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00:00and in this series we're taking that to heart we're stepping into a world where
00:07cherished places from the past are brought back to life in miniature it's
00:11like being detectives isn't it from family homes I just miss it so much to
00:17grand public buildings this building was so magnificent I found my identity there
00:24each tiny model tells a big story it's a beautiful project because it's all
00:30about love the craft and skill of our team of miniaturists yeah I'll make it
00:35happen perfect shines through in every delicate detail
00:41and while our models may be tiny the memories they stir are immense welcome
00:59to the marvelous miniature workshop
01:11we're back at the workshop and buzzing with activity each brushstroke reviving
01:21places that people hold dear a family home is more than just walls and windows
01:29it's where all of life's milestones happen from first steps to final goodbyes so
01:35what if you could make a model of the very place that holds all of those memories
01:41visiting us today our husband and wife Katie and Lee from Bedfordshire over the
01:48next few weeks we'll recreate a place that was central to their family's story
01:52but first let's find out why it means so much to them
02:00Katie Lee welcome come in come in how are you very good thank you now I believe
02:08you've got a very special place it's close to your heart that you'd like
02:11recreating is that right definitely yeah we'd love to have a model of the
02:15farmhouse where we met that was our first home already this is very romantic and
02:20lovely you two couple of lovebirds well come on we need more details and we need to
02:25go meet Ethan he's fantastic come this way here to bring home the perfect model masterful miniaturist
02:37Ethan nice to meet you both before he gets cracking he needs to know what is going to be tackling today so
02:44tell us all about this beautiful farmhouse that means so much to you please Holly Hill farmhouse was
02:49where we met 21 years ago the grade two listed farmhouse look it's incredible very nice isn't
02:56it beautiful it has a special place for us in our hearts so you lived there and how did you meet Lee
03:02yeah he lived there too right it was converted into flats downstairs and upstairs and I was
03:07there first for a couple of months on my own yeah and then Lee moved in with two friends upstairs okay
03:13and as you spied this hot young chap who was living above you I would let my dog out at night
03:19time yeah so she met Katie before I did yes he had to keep coming around to get the dog back so
03:24this is so cute we got married and had a reception there so come on wedding photo let me see let me see
03:37the dress oh look and in front of that beautiful we did love that door look at you two you look
03:44beautiful yeah thank you okay we then had our daughters which were born there as well oh let's
03:50see the girls so oh look so these are your twins yeah beautiful daughters look looks like the house is
03:59witnessing all these events just in the background of you know these huge milestones a storyboard of your
04:05life basically isn't it yeah my dad passed away while we lived there he loved the house and in
04:13the garden there's a beautiful yew tree and I scattered some of his ashes around it because I
04:18knew how he loved it so much and at that time I thought I was going to be there forever so having him
04:24close was important to me but he had to move on about 15 years ago unfortunately that's so difficult
04:30isn't it when you have to leave a place and leave a little bit of your dad behind I'm so sorry
04:34yeah Ethan what are you thinking are you worried about anything that you see on the photos are you
04:39going to recreate this it's a big responsibility but it's such a lovely place for you too and it's
04:43an honor to be able to sort of recreate it are there any sort of key elements that you want to see
04:48included or I think it's mainly the front door front door yeah fan light have you done a lot of
04:53window stuff before I've done bits and pieces wind up with windows this is new to me so I haven't done
04:58anything like that it's the focal point of the house okay it's the middle of the house okay okay
05:02and with the fan light and everything and then double doors gosh those doors were always open in the
05:08summertime when you stood at the front door because it was slightly elevated you had the whole view of
05:13London is it just near Enfield is that right okay so not just far from London yeah it's just inside the
05:18m25 and if you can incorporate the there's an arch just in front where we're standing in the wedding
05:24picture okay the roses oh yes came around lots to incorporate and yeah a lot of memories to sort
05:31of tie back into it it's an incredible place and I'll try my best to do you proud thank you for that
05:36house is always in our hearts anyway so to have it in front of us every day just be amazing so lovely
05:42good luck Ethan gets straight to work modeling the house with 3d computer software and he's in no
05:57doubt which part of the building to focus on so the front of the house was really beautiful for them
06:02I want to recreate it as accurately as possible the key features for this are going to be the fan light
06:07which sits above the door the windows and the brickwork which covers the whole face of the
06:11building so I've left the front doors open on the model because I used to keep them open during the
