrada will bring.

33:09I mean, we're very, very close to putting this in place.

33:13And once this is in place, then we basically got another 12 people would be able to stay

33:19in these accommodations.

33:21So that makes the whole village 40 people once we're full, which would be every summer.

33:28So that's good business for the restaurant.

33:30And yeah, we're so close. So close.

33:37Coming up...

33:39The ivy, it grows in between these joints and it pushes.

33:43At La Cloutier, Tracy and Budo go to war with mother nature.

33:47Never ever let ivy grow in your house, because it just causes so much damage.

33:52While at Lou...

33:54The only challenge is Lou doesn't like it if I drip.

33:57Louise becomes a hard taskmaster.

34:00I think it's a shame to mess it up by doing bad painting.

34:04This is why I'm keeping an eye.

34:19Back at the farming settlement of La Cloutier in Normandy, it's September.

34:23And Tracy and Budo's latest project, breathing new life into the village's medieval barn,

34:29moves onto the next stage.

34:34Will we get this tower built?

34:35Yep.

34:36We can start working on that ivy.

34:38Yep, because that's going to be a really big job, isn't it?

34:40Trying to get that down for me.

34:42It's going to take a bit of time.

34:44While the ground around the barn has been lowered to stop water ingress,

34:48ingress of a different sort is plaguing the structure's stonework.

34:52Well, the ivy's been there for a long time.

34:55Some of it's like this round.

34:57And it's grown into the wall, so we've got to be very delicate.

35:00But before we get there, we've got to go and build the scaffold first, so...

35:03That'll be fun.

35:04One thing that sort of goes against for me is that I'm not very tall.

35:08No, but you cope well.

35:10She's quite strong, like, so she's got some muscles.

35:12I've trained her up well.

35:13You know, over the years she's been good.

35:17You get two of them, or one, I'll take two.

35:20With a lifetime in the building trade, Budo not only has the knowledge, he also has all the equipment.

35:27Using their own scaffolding is saving them a small fortune.

35:30Right, so this one's alive now, right?

35:35So it's pre-standing.

35:36Yeah.

35:37You just want to put your hand on that for us.

35:39So we're going to put another pole up.

35:43These are heavy!

35:44You okay to hold it?

35:50Cool.

35:59As we whack them wedges in, it locks it all up tight.

36:05But we're semi-solid now.

36:09While often Mother Nature can appear pretty,

36:12she can also be incredibly destructive.

36:17The ivy, it's shoving the building around.

36:19So it grows in between these joints and it pushes.

36:22And eventually it will just push this corner of that building over.

36:25Never ever let ivy grow on your house, because it just causes so much damage.

36:33Working in tandem, soon enough the scaffolding begins to rise to reach the highest parts of the barn.

36:38Right, just push that post in a bit, Trace, at the top.

36:41You're carrying that like a pro.

36:42I know!

36:43Like a pro.

36:44Got to keep it going.

36:45There we go.

36:46That's that floor in now.

36:47Lovely.

36:48Do you know what?

36:49I could think of better things to do when you're nearly 60.

37:01Despite all the hard work, Tracey and Budo's passion for the history of their village is what drives them on.

37:07So, I've been doing a bit of an investigation on this building.

37:10The general size of it, and the fact that it has a timber frame construction inside,

37:16which would have been before the stonework came,

37:19and the shape of the windows and doors,

37:21I believe that this was the original house, that this is the oldest part of this village.

37:26It's been used as a barn, but it's not got proper barn doors on it,

37:29so big animals wouldn't have been able to come in and out of here.

37:32It reminds me of, you know, the very early Viking buildings.

37:36Going back to that time, Normandy was a very Viking area.

37:42The Vikings ruled this part of Normandy between the 9th and 11th centuries.

37:47Typical Viking dwellings were wood or stone-built structures with a turf or thatched roof.

37:56Inside, Viking families originally from Scandinavia would have likely lived alongside their animals.

38:01While the scaffolding has gone up quickly, the removal of the ivy will be a far more delicate and time-consuming operation.

38:13I'm just going to be very careful as I'm taking the ivy down,

38:17because I just want the ivy to come off, I don't want the stone as well.

38:20It's going to be a slow and tedious job.

38:22I don't want a couple of days of masonry work putting it all back together again.

38:26Hopefully in six to eight weeks, it'll be looking pretty and working functionally as a workshop for me and I'll be in my element.

38:33Two months later and progress is slow.

38:41Taking this ivy off is so tedious because the trunks are really thick here.

38:48But above here, we have a lot of loose stones and Budo has to rebuild the wall so that we make the gable end very safe.