06:16summer so they could look over the garden but also so we can look into the actual house and visualize
06:20what it used to be like and really just sort of see themselves back in the house Ethan begins by laser
06:28cutting the walls of the Victorian farmhouse he glues the panels together then ruffs up the laser etched
06:37brickwork pattern with a wire brush to make it look weathered piece by piece he assembles the roof
06:45structure joining the laser cut timbers with glue and holding them in place with nails until they dry got a
06:53mixture of engineering which is more modern techniques with the traditional painting and that sort of
06:58thing so it creates really realistic models next Ethan sprays the entire structure with
07:05primer and covers the walls in the soft grayish yellow of London stocks then hand paints individual
07:13bricks in subtly different shades it takes five hours but gives the farmhouse the feel of a home that
07:24stood for generations and recalls the place Katie and Lee still feel drawn to Katie and Lee now live over
07:39an hour's drive from Holly Hill farm but they still visit the house at least once a year oh it's lovely
07:48being here again just to see it the house brings back such lovely memories it really does every
07:57house has a feeling doesn't it when you go in the minute I walked into this place I just fell in love
08:01with it yeah I agree it's just such a shame to see it like this now Katie and Lee's old home is now
08:12completely derelict and on this visit it looks particularly sad it's all boarded up as well it
08:20wasn't like this when we came last oh such a shame you can't see the lovely windows or the door look at the
08:27state of it quite a shock just seeing it like this it is I wasn't expecting it to look like this now the
08:33features that we loved they're just all hidden it's horrible isn't it being so close it's like you could almost walk through that door
08:41through that door and go back to what we had but we can't
08:52I do miss it so much
08:59Katie and Lee spent six happy years at the farm but suddenly 15 years ago their life here came to an abrupt end
09:09the lease was passed to a new farmer who decided that he wanted to move into the house for himself
09:15and that's when we were given our notice to move out and oh my god
09:22i mean the shock was horrific
09:25gut-wrenching
09:28we thought this is our life here and that was taken away from us
09:32they never learned exactly what happened but no one else ever moved in
09:43it's sat empty ever since it's just sat there
09:49wasted
09:50when i look at it i just think of the girls when they were younger running up and down the hallway
10:02that lovely wide hall with their little legs they're so sweet
10:06i just love this place so much
10:16we haven't been here for 15 years but
10:19to me it feels like yesterday that we moved out being back here again
10:22it just holds so many memories
10:38when i look at it it's it's the memories that i i see i don't see those boarded up windows
10:52i want to recreate it as accurately as possible um bringing together that real brickwork the various
11:14windows each one has been laser cut with frames just a single millimeter thick
11:20he layers front and rear panes gluing one above the other to give the look of a sliding sash
11:27it's a nice thing to recreate on the miniature scale
11:30he adds crisp white sills and carefully glues in sheets of perspex as glass
11:39every tiny frame is then fitted into place
11:42a vital window into the past for katie and lee
11:51that picture we took of our wedding reception day
11:57in that front door we always had it open in the summer
11:59i remember having lots of pictures taken at that front door yeah it's a lovely shot
12:07not only was this house the backdrop to many of katie and lee's happy milestones
12:12it also helped them through some of their darkest times
12:16one of the scarier things that happened while we were living here was lee being unwell i found out i had
12:23kidney failure i was down to 20 percent kidney function katie had fallen pregnant i had no idea
12:33how i was going to cope and then out of the blue i got a phone call and they said to me we might have a
12:40kidney for you and it changed my life really
12:55those few months when the girls were young and you were recovering it was hard we went through a lot
13:01didn't we but being here made it so much easier i think it was such a great place just to recruit
13:09great i don't think a good ask for a better place
13:21being in a place you love anything that's bad isn't as bad no even though we went through a lot
13:29i don't think there's any there's no bad memories that i associate with this house
13:33at all there was nothing but good things
13:35a small but meaningful content to have a model of it that we can just put up on our shelf
13:42and it it would just bring memories every time we see that model of the
13:49a small but meaningful consolation for katie and lee hollyhill farm is being returned to its prime in miniature and ethan is now restoring the most important window of all
14:02so i'm currently cutting plastic which is going to be the window in our fan light
14:23fan lights are fan shaped windows which sit above the doorways in many early victorian and georgian houses
14:32i've now got a water activated sticker which i'm going to slide onto the plastic
14:36to transfer the fan light pattern once you get the first bit it grips and then it's fine
14:42so i'm now placing that fan light that i've created into the pre-made frame to get a really distinctive
14:55fan light look and then we've got the final fan light which looks awesome i'm a fan of it
15:02with a light touch tiny 3d printed handles are added to the external doors look at that that's awesome
15:15ethan lays strips of ultra thin etched mdf across the roof creating a perfectly scaled tile effect he
15:24finishes with a row of ridge tiles and once it's all been painted gray carefully fits the whole thing onto
15:30the model raising the roof miniature style ethan fits the drain pipes and guttering made from tiny lengths of
15:39polystyrene rod then he 3d prints and paints welcoming miniature lanterns for either side of that all
15:48important front door i just think it's a really lovely detail
15:51so far so good but ethan still needs to inject some personal touches into this model
16:05so i'm off to meet the two people who probably know more about katie and lee's memories of the house
16:11than anyone else hello girls their twin daughters elise and emily elise and emily am i right
16:20i'm sarah lovely to meet you i'm super excited to hear all about hollyhill farm
16:29so your parents were living there when you when you girls were born yeah we lived there for two and
16:34a half years and then we had to leave so we were only like just two when we left so that's why i
16:39don't really have many memories of it but definitely kept alive with the stuff our parents tell us yeah
16:45we see it over a year it's so just driving past it's on the way to our grandma's house so we just like
16:51pop in and have a look around obviously we can't go inside but just have a look around the grounds and
16:56seeing how the garden changes as well obviously hollyhill farm is super important to your mom and dad is
17:01it important to you girls yeah well we've actually used it in a lot of our artwork and i've also used
17:07it in my gcse art come on have you got some let me see i feel like a proud mother you'd have got some
17:14extra daughter points for this yeah oh wow so there's the hallway that's amazing what have we got here
17:23in the snow it looks like you know the movie the holiday i keep expecting cameron diaz trotting past
17:30that's absolutely beautiful this is my gcse work from the front and then that sign is also at the
17:37start of the drive so why did you decide to feature holly hill in your gcse art well i just i was trying
17:45to like find like a building that i could like draw and paint and that was the first thing that came to
17:50my mind and often when we do like stuff for art they want something quite personal and something
17:56that's meaningful for you and that definitely is oh it's lovely gosh you're so talented so i think
18:03we've definitely established that hollyhill is hugely important to you girls when you think
18:09about hollyhill what do we definitely need to feature what can we not leave off this little miniature
18:14model there was a um yew tree in the garden so it was like this big tree here um it's quite like a
18:22huge feature yeah um because it also has our granddad's and ashes uh scattered around the bottom
18:29of it i spoke to your mom about this she did say about this and we didn't have such a clear shot
18:34of the tree so this photo is super helpful and in the hallway there were these um they bounces that
18:42we used to go in like every night um because the hallway was so big it was a perfect place for them
18:48look at you two little cuties so you'd just be constantly bouncing around yeah i think that the
18:53uh bouncers that are in there would be a really lovely feature to include into the model yeah i think
18:58that'd be such a lovely surprise yeah something that they're not expecting girls how are you with secrets
19:04yeah i think you're pretty good good i think we don't say anything to you yeah yeah so that when
19:09we unveil the model i get surprised for them yeah yeah all of this has been so helpful thank you i'm
19:16going to take it all to ethan who'll be thrilled yeah forward slash really annoyed they've got loads
19:21of extra work to do well i think it'll be amazing because um you can sort of like restore it how it
19:25used to be okay we'll do our best ethan wastes no time putting the twin suggestions into practice
19:40and he's keen to give the majestic yew tree a bit of a twist he wants it to glow so he's designed an led
19:48light to fix inside the glass trunk he sticks steel wires to the transparent tube twisting them together
19:56and coating them with a thick glue to create gnarled branches then he sprays them a rich dark brown
20:05all the colors really do bring it to life he applies white crackle paste which splits when dry
20:12to create a bark like texture then he paints the trunk different shades of brown to add depth and
20:20realism and finally he presses green sponge pieces onto the branches as leaves ethan has used katie and
20:30lee's wedding photo to copy and laser cut the rose arch next to the front door he uses acrylic paint to
20:38make it look like wrought iron before wrapping a miniature vine around it and painting yellow and
20:46red roses down the sides i think that's going to be a focal point and just a great way to bring it all
20:51together ethan wants katie and lee to catch a glimpse of family life inside the model too i've also left it
21:01open so we can look in and see what it would have been like he paints the hallway in a soft yellow to