38:59While the scaffold's up, work can't continue inside the barn clearing everything.

39:04So once we get this down, then we can start doing the work inside.

39:10As is often the case with ancient villages, it's only when you peel back the layers that the scale of the work becomes truly clear.

39:18It's clearly going to take some time to bring this latest building back to life.

39:23Back at La Oue in Normandy, it's February and upstairs in the old farmhouse, builder Kelton is plastering the walls and ceilings.

39:39While downstairs, Stuart is working on the restoration of the feature stone wall of the open plan living area.

39:47So we've sandblasted it, cleaned out all the joints. The new mortar has been pumped in up to this level as you can see.

39:55That's then been struck back with a trowel to push it fully into the joints.

40:00Now we've just got to wait for it to dry enough to be able to brush it back.

40:06The new mantle is also now set in place above the fireplace, creating a stunning feature wall.

40:13The colour is just perfect. Yes. The colour is perfect.

40:17And with the big feature stone, it sets off very nicely like that.

40:21I love the niche as well, the way that's... Yes.

40:24It's looking amazing, isn't it?

40:31A month later, and with the plastering complete upstairs, Louise and Paul are painting their master bedroom.

40:38We've undercoated all of the walls, and I've done some snagging where there were drips and whatnot, so it'll be a nice finish.

40:47And the next thing is really to put the top coat of white on.

40:51The only challenge is, Lou is a perfectionist when it comes to painting.

40:54I am, yes.

40:55And she doesn't like it if I drip, so I'll get it pulled off.

40:59Kelsin's plastering is perfect, and so I think it's a shame to mess it up by doing bad painting.

41:07So this is why I'm keeping an eye.

41:12Can I just say just one thing?

41:14Depends what it is.

41:16Well, where you've come down there and you've got that line...

41:19Yes.

41:20What you need to do is go horizontally and smooth that line.

41:25The watch out is that it gouges the plaster, because the plaster's very sensitive.

41:30No, that's fine.

41:31We are so happy with how things are going.

41:36I mean, really, it's amazing.

41:39It's difficult to put into words, really, because we've waited so long.

41:43Because we did the sheets first.

41:45We did the pool first.

41:47Everything, you know, for the business, we did first.

41:51And we've waited five years to do this.

41:54And it's just amazing to think that we've come along so far,

41:59that we're getting our lovely little house done,

42:02which will be our forever home, really.

42:04So it's exciting, yeah.

42:06Super exciting.

42:11With the old farmhouse lying empty since the 1960s,

42:14it's lacking many modern amenities.

42:17So today, Stuart and Kelsin are back on site.

42:22Luckily, the sun's come out.

42:23We've been able to come outside and continue with the excavations around the back,

42:28the land drainage.

42:30We're now at the front, putting the land drainage in at the front.

42:33And then the next step will be dig a big hole to put the septic tank in.

42:38Hopefully there's no surprises.

42:40There is an electric cable running across,

42:42so we need to try and avoid that.

42:44And I hope there's no big boulders.

42:48Indoors, Louise and Paul are eager for the next phase

42:50of their large open-plan living area to begin.

42:59So we now have a proper floor.

43:01It's been drying for the last two weeks.

43:03Yeah, yeah.

43:04And it needs another couple of weeks to dry before it can be tiled,

43:07which is the next big project in here.

43:09And we have a new fire ready to go in there.

43:12That's sat outside in the plastic just waiting to go in.

43:14Yeah.

43:15So it's going to be lovely.

43:20For Louise and Paul, the journey to reach this point has had its ups and downs.

43:24So, as they approach the end point, they can now begin to imagine their new life

43:30in a building that could have easily disappeared forever.

43:34We're feeling great at the moment.

43:36Really positive because the guys have come on in leaps and bounds with the house.

43:40And hopefully within a month we'll be able to move in,

43:43which is amazing because, you know, it's going to have everything.

43:48It's going to be the dream home.

43:49So this is, it's like all our Christmases basically.

43:53Looking forward to being in there, sitting down and going,

43:56we haven't got any big jobs to do.

43:58No, no.

44:06Next time, Louise and Paul's village restoration draws close to completion.

44:11It's been five years.

44:13I am itching to get in.

44:15While elsewhere in Normandy, Budo builds a kitchen by hand.

44:19There we go.

44:20And that's what we call a dovetail joint.

44:23And in Spain, Ben and Susana begin a project to transform an ancient wreck

44:28into their forever home.

44:30The first time we saw the village, we saw the potential.

44:33We're driven to complete this mission we've started.

44:53It's dating.

44:55And that's illuminated by our Art Coat.

44:56It's called, The Talent by the

44:58The Talent by the

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