21:07match the photographs then creates a beautiful period archway with decorative molding before wiring
21:14the whole house with lights including a tiny pendant in the hallway with the entrance complete he's
21:22ready to add that secret personal detail the twins have suggested so i'm going to include the baby
21:28bouncers in the hallway for a little surprise detail for katie and lee i understand this is a really key
21:33memory for them when the twins were were younger and it was a really happy time for the family in that
21:38house the hangers are laser cut from a thin laminate and painted yellow ethan then hand cuts blue pvc into
21:48thin strips to create the straps the key parts of the baby bouncer are the yellow hanger on top and the blue
21:56straps which hang down both sides so creating that on a small scale is pretty tricky but i'm finding a way
22:02where i can wrap around this blue plastic around a little laser cut hanger which i've made to create
22:08the same effect on a tiny scale i'm using this uv light to cure the glue which is going to bond the
22:18plastic to the hanger i've got to add some baby holders on the bottom and then some straps going
22:25from the hangers to the ceiling and then i'll get these added to the model and then we're all sorted
22:29perfect
22:38it's been a month since katie and lee first came to us hoping for a model of their beloved holly hill farm
22:46and now it's time to find out if ethan has hit a home run here they come
22:51come in it's a big day
22:59i don't know he's more nervous
23:00it's a big deal isn't it here we go it's massive you look emotional already katie
23:10it feels like around the corner
23:14it just means so much this place
23:17god so many huge moments in your lives happened at holly hill farm i did yeah i'm looking forward to it
23:25seeing a brand new holly hill farm hopefully ethan how are you feeling has this been a tough build
23:31for you as nervous as you are no it has been a tough build there's it's combining all the photos
23:36and your memories and it clearly means so much so getting that all together has been uh it's been
23:42tricky but it's been fun and i can't wait to see you guys for reactions yeah i can't wait to see it
23:47i think we ought to reveal holly hill farm so here we go here we go ready
24:00is that a lock seat
24:04wow
24:08it's better than what i remembered it as it is it's amazing
24:11it's so lovely oh you're very good thank you thank you ethan has restored holly hill farm to its
24:21former glory just as katie and lee remember it from the hand-aged victorian brickwork to the rose
24:29covered arch and the elegant fan light window above the front door every detail has been carefully
24:36recreated oh it's just amazing it's just looks so beautiful i think it's even better than i remember
24:43it he's done a really beautiful job so the light around the door with everything yeah the archway
24:51and the hallway it's like i just want to go in yeah you can get closer do you want to have a big minute
24:56we don't have the budget for that beside the farmhouse rises the majestic you their family tree
25:07in every sense there's a tree as well where your dad's ashes are i know and the fact that that's
25:13lit up as well that makes it look even more special it's like my dad's making it glow yeah that's what
25:18one is yeah a tree of life yeah through the open front door ethan's model offers a glimpse inside
25:25where family life once unfolded you've even got the hallway down the end oh wow we always had the
25:33front doors open so that's that's how it always was because we just loved being out in the garden
25:39and looking back at this beautiful house oh god that really is amazing it's even got the whole table
25:46and a picture of the girls on the table with it got your wedding photo in there as well so so your
25:52lovely girls emily and elise they told me all about a special detail now if you have a look really
25:59look down the corridor there can you see oh my god oh it's got no bounces no right at the end i used to
26:11hang in these little boundaries and they were babies and they used to love them you could do it
26:17every evening i can't believe it oh wow that's so cute that is just so lovely are you still going to
26:27drive the girls up on a yearly basis we don't need to anymore we got this yeah it's beautiful
26:33time to find out what the twins make of ethan's efforts come on in come in hi how are you you
26:44all right emily elise come in come in look amazing yeah what do you think yeah looks like there's people
26:53living in it it's absolutely amazing definitely like captures it as well yeah lovely thank you well
27:00well done it looks great because it was boarded up when we saw it last and now it's got lights on
27:05it's just like oh my god that's how i remember it ethan is extremely talented the detailing
27:13was amazing just really made it look real as though we were really there it's exactly what i wanted it's
27:20so much better than i ever imagined it's beautiful it's like our family is complete again now we've
27:25got the farm back so to have it at home where we can see it all the time it just completes us now so
27:32i couldn't give you the keys to the actual house but i have got keys here to the model so if you plug
27:37those in the back yeah and that'll switch the lights on give it a twist give it a little lights come
27:42on wow that's lovely all yours thank you so much no worries forever this time
28:12so
28:31you
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